Kansas State Basketball: Wildcats bringing in reinforcements

Kansas State basketball got solid production from their roster in 2015-2016, but more will be needed from their recruits.

Kansas State’s seven-man recruiting class from last summer performed admirably, but more help is needed to keep the Wildcats moving forward in the competitive Big 12.

Coach Bruce Weber has been working hard this offseason to get more dynamic players and has four new faces coming to Manhattan for the upcoming campaign.

(For reference, they are the same four we briefly reviewed earlier this offseason).

The highest-rated player coming to town is swingman Xavier Sneed from St. Louis. He has excellent size for his age at 6’5″, 190 pounds. He is a slashing-type forward who can play tough defense from day one.

As is common for guys his age, Sneed will likely need to develop his overall strength both on-and-off the ball as well as his outside shooting ability. His position is particularly tough to pick out because he often relies upon his versatility on both ends of the floor.

There are several players in front of Sneed right now, so he may not be a key rotation guy right away, but his upside is intriguing.

Two other perimeter guys will don purple and white for next year in Cartier Diarra and Brian Patrick.

More from Busting Brackets

Diarra was the first of the two to sign and did so back in February. He stands 6’3″ and weighs 185 pounds. He averaged 18.8 points, 11.0 rebounds, 7.2 assists, and 3.6 steals per game for his high school in Florence, South Carolina, but those stats are very inflated given the likely competition he faced.

The fact that had had offers from just Saint Louis and Georgia State, alongside KSU, would indicate a lack of impression made on more high-level programs.

Shooting guard is one of the Wildcats’ relative strengths coming back, so it might be some time before Diarra is called on to produce.

The other shooting guard, Patrick, is in roughly the same spot position-wise. He put up slightly narrower numbers overall (17.8 points, 6.8 rebounds). Patrick’s advantages are that he stands a little taller at 6’5″, but is listed a little lighter at 180 pounds. He also comes from a more competitive basketball state, hailing from Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Again, perimeter play isn’t the biggest weakness for the Wildcats, so Patrick might need to fight Diarra and the returnees for playing time in his first year.