Kansas State's Coleman Hawkins Calls Out Fan Base For Criticism
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The Kansas State basketball program has dealt with scrutiny before the season began.
It has only continued with the slow start to the season. It reached a boil earlier this week after a loss to Drake. Forward Coleman Hawkins, who transferred from Illinois in the offseason, reacted to the criticism from the Wildcats fan base.
"It's us versus everybody. I can't go on my phone without people wishing the worst for me, not just for me but my team," Hawkins said. "It devastates me. I just went on my phone and saw someone say, `I hope you break your leg.' ... that's the kind of stuff our team has been dealing with all year."
The Wildcats have endured criticism because of the money they reportedly spent on NIL deals. There were reports of Hawkins receiving nearly $2 million to transfer. They also hauled in Dug McDaniel from Michigan and a few other high-profile transfers.
Hawkins said he was disappointed by the fan reaction because it's so early in the season.
"It affects me so much because I don't wish that upon my worst enemy," Hawkins said. "We go out. We practice every day. We play hard. We're doing the best we can ... We can control what we can control and all the other stuff we'll just have to tune out and lock in the rest of the way come conference play."
Shandel Richardson is the publisher of Kansas State Wildcats On SI. He can be reached at shandelrich@gmail.com
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Shandel has covered the NBA since 2010, with previous stops at The Athletic and South Florida Sun-Sentinel. He has covered six NBA Finals, one Super Bowl, the NCAA basketball tournament. He has also been a beat writer for the Miami Hurricanes and contributed on every major beat in South Florida since 2003, including the Miami Dolphins and Miami Marlins. He can also be read in the Sportsbook Review for gambling coverage from around the NBA. A native of Bloomington, Illinois, Shandel attended Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. He's also worked for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and Kansas City Star. TWITTER: @ShandelRich EMAIL: shandelrich@gmail.com You can subscribe to our YouTube channel here Follow all of our Miami Heat coverage on Facebook here