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Recruiting rundown: Weber hits recruiting trail running at K-State

bruce-weber

Mike Miller

Since taking over the reins at Kansas State, new coach Bruce Weber has wasted no time on the recruiting trail attempting to start to put his own stamp on the program.

During the early signing period, new South Carolina coach Frank Martin went after size and landed two seven-footers in Robert Upshaw (who has since declared for Fresno State) and Laimonas Chatkevicius, a prep schooler from Connecticut. At this point, Chatkevicius’ future is unknown, leading Weber to pull from the shallow talent pool of remaining uncommitted players.

New assistant coach Chris Lowery was able to help with the Wildcats’ first new score, 6-8 power forward Darrell Johnson, who picked Kansas State over Virginia Tech. Johnson is from the St. Louis-area and has plenty of potential to sculpt from a 6-8, 230 build. Assuming Chatkevicius doesn’t join the team, which seems safe at this point, Johnson should fill the role of depth in the frontcourt that the roster was lacking.

Also, expect Weber to be in the hunt to land a player he signed at Illinois, 6-3 point guard Michael Orris, who was released from his letter of intent from Illini. Orris visited Kansas State over the weekend, and was previously committed to Creighton before inking with Illinois. While Orris isn’t a lock to land at Kansas State, it’s easy to assume that Weber and Kansas State will have the inside track due to the pre-existing relationship.

Kellon Hassenstab runs Hoopniks.com. Follow him on Twitter @hoopniks.