Pullen Pun Here

He's Pullen his own weight.
He's Pullen the Wildcats to victory.
He's Pullen K State back to the tournament.

However you want to say it (and many media outlets had their punny ways of saying it), Jacob Pullen was the man yesterday as Kansas State finally lived up to the wild expectations they had at the beginning of the year. The Wildcats came out with the energy that they have been lacking all year, jumping out to a 29-16 lead with 8:36 left in the 1st half and never letting that lead slip away. When the buzzer sounded, it was pandemonium on the court and an 84-68 score on the scoreboard.

This game has got me thinking, is Kansas State going to be the most compelling bubble team in years?

K-State has undeniable talent, but the fact is they've lost to suddenly decent Colorado twice, Oklahoma State, and UNLV among 5 other teams. None of those losses are unforgivable, but they beg the question of how this team can be expected to put together enough consistent performances in the tournament to make it deep into March. We'll find out a lot on February 28th when K-State travels to Austin to play the Longhorns that are in line to be number one in the country on Monday if they can keep up their winning ways.

That game will be pretty ironic, seeing as K-State has drawn comparisons to last years Texas basketball team. Though, perhaps those comparisons are unfair.

Recall that last year's Texas squad started the year at 15-0 before spiraling into mediocrity. This year's K-State started off the year failing to live up to expectations with 8 losses before February. Now, perhaps they're getting their shit together. Yesterday's blowout of #1 KU will certainly do a lot to gather said shit.

K-State is now staring at a probable 8 or 9 seed and a second round date with either Duke or Pitt (they won't be put in the same region as Texas or KU). And wouldn't a rematch with Duke do a lot to measure if this K-State team has improved?

Whoever K-State plays in the first round of the tournament, they will be overwhelming favorites in Vegas despite being a similar seed. I would not bet against them either.

Perhaps, this is a situation that's exactly the opposite of what we saw with Texas last year. Perhaps, Kansas State is finally finding out how to turn all of that talent into wins just in time. Perhaps, Jacob Pullen is going to finish the season playing like the superstar we expected him to be. Perhaps, you're tired of the word perhaps.

I think this team gets it done in March.

They'll need some help from Rodney MacGruder, Jamar Samuels, and Curtis Kelly.

Jacob can't be Pullen the whole team by himself.