Creighton Picks Up Kansas State Transfer

After having a rough season at Kansas State that ended in a dismissal, 6’2″ shooting guard Marcus Foster has committed to the Creighton Blue Jays after visiting the school this past weekend.

Foster averaged 15.5 points per game and earned All-Big 12 second team honors during his promising freshman season but instead of improving, the Texas native only averaged 12.5 points per game this past season (KSU went 15-17 overall and missed the NCAA Tournament).

As a high school senior, Marcus Foster chose the Wildcats over the Blue Jays after holding other offers from California, Lehigh, Oklahoma and SMU. The Hirschi High School recruit was labeled as only a three-star player but has developed into a willing scorer who can create his own shot at will.

Now Foster believes that a new scenery and the help of Greg McDermott, who he has had a relationship with for the last few years, will help him overcome his rough sophomore slump.

Foster was suspended by head coach Bruce Weber in February (three games) after violating team rules and he was also benched in games against Oklahoma State and Georgia.

According to the Omaha World-Herald, there could be some reasoning behind Foster’s benching and suspension.

The Kansas City Star speculated that Weber took the action after seeing a picture Foster posted on social media from spring break. The picture was of Foster, Harris and a fake iguana. Foster bragged in the caption that the pair was “lit on the beach.”

Despite the issues Foster has had with Weber, this is a huge addition, not only for Creighton but for the Big East. After the loss of Doug McDermott to the NBA, the Blue Jays struggled finishing ninth in the conference and lost in the quarterfinals of the Big East Tournament against Georgetown.

The Jays are trying to make up for the loss of their big name players, McDermott, Ethan Wragge and Austin Chatman, by showing a strong ability to connect on the transfer market (Maurice Watson from Boston University and Cole Huff from Nevada are eligible in 2015-16 after sitting out a year).

Foster is unable to play for a season due to the NCAA’s academic transfer rules but can practice and will have two remaining seasons of eligibility starting in 2016-17.

On the flip side, Kansas State is expected to have a whole new team this season as Foster was among three players dismissed this offseason, Tre Harris and Malek Harris, while two other youngsters, Nigel Johnson and Javon Thomas, plan to transfer. The Wildcats have a seven man recruiting class that is led by four-star center from Jacksonville, Eric Cobb, but they will greatly miss Foster’s production.

The State of College Basketball

College basketball TV ratings are at an all-time high, but the NCAA is failing to produce professional level basketball players due to the slowed-down style of play. Dallas Mavericks owner, Mark Cuban is among many disappointed in the current style of play in college hoops.

"If they want to keep kids in school and keep them from being pro players, they're doing it the exact right way by having the 35-second shot clock and having the game look and officiated the way it is," Cuban stated, per Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com. "Just because kids don't know how to play a full game of basketball."

Cuban's points, though extreme, have statistical merit. College basketball scoring is down to its lowest rate since the pre-shot clock era. College programs see more success slowing the pace of play significantly, using most of the 35-second shot clock and stringing out the length of possessions. Out of this year's the Final Four teams, Duke was the only one ranked higher than 200 in tempo, according to KenPom.com.

Cuban went on to say that the style of college play is worse than high school. "You've got 20 to 25 seconds of passing on the perimeter and then somebody goes and tries to make a play and do something stupid, and scoring's gone down."

Before Cuban commented on the state of college basketball, University of Connecticut head women's basketball coach, Geno Auriemma called men's basketball a "joke" and that it is not doing enough to emphasize the development of offensive skills of its players.

"The bottom line is that nobody can score, and they'll tell you it's because of great defense, great scouting, a lot of team work, nonsense, nonsense," stated Auriemma.

To combat the slowed pace of play, the NCAA experimented with a 30-second shot clock in the NIT and CBI tournaments. More professional basketball ambassadors will likely weigh in on this issue to try and get the NCAA to make more rule changes to better develop its athletes into NBA ready players