Point Guard
Minutes Allocated (40 total): Kamau Stokes (27), Cartier Diarra (10), Shaun Williams (3)
Mostly as a starter all three years, Stokes has been a consistent ball handler for Kansas State. He’s been solid as a passer with an ability to break out with a big scoring night. Stokes was great early on as a junior, scoring around 15 ppg before going down with a foot injury.
The team was able to survive without him and Stokes came off the bench for a while before being named the starter in the postseason. It’s not surprising that Kansas State went on a run once he took reigns of the offense again.
The guy who took Stokes’ place last season was Diarra, a three-star combo guard that became a revelation in his first year at Kansas State. He averaged nearly 15 ppg in the month of January while the starter was out and shot over 40% from three-point range throughout his freshman season.
Diarra played 24 mpg last season and should get near that again – although Stokes being healthy all year should lower that total. But Kansas State could have the best sixth man in the entire Big 12, solidifying the Wildcats on the perimeter.
That doesn’t leave much room for Williams, a three-star point guard in the 2018 class for this season but he’ll have a ton of minutes to work with for 2019-20. However, that might be cutting him short, based on what Diarra was able to accomplish in a similar situation.