Let's see if I still remember how to do this -- it's been a while since I've last done this as I have been vacationing a little long.

But let's move on. I haven't talked about basketball much to this point, which is sad, considering we are 17 games into K-State's schedule and conference play is in full swing. But I am into the thick of things.

I am an eternal optimist. Yeah, I am one of those guys that thought the Wildcats would be able to overcome the loss of four starters, two of which are currently in the NBA, and still be okay.

Part of me saw how down the Big 12 Conference is this year. I witnessed Big 12 North teams like Nebraska lose to the University of Maryland-Baltimore County. I saw Iowa State drop a game at home against South Dakota State and Colorado lose to Montana State.

So, using logic, I said to myself the Wildcats should probably gather seven wins from North division teams, and they still could, but it doesn't look likely at this point.

You see, the Wildcats like coach Frank Martin, have a collective chip on their shoulder. They felt disrespected by media members after their 11-3 nonconference schedule.

And yeah, K-State looked great in its six mop-up games to wrap up the nonconference part of its schedule, beating inferior opponents by an average of 31.5 points per game. K-State's defensive intensity was able to overwhelm and overmatch those teams.

Unlike last year, we saw a balanced team during the stretch, not one primarily centered around Michael Beasley and Bill Walker (see Baylor game last year). Six different players scored at least 20 points in a game during the first 14 games. Everything looked great on paper.

But what I've seen in K-State's last three games is a team that lacks a leader. When things are going bad -- it's really bad. There is no one on this team that steps up and takes the bull by the horns, so to speak. The Wildcats don't have someone that seems capable of stepping up and hitting a big shot and stopping the bleeding.

Sure the balance looked great early in the year. But you need a guy that can step up for your team -- a go-to-guy.

KU has Sherron Collins. Texas has A.J. Abrams and Oklahoma has Blake Griffin. All good teams have a go-to-guy. Balance doesn't mean you're going to be a great team. Balance works at North Carolina, but that's because it has a tremendously talented starting five and bench.

The first signs of trouble should have came against Oregon, a team that has yet to win a game in the Pac 10 Conference.

But then there was Oklahoma. The Sooners used a 10-0 run, fueled by seven K-State turnovers in the final 2:39 of the first half to take control of a game that K-State seemingly had its handle on.

It continued when the Wildcats looked completely overmatched in the first six minutes in Lawrence and fell behind 18-0. Sure, they did a nice job of coming back and cutting the Jayhawk lead to three with 15:42 remaining in the game, but the Wildcats, like any team that falls behind by a large lead, expended all of their energy up trying to come back and KU eventually recaptured control of the game in the 87-71 victory.

What's baffling is the Wildcats' defensive lapses. They allowed a season-high 87 points while the Jayhawks couldn't miss, hitting 58.3 percent of their shots in the game.

And then, there's Nebraska. Everyone knows that Nebraska wins ugly. They primarily play five guards at once and are a gritty team that will get in opponents' shorts and can be frustrating.

Nebraska tries to "muddy the game up." But what it did to K-State was embarrassing for purple-clad eyes to watch.

A large run, this time a 12-0 run, led to the Wildcats demise to go along with 17 first half turnovers and a season-high 25 total in the game.

K-State was beat continuously on simple backdoor "V-cuts." Then, when Martin went to the 2-3 zone to cut down on that, the Wildcats got lit up from the outside, as Cornhusker walk on Paul Velander hit six threes, with every singly one of them coming from the corner. The Cornhuskers hit 10-of-18 from beyond the arc and shot over 50 percent as a team from the floor.

Perhaps the thing that surprised me most was the lineup the Wildcats were putting on the floor. At one point, K-State had Luis Colon, Jamar Samuels and Darren Kent on the floor at the same time against a lineup that didn't have a player over 6-foot-5 in the game.

Dominique Sutton did not play in the second half and only played four minutes total, as it appears he has bought out some space in Martin's doghouse.

Jacob Pullen once again struggled and is now just 3-of-22 from 3-point range in the last three games, a surprising mark for the team's leader in scoring.

The backcourt hasn't played nearly as well as K-State fans hoped it would. It was once thought to be the strength of the team but with the amount of turnovers of late, it's hard to justify that.

K-State is a team that has to have its guards play well. Night in and night out, the Wildcat guards must outperform the opponents' backcourt, because let's face it, the Wildcats frontcourt players are somewhat average at this point.

And when the K-State guards don't play well, it's going to be ugly and the Wildcats won't win very many games when that happens.

K-State is getting beat at its own game. The Wildcats preditate on forcing turnovers, but in the first three conference games, it is the K-State players who are turning it over.

Someone has to step up soon for K-State, or it could be a lonely March for K-State fans.