One Year Ago, K-State's Coleman Hawkins Helped Clinch Big Ten Championship With Illinois
Kansas State's elimination from the NCAA Tournament leaves the players watching their peers from the sideline.
Forward Coleman Hawkins reflected on brighter times, posting a photo on Instagram of him winning the Big Ten championship with Illinois on this day last year. Hawkins had seven points, six rebounds, and three assists in the conference clincher over Wisconsin.
The Fighting Illini reached the Elite Eight last season before losing to the eventual NCAA champion UConn Huskies.
The question of Hawkins' departure from Illinois lingered all season as Kansas State slowly depleted. A six-game winning streak temporarily reciprocated negative comments, but the season-ender against Baylor sealed the deal. Hawkins left a rising Illinois team that earned its fifth straight NCAA Tournament bid earlier this week. The team is the sixth seed in the Midwest region and will face Texas or Xavier on Friday night.
Still, Hawkins expressed no regret in his decision to join the Wildcats but wished he had a more significant impact upon arrival.
"These guys haven't experienced some of the things I've experienced," Hawkins said after the Baylor loss last Wednesday. "I really wanted to come in and impact the program. I'm sorry for crying, but this s*** hurts. I really wanted to come in and impact the program; the outcome just wasn't what we wanted. If someone asked me if I regret coming here, I'd tell them I don't regret it."
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.