K-State

I received a few questions via twitter and e-mail yesterday from readers asking if there was any chance the Big 12 Conference will punish Kansas State basketball coach Frank Martin for the critical comments he made of the officiating crew following a 72-70 loss at Iowa State on Tuesday.

The answer: Maybe.

Last night, feeling particularly snarky, I decided to have a little fun on Twitter and Facebook.

Playing off the notion that a possible Missouri move from the Big 12 Conference to the Southeastern Conference could bring an end to the Missouri-Kansas Border War rivalry in football and basketball, I asked the following question:

“If Mizzou goes to SEC and Kansas refuses to play MU, who is really to blame for ending Border War rivalry? Answer in 3-2-1”

Now some survey specialist would undoubtedly say that I could have phrased the question better.

If preparing for its fourth consecutive game as an underdog weren't enough to fire up the Kansas State football team heading into Saturday’s game at Texas Tech, the 17th-ranked Wildcats can always think back to last year’s frustrating trip to the Pinstripe Bowl for motivation.

More than anything, that’s what wide receiver Chris Harper uses to drive him in practices these days.

If the Big 12 Conference goes bust and Kansas City loses the Big 12 postseason basketball tournament, there is no reason Kansas City’s local college connection between Kansas State, Kansas and Missouri would have to go bust with it.

The Border War football game between Kansas and Missouri could be played as a non-conference opener to the football season.

But Kansas City would then have a real opportunity to keep the local economy booming by reinstituting the fondly remembered Big Six-Seven-Eight (Christmas) Holiday Tournament in basketball.

ABC will telecast the Missouri at Kansas State football game on Oct. 8 and the game is set for a 2:30 p.m. kickoff.

The decision means K-State will appear on ABC in back-to-back weeks. The Wildcats' conference opener against Baylor on Saturday in Manhattan kicks off at 2:30 p.m.

The Wildcats are coming off a 28-24 victory at Miami, Fla., a triumph punctuated with K-State's goal-line stand.

Missouri setter Molly Kreklow and middle blocker/outside hitter Brittney Brimmage as well as well as Kansas State middle blocker Kaitlynn Pelgen out of Olathe South have been picked to the Big 12 Conference preseason volleyball team.

The league also handed out projections for individual honors.

The team, as announced:

Player of the Year: Rachael Adams, Texas, MB, Sr., 6-2, Cincinnati, Ohio
Newcomer of the Year: Hannah Willms, Iowa State, OH, RS Fr., 6-0, Waterloo, Iowa
Freshman of the Year: Khat Bell, Texas, MB.OH, Fr., 6-1, Mesquite, Texas

PRESEASON ALL-BIG 12 TEAM

The Big 12 and Fox are near a deal that would triple the league’s cable television revenue, and a network is it the works that would involve games from schools other than Texas and Oklahoma.

Sports Business Journal reported Monday that the Big 12 and Fox deal would be worth $60 million annually, up from $20 million per year.

Also in the works are discussions with Fox about forming a Big 12 channel for football and basketball as well as non-revenue sports.

Texas already has announced its own network and Oklahoma is planning its own network.

Missouri - despite losing 80-70 at Kansas State on Saturday - remained in the Associated Press Top 25 rankings today, dropping from No. 20 to No. 22.

Kansas State received enough votes to move up to an unofficial No. 29 spot, just out of the rankings.

It was the same in the Coaches' Poll, although there MU fell to No. 24. K-State wound up "unofficially" No. 29 there as well.

If the Wildcats win at Texas tonight you'd think they would be virtually assured of making the Top 25s next week.

Ohio State took over the No. 1 spot in both polls today with Kansas at No. 2.

K-State’s Jacob Pullen scored 11 of his game-high 24 points in 98 seconds from 19:01 to 17:23 in the first half of the Wildcats' 80-70 victory in Manhattan over Missouri.

Missouri’s Marcus Denmon scored eight of his 22 points in 36 seconds from 46 to 10 seconds left in the game.

Bottom line: Too little, too late for Mizzou.

Here’s a shocker. Kansas State basketball players don’t like Missouri basketball players. Top Wildcat Jake Pullen most obviously. Oh, Pullen will kiss up to KU players, but this week – courtesy of GoPowercat.com, the KSU Rivals.com site – practically spit in the eye of the Tigers.