Kansas State Basketball: Can the Wildcats exit the Big 12 cellar?
By Doug Winkey
Backup point guard: Barry Brown
If Kamau Stokes can’t start right away or struggles early, look for fellow second-year guard Barry Brown to take the reigns. He showed some serious potential in his first year that could give fans hope for his upcoming season.
The 6’3″, 195 pound guard averaged 8.6 points, 2.5 rebounds, 1.5 assists, and 1.2 steals per game in year one. His shooting was about as good as Stokes’ – 34 percent from three point range and 35 percent overall.
He played the fourth most minutes and took the third most shots on the team out of sheer necessity. The lack of production elsewhere forced Weber to play the freshman a lot when he may not have been completely ready.
Having a year to work on his game has me intrigued as to what Brown will do differently this year.
25-30 minutes per game is where I peg Brown right now. A scoring bump to around 12-13 points seems possible as well.
His shooting and distributing will be the most important aspects to improve upon if he is to avoid becoming a one-dimensional slasher. He was an Big 12 All-Newcomer pick last year and will get plenty of opportunities to do even more in 2016-17.
Next: Shooting guard - Wesley Iwundu