Kansas State coach Frank Martin has some good stuff to say in the piece from the Kansas City Star as they gear up to play at #2 Kansas:Faced with one of the biggest games in program history, most coaches would try to downplay the significance, worried how the added pressure would come down on 18-to-22-year-old players.
Not Martin.
The volcanic coach wants his players to understand exactly what they're facing. Wants them embrace the pressure. Wants them to be ready for the reward on the other side.
Martin has, after all, prepared them for this moment since the day they arrived in the Little Apple, through all those demanding practices, the screaming, those us-against-the-world speeches.
Martin told his players the truth about Wednesday's game because he knows they can handle it.
"Telling them this is the biggest game they've played, why is that negative pressure?" Martin said. "I look at as great pressure, that their hard work has paid off, that they've put themselves in that conversation that something great can happen to this basketball team."
It's not about making things easy. You make things easy, you're cheating them," Martin said. "You've got to make them difficult. You've got to be real with them. You've got to be honest with them. Life is about pressure. If you can't handle pressure, you're going to have a hard life."
