By Greg Echlin

For two seasons, Marcus Foster was Kansas State’s leading scorer before head coach Bruce Weber faced no alternative than to kick him off the team. Three years after the book was closed on Foster’s Wildcat career, K-State put the final nail on his collegiate career with a 69-59 victory over Creighton.

Calling it “one of the more interesting stories” in his coaching career, Creighton coach Greg McDermott, who says he considers Weber a good friend, was apprehensive about taking on Foster as a transfer.

“He (Weber) did not recommend it,” recalled McDermott when thinking back to whether or not he wanted to add Foster to his Bluejays roster.

Foster had changed between his freshman and sophomore seasons at Kansas State. Not for the better. He wasn’t the same person as the freshman who took the Big 12 by surprise when he led the Wildcats in scoring (15.5 ppg average).

From knowing Foster since high school when he recruited him in Wichita Falls, Texas, McDermott decided to take a chance on Foster based on a meeting with Foster’s mom. “Having her look at me and say, ‘I want my son back. Can you get my son back?’ With her help, we were able to do it.”

After sitting out a year due to transfer rules, Foster had two productive years for the Bluejays with 1,293 points, the most by a two-year player in Bluejays history. But Foster, after being scoreless at halftime against Kansas State, was held to five points in the Bluejays season-ending loss. It was his lowest scoring total in his two years at Creighton.

“It’s going to be one of my greatest achievements to take a chance on somebody
that maybe a lot of people wouldn’t have taken a chance on, and to be able to look at those people that didn’t take a chance on him in the face and say, ‘You know what? We did it.’ ” said McDermott, when reflecting on the resurrection of Foster’s career.

While McDermott played a part in Foster’s resurgence for his junior and senior seasons, the Wildcats wound up having a final say on Foster’s collegiate career.