MANHATTAN
Ask 100 college basketball players if they want to be part of their team’s starting lineup and you are likely get 100 identical responses.
But there are rare exceptions when a player will campaign to come off the bench.
Case in point: Kansas State junior forward D.J. Johnson. He was not pleased when Bruce Weber informed him last week that he was moving into the Wildcats’ starting five after 22 games as a reserve.
“I hate starting,” Johnson said Wednesday. “I am so used to coming off the bench. Even now in practice, I still go off with the second group starting off, or at least try to go off with the second group.