Jacob Pullen may never lose his K-State scoring record. He has mixed feelings on that

More than a decade has passed since Jacob Pullen became the leading scorer in Kansas State basketball history.

How much longer will he remain immortalized atop the school’s record books?

Good question.

Pullen was asked about that when he returned to campus this week and prepared for his induction into the K-State Sports Hall of Fame. He’s starting to think his 2,132 career points may never be topped.

“Not with the transfer portal,” Pullen said.

Pullen, who is currently playing for a professional team in Italy, didn’t always have this much confidence in his scoring record. After all, he topped Mike Evans by just 17 points back in 2011. But Barry Brown only scored 1,781 points during his storied K-State career. Dean Wade only managed 1,510.

Now that players rarely spend four years at the same college, Pullen’s record might be untouchable.

“After I first graduated I saw Marcus Foster and was like, ‘That boy can score.’ And he got it right away,” Pullen said. “As a freshman, I only averaged like 10 points. I played with good players so I didn’t get right to it. Marcus got right to it. And then there was Nijel Pack. He could really score. But, like I said, there was the transfer portal. I might have this record for 100 years. The loyalty thing is not the same.”

To be clear, Pullen was in no way criticizing Foster for leaving K-State to finish his career at Creighton. Nor was he speaking poorly of Pack for transferring to Miami. He was simply pointing out how much college basketball has changed since his playing days under Frank Martin.

Truth be told, Pullen wasn’t sold on K-State after his freshman season. Who knows? Maybe he would have transferred if NIL payments and unlimited transfers were available to him at the time.

Other schools were apparently interested in him.

“Me and Frank had some big fights,” Pullen said. “I was really thinking about leaving. Mike Brey at Notre Dame was calling. Sean Miller at Xavier was calling. I was really contemplating leaving, because I didn’t know if me and Frank were going to be able to mesh. I remember that summer we talked. He looked me in the face and said, ‘If you put in the work you’ll play basketball. If you think that I’m going to give it to you, you’ll sit on the bench.

“From that point on I put in the work and I did everything that he asked me to do. I believed in his system and I believed in what he was telling me. We had a great relationship after that. But I think the way college basketball is now, and the way everybody wants instant success, (things are different).”

Pullen has mixed feelings on the current status of college hoops.

Records are made to be broken. Proud as he is to own the K-State scoring title, it’s sad to think about no one ever potentially challenging it in his lifetime.

That being said, he thinks one current K-State player could pose a threat.

“You know who has a chance? The one who is coming in (freshman David) Castillo,” Pullen said. “He is really good. I watched him play. He gives me loyalty vibes. After playing for Clent Stewart (in high school), I would believe he’s one of the most loyal kids in this day and time. If somebody can do it, he’s got four years to do it. I believe he might, unless he goes to the NBA early.”

The more Pullen talked about this topic, the more fired up he became.

He said it won’t be long before K-State basketball players are transferring to KU, and vice versa. After experiencing the Sunflower Showdown for four years and beating the Jayhawks in some memorable games, he says “there’s nothing you could do to make me put on a KU jersey.”

It’s wild for him to think some may feel differently.

Still, he is jealous of current players because he was unable to cash in on his wildly popular “fear the beard” slogan when he was in college. He thinks he could have made millions in NIL money on that one.

Instead, he played during a time when he got suspended as a senior for accepting a discount on clothes that he purchased from Dillard’s.

“Times have changed, that’s for sure,” Pullen said. “But if I could do it all over I’m still a four-year guy. That’s just who I am. I wasn’t dirt poor growing up, so money doesn’t change me. I play basketball because I love it.”