College Career
Beasley began his freshman year at Kansas State in the fall of 2007. In the 2007–2008 regular season, Beasley was one of the most dominant players in the country. His 26.2 points (third-leading) and nation-leading 12.4 rebounds were the most by a Big 12 player in any season. His 866 total points and 408 rebounds ranked third and second among all freshmen in NCAA history. He also led the nation in double-doubles (28), 40-point games (three), 30-point, 10-rebound games (13), and 20-point, 10-rebound games (22). His 28 double-doubles broke the freshman double-double record previously held by Carmelo Anthony who had 22 double-doubles in his only season at Syracuse in 2002–03. On February 23, 2008, Beasley scored a Big 12 record 44 points in a 86–92 loss at Baylor. (This mark has since been matched by Kansas State's Denis Clemente.) Beasley became known as an unstoppable force when shooting, finishing the season shooting 53.7 percent from the field (282 of 525). He also finished the season shooting 39.5 percent from 3-point range.
Beasley holds 30 Kansas State career, single-season and freshman records as well as 17 Big 12 single-game and single-season marks. Beasley guided the Wildcats to a 20–10 record and a 10–6 Big 12 Conference record. Some of the key conference victories were a win at Oklahoma and, a home victory against Texas A&M, and a victory against then-unbeaten No. 2 Kansas, marking the first time in over four years that Kansas State defeated a Top 10 team at home (Kansas State beat No. 10 Texas, 58–48 on March 6, 2004), the first time K-State beat Kansas in Manhattan since 1983 and the first-ever victory against the Jayhawks in Bramlage Coliseum. The win partially backed up a boast he had made before the season about K-State's prospects against the Jayhawks:
| “ | We're going to beat Kansas at home. We're going to beat them in their house. We're going to beat them in Africa. Wherever we play, we're going to beat them. | ” |
On March 1, 2008, his boast did not come true, as Kansas won the return match in Lawrence, 88–74 despite 39 points and 11 rebounds from Beasley. He matched a Big 12 record by equaling former Kansas player Drew Gooden's record for most double-doubles in a season (25). With his 33-point, 14-rebound effort against Colorado on March 4, he eclipsed Mitch Richmond's 20-year-old school single-season points record (768; 1987–88), while he broke the Big 12 record for double-doubles in a season with his 26th for the year. He is just the 27th player in NCAA Division I history to post 26 or more double-doubles in a season and the first since Utah's Andrew Bogut (26) did it in 2004–05.
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Famous quotes related to college career:
“In looking back over the college careers of those who for various reasons have been prominent in undergraduate life ... one cannot help noticing that these men have nearly always shown from the start an interest in the lives of their fellow students. A large acquaintance means that many persons are dependent on a man and conversely that he himself is dependent on many. Success necessarily means larger responsibilities, and responsibilities mean many friends.”
—Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945)