He wasn’t on anybody’s pre-season All Big 12 list but they need to make room for Dean Wade because he has become one of the best big men in the conference.
Is he a center? Is he a forward? Is he a guard? No. He’s SUPERMAN! Wade can, and does, play all of those positions for Kansas State which is the very reason he makes my all-conference team. Who in the Big 12 is more valuable to their team than Wade is for the Wildcats? Perhaps only Devonte Graham of Kansas but Graham can’t/doesn’t go inside and pound with the big boys!
Wade leads K-State in scoring (over 16ppg), rebounding (over 6rpg) and ranks third in assists per game (nearly 3apg). Following Kansas State’s easy win over Iowa State last Saturday, the Cyclones’ head coach Steve Prohm said, “We simply don’t match up well against K-State. We don’t have anybody that can guard Wade. He can go inside or outside. He’s a matchup nightmare for us.”
As the network talkers like to say, “Wade’s from teeny tiny little St.John, Kansas. Of course all of us in this part of the teeny tiny world know all about Wade and his basketball skills as we watched him develop over the years. Now the Big 12 and the rest of the country are finding out.
Make room for Dean Wade on that all-conference team. He belongs there. In a guard-oriented league, Wade stands tall. Add KU’s Devonte Graham, West Virginia’s Jevon Carter, Texas Tech’s Keenan Evans and Iowa State’s Lindell Wigginton and you have an explosive first-team but Wade is the only one that can play any position. Make room for Dean Wade.
CHALK TALK
— The NBA is patting themselves on the back following this past weekend’s All-Star game. They feel they “found a format that works”. To all of you who weren’t paying attention (most of the world) they elected two captains-LeBron James and Stephen Curry-and then played “choose-up”, like we did when we were kids, to make up the two teams. The NBA said this resulted in a game where the guys were “serious about winning”. Uh, sorry. I don’t think so.
— OK Royals fans, dry the tears. Eric Hosmer is officially gone to the San Diego Padres (why he would want to play there, I don’t know) and he had to rent a U Haul to carry the money. $20 million a year for seven years or something like that. That, more than any other thought, should let you know that our Royals are now officially in a rebuilding, retooling mode. Get ready for a flood of bright young prospects and a year or two of losing.
— Yes Virginia, the Shockers ARE for real!
— Didja know that in 1960, native Kansan Bill Disney won silver in the men’s 500 meters speed skating at the 1960 Winter Olympic games?
— Yogi Berra was famous for his line, “It ain’t over ‘til it’s over.” Toronto Blue Jays manager Cito Gaston once offered this beauty, “Hey, this isn’t over until they beat us tomorrow!”
— Major League baseball made a few rules changes this week to try to speed up the game but they were only small tokens as they did not shorten the time allowed to warm up between innings and pitches. They have to protect those hot dog vendors that need to have three-plus hours to get rid of all of those $8 hot dogs!
— Did you know that your Kansas City Royals are named after a bunch of cows? Well, kind of. “Royals” was the winner in a “name the team” contest in 1969. “Royals was a nod to Kansas City’s large-scale cattle business and the nationally known American Royal Livestock and Horse Show.
Buddy Tabler is a guest columnist for the Great Bend Tribune and his views don’t necessarily reflect those of the paper. He can be reached at budtabler@gmail.com.
