I'll be honest this article and my reasoning for picking Kansas State as my NCAA tournament sleeper is simply because of one man. One 6ft 10in 235 pound who has dominated the college game like few others have (and for the life of me I don't see why people are still picking Tyler Hansbrough for player of the year), and even playing in the tough Big 12, he still put up historic numbers. I don't see that stopping right away in the tournament despite a nice first matchup vs OJ Mayo and USC or even against a solid (yet overrated), Wisconsin team in the next round.
And if things play out ,then he'd face Roy Hibbert and Georgetown in the sweet sixteen. I think B-Easy is the better ball player of the two, but that Georgetown squad is pretty solid and should have the edge on Beasley but you never know.
Beasley averaged 26.5 points during the regular season (3rd in NCAA), and grabbed 12.5 boards a game (1st in NCAA), he broke Carmelo Anthony's double double record (and you know where he took Syracuse during his only college season), and holds 27 Kansas State records, including Mitch Richmond's single season points record.
This is a man who lead Kansas State to a 20-10 record, with key wins over Okalahoma, Texas A&M and then unbeaten Kansas who was ranked # 2.
When you look at what he has done as an individual he reminds of other great college basketball players from that state including Danny Manning (who took Kansas all the way), Xavier McDaniel (the first person ever to lead NCAA in points & rebounds), and dare I say Wlit Chamberlain and his legendary career in Lawrence.
He is also compared to Kevin Durant and his phenomenal career last year at Texas, but B-Easy eclipses his numbers, just in his last four games alone he scored 44, 30, 39 & 33 points and he had a run of 10 straight double doubles.
If there is one guy this year who can put a team on his back its Michael Beasley and Kansas State will go as far as he can take them.
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6 months ago
Good article. What do you think will happen if Kansas faces North Carolina in the Elite Eight or Final Four? I look forward to the game and watching Beasley and your next article.
D. Johnson South Side Chicago
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