Did Coleman Hawkins Walk Into Wrong Situation At Kansas State?
Coleman Hawkins left the Illinois Fighting Illini to play for Kansas State this season.
Some believe he should have stayed, as the Wildcats are now 6-4 and rank near the bottom of the Big 12. College basketball fanatic Greg Waddell defended Hawkins' effort and player tier but believes he should have gone another direction.
"I think there are other places Coleman could've gotten paid that wouldn't be this," Waddell said in the latest episode of the Sleepers Media podcast. "Part of this is the connotation of 'Coleman doesn't care; he's just a bag chaser.' He really cares, Coleman is a competitor. I think in Coleman's mind, he thought there was gonna be a good team here somewhere, and for reasons that are outside his control, there isn't. So this is probably gonna get more toxic."
During his four seasons at Illinois, the team won two Big Ten titles and appeared in four NCAA Tournaments. They made a run to the Elite Eight last season, where Hawkins averaged 12.1 points, 1.5 steals, and 6.1 rebounds.
Safe to say it's looking grim for the Wildcats in comparison. It's still early in the season, but many fans and analysts are already starting to hit the panic button on K-State.
But despite the outside noise, Hawkins is looking ahead to shift the direction of the season.
"It's us versus everybody, and we can control what we can control," Hawkins said after the Drake loss. "All the other stuff we'll just have to tune out and lock in the rest of the way come conference play."
Jayden Armant is a graduate of the Howard University School of Communications and a contributor to Kansas State Wildcats on SI. He can be reached at jaydenshome14@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter @jaydenarmant.
Jayden is a journalism school graduate of Howard University. He was the 2024 recipient of the Terez Paylor scholarship award. He previously worked at the Orlando Sentinel.