Now that basketball season has finally come to an end, allow me to fill you in on something.

Bob Huggins owns you.

He's owned you since Jan. 17 when he criticized fans for not filling the seats at Bramlage Coliseum following K-State's 69-60 win over Baylor.

When Huggins arrived in Manhattan last March, he promised to build a winning team at K-State. After fans scooped up just about every seat prior to the season, it was assumed they would make sure Huggins played to a near-capacity arena every night. It's only fair, right?

Only that didn't happen at first.

For some reason, fans didn't find Cleveland State, Tennessee Tech and Maryland Eastern Shore to be compelling non-conference matchups. Once Big 12 Conference play began, fans didn't seem too pumped about Baylor, either.

And so, Huggins started playing hard-to-get and began complaining about the empty seats. The belief was if fans didn't fill the seats, Huggins would go to a school where they would. After all, if he's going to make K-State basketball a winner again, it's the least fans can do.

Soon enough, fans responded - and if you remember, his criticisms came during his post-game radio show, where he made the "Bennettville" comment. It was at that point Huggins won over the fans, and they pledged their undying support.

That support helped carry K-State to 23 wins, a fourth-place Big 12 finish and a spot in the postseason for the first time since 1999. Now, Huggins wants that support to spill over into the offseason, as signing day looms ahead. In other words, he wants you to look the other way.

The news hit earlier this month that Tyree Evans, a talented, yet allegedly troubled young man from Virginia, had made a verbal commitment to K-State. When Huggins was coach at Cincinnati, Evans planned to join the team in 2004 but was denied because of grades.

Upon arriving at K-State, Huggins immediately wanted to bring Evans to Manhattan, but Evans' questionable background, which included a statutory rape charge, slowed the process. Prior to the case being decided, Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Tim Weiser said the Wildcats were no longer interested in pursuing Evans.

"In my opinion, the fit was not going to be a good one," Weiser told The Kansas City Star in its July 14, 2006, edition. "I shared that with Coach (Huggins), and he agreed."

However, Evans reached a plea agreement soon after and pleaded guilty on a lesser charge of assault and battery. He is now on two years' probation. With the case resolved, Weiser backtracked on his comments, indicating he would re-evaluate Evans' situation.

In the meantime, Evans decided to enroll at Butler County Community College but was dismissed by coach Randy Smithson in early January for "conduct detrimental to the team's cohesiveness."

And K-State's still interested? Oh, I sure hope not - too risky.

Having seen these types of situations before, I understand K-State fans probably will be on two different sides of the fence. One side will marvel at Evans' jump shot and scoring ability, the other side will scream about morals and use words like "integrity."

None of that's important, though. That's because no matter how you feel, Huggins is counting on you - his trusty fans and supporters - to clam up and lay low until Evans is in a Wildcat uniform. You need to keep quiet while Huggins uses his best sales pitch to talk Weiser into signing off on his latest project.

Guess we'll find out soon enough if Huggins owns Weiser, too.

Jeffrey Rake is a junior in print journalism. Please send comments to sports@spub.ksu.edu.