Huggins sees future potential in Kansas State’s young roster, as No. 14 West Virginia prepares to face Wildcats

MORGANTOWN, W. Va. — In a Big 12 hoops world that didn’t include Oklahoma State’s Cade Cunningham or Texas’ Greg Brown, Bruce Weber just might be considered the conference’s recruiting aficionado at the moment.

While the Cowboys and Longhorns signed two of the country’s top 5-star prospects who are already projected first-round picks in the 2021 NBA Draft, Weber put together a class that Bob Huggins believes has the Wildcats positioned well for the future.

“I think they got the best young group in our league,” Huggins said. “Their freshmen are talented.”

Seeing how the Wildcats (5-10, 1-6 Big 12) have lost five straight by an average of 15 points a game, you may not have noticed Nijel Pack shooting 38% from 3-point range or Selton Miguel averaging 8.5 points per game or 7-footer Davion Bradford averaging six rebounds over his last six games.

Pack has missed the last three games dealing with COVID-19 issues and is likely out of Saturday’s 4 p.m. game against the No. 14 Mountaineers (9-4, 2-3).

“It’s probably doubtful, to be honest,” Weber said Thursday during a Zoom conference. “You know he would love to play, but we have protocols, and you don’t want to put a young man at risk in the long run with anything happening.”

Still, K-State is very much in rebuilding mode. The Wildcats graduated four senior starters after winning the 2019 Big 12 regular-season title and have gone 4-21 in Big 12 play since.

There is just one holdover from that championship team — senior guard Mike McGuirl, who leads K-State in scoring this season at 11.7 points per game — while everyone else either graduated or transferred.

The rebuilding process began with signing promising 6-3 guard DaJuan Gordon out of Chicago in 2019. He started 11 times and scored a season-high 15 points in the Wildcats’ 84-68 upset against WVU last season as a freshman at Bramlage Coliseum.

Adding Pack, Bradford and Miguel — three 4-star recruits, according to Rivals.com — a year later was a second step taken by Weber and the Wildcats.

“I think they get better and better with each game they play, as their youth continues to gain experience,” Huggins said. “They did a great job recruiting. I watch them play and I’m looking at some of those guys they were able to recruit in a day when nobody pays attention to anybody that’s not, allegedly, a top 100 recruit. These guys are good.”

Or, they will be good.

At the moment, teams are shooting 48.3% from the field against K-State, the highest percentage allowed in the Big 12 and no one in the conference has allowed more than the 116 3-pointers the Wildcats have given up this season.

But, as for Weber’s and K-State’s future … “They’re talented,” Huggins said. “If they can all stay together, he’s going to have a heck of a team here in a few years.”

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