I said recently that it's still a little strange talking about Kansas State as a national powerhouse in basketball. But with the preseason No. 1 tag along with one of the top players in the conference, expectations have changed drastically. Generally when you start winning you start to see more fans coming out of the wood works.
Martin says that hasn't been the case with Kansas State. He says that's because they've been rabid since day one.
I think it is the same. I remember the first day I was on campus. I was eating dinner, Coach Huggins, myself, Dalonte Hill, who had just flown in to accept the job, we were at a restaurant in Aggieville and there was a herd of people standing outside taking pictures of the restaurant. And the first time we went out for Midnight Madness, we were finishing up our first practice ever at K-State and they opened them doors and then, I mean, 10,000 people body surfing down the bleachers to get to the front row and it hasn't stopped since.
Huggins may have helped kick things off at K-State a few years ago but Martin has done a tremendous job of continuing to push it forward.
When you're talking about how good a program is, you can usually follow the money. And for K-State, the money is being put into the basketball program via a new facility. That should show you how they feel about basketball in Manhattan right now.