Beasley Sticking with K-State

by Mike Rutherford on Apr 7, 2007 1:54 PM EDT in News

Michael Beasley, the number one high school player in the nation accoridng to rivals.com, will honor the letter-of-intent he signed with Kansas State in November despite Bob Huggins' departure for Morgantown.

After Huggins announced that he was one-and-done in Manhattan on Thursday, rumors circulated that Beasley was looking for a new place to take his game and that Louisville was very high on his list. Beasley's mother, Fatima Smith, squashed those rumors this morning in a telephone interview with The Kansas City Star.

The key, according to Smith, was Dalonte Hill.

Hill was an assistant under coach Bob Huggins with the Wildcats. Huggins left Thursday to become the new coach at West Virginia. On Friday, K-State named assistant Frank Martin as head coach and Hill was promoted to associate head coach.

Hill coached Beasley in AAU basketball, and was an assistant at Charlotte when Beasley committed there. When Hill left for K-State, Beasley de-committed, eventually landing at K-State.

There was concern this week at K-State, though, that Huggins' departure might make Beasley, a 6-foot-9 power forward, change his mind. But his close ties to Hill ensured Beasley indeed will wear the color purple.

"He's happy. He's satisfied," Smith said about her son, who played this season at Notre Dame Prep in Fitchburg, Mass. "We're just glad it turned out this way."

Would have been cool, but oh well, I think he still have some pretty talented guys over 6-8 if I recall correctly.

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