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But even Pullen got tired of heading home to Chicago, only to hear his friends predict gloom and doom for the Wildcats without their NBA-bound star players.
"It wasn't the expectation," Pullen said. "Most people just knew we would (fall off).
"I'd go home and people all the time would say, 'Man, you all are screwed this year. You don't got Mike and Bill, what are y'all going to do?' "
Pullen's response?
"I guess when we played on ESPN last year, Mike and Will were the only two players out there," he said. "Once they left, everybody that was here knew that we had to pick up the slack.
"We all figured out that now's the time to prove that it wasn't just Mike and Bill. They did a great amount last year, but it wasn't just them."
An early 5-0 record has K-State on the way toward forging a new identity, but a pair of marquee victories this weekend in Las Vegas would go a lot further. The Wildcats face Kentucky (2-2) at 11 tonight, then either West Virginia or Iowa on Saturday in the Las Vegas Invitational at the Orleans Arena.
"It will give us a chance to go out and really prove ourselves and really prove that K-State basketball is back up now," said Pullen, who as a sophomore leads the Wildcats with 14.8 points and 4.6 assists per game. "It's not the slump that maybe they went through for a few years, but we're here.
"As long as Frank (Martin) is here, he's going to continue to bring in good players, and K-State basketball is going to be something to deal with."
After knocking off Cleveland State on the road (69-59 on Saturday) and Oakland at home (83-64 Tuesday) in the past week, Martin said he is getting a feel for his team.
"Last year we had two pros and I didn't know what to expect from our basketball team at this time last year," he said. "We hadn't been through it before.
"We've been through it together now. The reason they're here is because I trust them and we want to be challenged."
Kentucky, despite a 2-2 start under second-year coach Billy Gillispie, has the kind of name recognition that will make people take notice. So do West Virginia (3-0), under former K-State coach Bob Huggins, and Iowa (5-0).
K-State won the Vegas tournament two years ago in Huggins' only season at the helm.
"They played hard and that's the thing that we want to do," said Pullen, who was not part of that team. "We want to go back and get another trophy.
"We'll take it one game at a time and hopefully we'll play well against Kentucky and face our next opponent and win the trophy."
For K-State, Pullen is one of five players scoring in double figures on average. Guard Denis Clemente adds 13.4 points a game, backup forward Jamar Samuels 11.0, forward Dominique Sutton 10.4 points and 7.0 rebounds and reserve guard Fred Brown 10 points.
Junior guard Jodie Meeks leads Kentucky with 24.3 points a game, followed 6-foot-9 sophomore forward Patrick Patterson with 16.0 points, 8.5 rebounds and 3.8 assists.
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