The Week in Review, 5/13

Unfortunately, this week I'm relying heavily on outside sources for the news, because I've been in Omaha all weekend. First, a quick self-indulgent shoutout to my sister for graduating from college this weekend. A big accomplishment, and even more impressive because of other considerations. Way to go!

Ok, now on to the week in K-State sports...

Baseball

It was the story of the season in one weekend for Coach Hill and the Bat Cats at Tointon this weekend. The #11 Texas A&M Aggies paid a visit to the Little Apple, giving the Cats a golden opportunity to solidify their place in the field of 64. And the team tried to do just that, but came up just a little short. On Friday, it was a hard-fought 4-2 loss. On Saturday, a bitter 2-1 defeat. But in typical fashion this season, the team didn't quit, and came alive in an 11-6 victory today to salvage the weekend.

It was again a light week in the Big 12, with only three conference series being played. Seems to me like each team should get one of the two weekends around finals week off, but that's just me. Anyway, here are the updated standings.

1. Texas, 18-6 (Idle)
2. Oklahoma State, 15-8 (Swept Texas Tech, 3-0)
3. Missouri, 15-8 (Beat Oklahoma, 2-1)
4. Texas A&M, 13-9 (Beat K-State, 2-1)
5. Nebraska, 11-12 (Beat Baylor, 2-1)
6. K-State, 9-13 (Lost to Texas A&M, 1-2)
7. Oklahoma, 9-14 (Lost to Missouri, 1-2)
8. Baylor, 9-14 (Lost to Nebraska, 1-2)
9. KU, 8-15 (Swept Chicago State in non-conference action)
10. Texas Tech, 7-15 (Swept by Missouri, 0-3)

That leaves us with one weekend remaining in conference play. Next week sees a full slate of conference action, with the following matchups:

Texas A&M at Texas
Missouri at Oklahoma State
Nebraska at KU
K-State at Baylor
Texas Tech at Oklahoma

That means there's a lot at stake at the top of the conference with the top four teams squaring off. Technically, Missouri and Oklahoma State both have a chance to catch UT for the regular-season championship. It would require them to sweep their series and have A&M sweep UT in Austin, which I doubt is going to happen. UT's magic number is 1 to win the conference. Looks like Mizzou and OSU will battle it out for the number two seed.

Texas A&M will likely be the number 4 seed, as its magic number for the four-seed is also 1 (although Nebraska could very well sweep KU and UT COULD sweep A&M, though I doubt it).

Nebraska stands 1.5 games ahead of K-State for the five-spot. By taking two from KU, the Huskers would assure themselves of that spot. It would be nice if the Cats could overtake NU for that five-spot, but just taking the series off Baylor in the hellhole will be hard enough. Our Cats stand only 0.5 games ahead of OU and Baylor for the six-spot in the league. OU has an easy series with Tech coming to Norman, so we can plan on them winning at least two. If we don't take the series off BU, we can plan on at least falling behind them.

K-State owns a 1.5 game lead on KU, who sits in ninth. That's huge, especially considering the beaks play Nebraska, who will likely take the series in Lawrence. It's probably more beneficial to cheer for Nebraska this weekend, because making sure KU can't pass us is more important than improving our seed.

Texas Tech stands 2 games behind K-State, so it's theoretically possible they could catch us, but unlikely considering they travel to Norman and aren't playing worth a damn right now.

So basically, it comes down to this: take the series off Baylor, and we're in the conference tournament, and also won't be the eight seed, which means we don't face Texas in the first round. Also, taking the series keeps us in contention for a spot in the NCAA tournament, which both Rivals and SEBaseball have us in as of last week.

Stay tuned...

Track and Field

Conference championship week in Lincoln brought some decent success for the Track Cats. The men finished 10th and the women 7th in the team standings.

Big congratulations to high jumper Scott Sellers for winning the conference crown in that event, clearing a height of 7'7.75", a conference record. That's damn impressive. Sellers could jump over Yao Ming.

In two weeks, those athletes who have qualified (I'll try to list them this week) will make a return trip to storied Drake Stadium for the Midwest Regionals. Those who perform in Des Moines will move on to Nationals at Sacramento, Calif.

Have a great week everyone. The updates should be more frequent now that exams are over.

No news can be good news

There really isn't much happening in Wildcatland right now, which can make for a boring blog spot. However, I guess in a lot of ways, it's better than having a lot going on, as the Huskers can surely attest to.

I can only hope we get through the summer without having any of our athletes getting into the same type of trouble as Maurice Purify. As fun as it can be to make fun of black eyes on a program that considers itself the Americana of college football, we always have to remember it can happen to us as well. I spent three summers in Manhattan and had a great time, but really the only entertainment at night is to go down to Aggieville. Most of the athletes spend the summer in town, and I always saw them at the bars during the summer. Mixing young, potentially aggressive people with alcohol is always a volatile mix.

There has been some basketball recruiting news this week. Frank Martin and Co. picked up Jamar Samuels (from the same AAU team as Michael Beasley and Dominique Sutton), and Victor Dubovitsky, a highly touted European prospect. As you know if you read this page regularly, I don't put a lot of stock in recruiting rankings. Good prospects turn into good players if they put in a lot of work once they get into the program. Usually there's a pretty big step between whatever level the prospect has been playing at and the Big 12 conference level. Of course, I'd rather have supposedly good recruits than bad recruits...

***

Good article on ESPN.com today about the tornadoes in Greensburg. Essentially, it's about how sports may help the town pull through the tragedy and rebuild.

This really shows the spirit of small towns on the Great Plains. I've seen hundreds of them in Nebraska and Kansas. They're all unique in some way, but they're all the same in that they have a huge level of pride. It's really impressive that they want to rebuild considering the town is supposedly 95 percent gone. A 1.7 mile wide tornado swept through a town of 1,600, essentially destroying everything except the courthouse and the grain elevator, and the people want to rebuild.

And for Kathleen Sebelius (the governor of Kansas) and George W. Bush...shut up and take care of the situation. Ms. Sebelius, I agree, the war in Iraq has probably diverted some resources the state would ordinarily have at its discretion. But complaining about it isn't going to change anything. Just get the town the help it needs. And George, stop being so damn defensive about people criticizing you. I know you're a big tough Texan, but just realize that being criticized comes with the territory when you're the leader of the free world. Your war has caused some problems at home that we wouldn't have othersise had to deal with. Neither of those problems is going to go away because you're sparring about it, and while you do so, you could be providing help to the citizens of Kansas who need it.

Ok, that's enough political stuff. You read this blog for other reasons, I'm sure. Take it easy, wish me luck on my one remaining exam, and cheer on those Bat Cats this weekend against Texas A&M. A series win in this one would all but clinch an NCAA tournament berth.

Go Cats

Quick update

Sounds like the Track Cats did pretty well in Lincoln over the weekend, winning six events. You can read the full story here. Here's hoping the good showing in Lincoln creates some momentum for next week's conference championships in...Lincoln.

Thanks for stopping by. Don't expect me back until about Wednesday or so, the next few days are going to be pretty insane.

(Short) Week in Review, 5/6

This will be very abbreviated because I have to get back to the world of actus reus soon.

The baseball team did exactly what it needed to do this weekend against that team from the east. Unfortunately, today's game was rained out by the same storm system that has caused death and destruction on the Great Plains. My condolences to all the people in Greensburg, Kan., who've lost everything they have and the families who lost relatives in the storm.

The Bat Cats continues their late-inning heroics on Friday by plating two runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to take a 2-1 lead. Sounded like a good pitcher's duel between Hutt and Smyth, and in the end closer Daniel Edwards finished it off with two strikeouts and a popout to end it.

No cardiac moments were needed on Saturday as the Cats scored four runs to chase Beak starter Nick Czyz after only 2/3s of an inning. The Cats then held off the birds before pushing across three insurance runs in the eighth for the 7-4 final tally.

It was a light week in the conference, with only three league series. Here are the standings at this point (assuming Missouri holds on against UT and projecting both possibilities for the outcome of tonight's Bedlam finale)...

1. Texas 18-6 (Lost 1-2 to Missouri)
2. Missouri 14-7 (Beat Texas 2-1)
3. Oklahoma State 13-8 -OR- 12-9 (Up 2-0 so far on OU)
4. Texas A&M 11-9 (No conference series, beat up on Dallas Baptist)
5. Nebraska 10-11 (No conference series, lost two to #19 Coastal Carolina in Lincoln)
6. K-State 9-11 (Beat KU 2-0, final game rained out)
7. Oklahoma 9-12 -OR- 8-13 (Down 2-0 to OSU)
8. Baylor 8-13
9. Texas Tech 7-13
10. KU 8-15 (Lost 0-2 to K-State)

That leaves us a full 2 games ahead of ninth-place Texas Tech with only six conference games remaining. Tech finishes with the two Oklahoma schools, while we will be host to Texas A&M next week before finishing up at Baylor. Finishing 3-3 all but locks up a trip to OKC, and we're also looking good to avoid the #8 seed, which would mean a first-round date with Texas.

I don't have time to grab the links right now, but both Rivals and Scout are projecting us to be in the field of 64 for the NCAA tournament. I believe one of them had us playing as a three-seed in the Wichita Regional. In my opinion, that would be huge for us, as we should be able to get a decent crowd in the park and have proven we can beat the Shockers this year.

Have a great week everyone. Sorry, the track team competed in Lincoln at the Nebraska Invite this week (if it didn't rain, that is), but I don't have the results.

Here is exactly why I hate FSN

The K-State vs. KU baseball game is supposed to be shown live nationally on Fox Sports Net today. All my listings here in Houston show "College Baseball: K-State vs. KU" at 3:00 p.m. on channel 31. I was psyched. I studied my ass off this morning so I could watch the game at 3. Then I turn the TV on, and I get...

The fucking Astros.

Not even their 13-0 ass kicking of St. Louis. The game was already over by 3. But freaking Astros live, which does nothing more than allow a bunch of 10th-rate announcers go on TV and talk to a bunch of pro baseball players for an average team in one of the worst divisions in baseball. Apparently we have to cover every aspect of today's yawner in STL. I can sum it up in 5 seconds, and I didn't even watch the game: The Astros played really well, the Cardinals played like smelly butthole. From the score, that's pretty much the gist of it.

And yet, a game that is supposed to be nationally broadcast is pre-empted in my area for a bunch of pointless coverage. This is exactly why FSN should not be the primary (or, God forbid, the sole carrier of Big 12 football games). I'd hate to think of the coverage of potential recruits we could lose if FSN Houston decides it's more important to show some preview of their shitty-ass NFL team's Sunday game rather than a college football game that might be worth watching. You know, it's not like there aren't a million good football recruits in Houston or anything...

And yes, I realize that even the piss-poor Texans are more interesting to the average Houstonian than a K-State football game. Certainly the Astros are more important to 99 percent of Houston than the Sunflower Showdown baseball game. That's not the point. The point is this is supposed to be a national broadcast, and yet in one very important recruiting market for K-State, our game isn't being shown because of our shitty TV deal.

Come on, Kevin Weiberg. Step up and get us a worthwhile carrier for our games. We can't wait much longer, unless we want the Big 12 to be considered on a level with Conference USA.

NCAA APR = BS

The NCAA recently released its new Academic Progress Ratings (APR). K-State came out fairly well, only ranking below the "acceptable" range in two sports, men's basketball and baseball.

It should be noted that just about every respectable baseball program in the nation is below the standard in baseball. I don't know how you can't be. I don't know how baseball players even go to class during the spring semester. They play games pretty much every Wednesday and Friday-Sunday from mid-February on. I would guess they miss an average of three school days per week.

The lower rates for the men's basketball team is somewhat understandable. We had a lot of players transfer out of the program the last few years, which hurts our APR. On the other hand, every single one of our senior's this year graduated (Cartier Martin, Lance Harris, Serge Afeli and Akeem Wright).

Here's some information about APR. The NCAA claims the APR measures "elibigility, retention and graduation." That's where my problem with the APR comes in. It measures retention. Schools lose points for players who transfer, because those players are no longer making progress at that school.

That's ridiculous. Students in all areas of college transfer schools. I almost did, because I wasn't getting enough financial aid and the debt was piling up. Some people transfer because they pursue a new major. Some transfer because their personal situation changes (family, etc.). The average student can have millions of reasons to transfer.

Athletes have about two million reasons to transfer, when you consider they have all the reasons an average student does, plus coaches, facilities, playing time, and just about anything else. There's no shame in transferring. It can happen for a million reasons, and does not necessarily say anything about the instution being left behind.

You don't see the Society of Professional Journalists sitting around and saying, "Hmmm, students in journalism school aren't doing as well as we'd like. Let's institute sanctions on the school if the students don't do well! In particular, let's penalize them every time a student transfers, because that has to mean the school is doing something nefarious." C'mon. The target number is 925, which is somewhere between a 50 and 60 percent graduation rate. The USA Today article does a good job of explaining how APR is calculated: essentially, each player on each team can earn two points: one for staying at the school, and one for staying academically eligible. The NCAA expects each school to get 92.5 percent of those points, thus the 925 target, and a 50-60 percent graduation rate. Only about 56 percent of all K-State students graduate in SIX years. Just my opinion, but considering transfers count against a school, 92.5 is way too high of a percentage.

I'm usually the last guy to defend student athletes. They do put in a lot of work, but they get a lot of help, too. I have no problem with the NCAA trying to prod schools into improving the academic situation of student athletes, but if that's the goal, the means of accomplishing that goal should be substantially related to the ends. Penalizing schools for players who transfer out is insane. I can't find information about this aspect, but I've heard that players who transfer into a program and then graduate from that institution are not counted toward that institution's graduation rate. That also is insane. The school is doing exactly what it's supposed to, graduating students who enroll, and they get no credit. The NCAA has to be the most fucked up organization in the world.

But hey, the Royals won two out of four against the Angels. That's a good sign, right?

Wish me luck tomorrow (exam time!).

Big 12 Civil War

Some of my recent posts have dealt with the horrible conference TV deal we've become stuck with. This has gotten some discussion among fans of the conference, and one strain I've seen is based on the following belief...

The Big 12 sucks.

If you notice the title of my recent post, I share that sentiment to some degree. But here in Texas, the sentiment is that the conference is terrible because the North is dragging the conference down. Now, that's undoubtedly true, especially in football, for the last three seasons or so.

But down here, it's more than that. It's because the conference is 2/3s (I count OU and OSU, because they were original Big 8 members) part of hemorrhaging Plains states that nobody cares about. 'Tis true that a lot of the schools are located in flyover territory, but there was a time when those schools were prominent. Remember Nebraska in the 1990s? Remember K-State between about 1998-2003? Colorado won a national title in the 1990s. In basketball, KU figures prominently in almost any national discussion, Iowa State won a couple conference titles, and Missouri (before Quin reduced the program to ashes) was a solid program. None of the Plains states are losing population, and as I mentioned before, the North has as many top 50 TV markets as the South (more, if you count St. Louis).

Part of this is due to the allure of the Big 12 South programs. Clearly, the most talent-rich state in the conference region is Texas. Recruits from that state would like to stay in state to play, if possible, just as recruits from anywhere want to stay home if they have a program that's worth playing for. That's undoubtedly true these days, considering UT's recent national title, and the resurgence of Texas Tech and (somewhat) Texas A&M (I'm withholding judgment at this point because I'm far from convinced Franchione is going to significantly improve that program from here on out). Now fans in Texas care about basketball at least at little more than they used to (it's hard to care less than zero) because of Rick Barnes and Billy Gillispie and Bobby Knight. And I will admit having schools in the state of Texas has helped the original Big 8 members by giving us a much larger TV presence.

But you Texans have a lot to be grateful to the original Big 8 for. I know humility and thankfulness aren't traits that run in a Texans blood, though, so I don't expect any thanks. But I will say this...

You're welcome for us bailing out your sorry-ass, scandal-ridden conference back in 1996. You're welcome for the exposure you got from playing some of the top teams in the nation in football during the early part of the conference's existence. And A&M fans, you're welcome for that goddamn conference title K-State gift-wrapped for you in 1998. UT fans, well, you're welcome for that 48-7 beatdown in 1997.

We appreciate your thankfulness, Texas schools. You're welcome for the conference having a noodle like Kevin Weiberg at the controls, who will do anything and everything to make sure you're happy. What does he do to make sure you're happy? Well for one, you can pretty much be assured you'll never have to play a North team when it's a little nippily outside. That's because since this conference began, out of 226 conference games played by South teams in the month of November, a whopping 15 of them were played at a Big 12 North school. And Baylor played five of those. Tech has yet to play in the North in November, and three of UT's five trips to the frozen tundra were played at KU.

Not a big deal, you say? I'm calling you on that one. I've lived amongst you Texans long enough to see how you deal with cold weather. Water freezes at 32 degrees, mercury freezes at -38 degrees, and a Texan freezes at 60 degrees. Hell, Oklahoma bitched about playing in Kansas City for the conference title game last year. Boys, football isn't a game that's supposed to always be played in beautiful weather. One of the best games I ever went to was Nebraska-OU in Lincoln, in the leftover snow and freezing cold temps (circa 1993).

You can also pretty much count on playing your conference opener at home. Out of 11 conference openers, K-State has played two in Manhattan. Yeah, two. The conference office claims that's coincidence, and that they do the schedules by computer. Not buying it. I don't have the time to do the statistical analysis, but considering it would be normal (given a 50/50 chance the opener will be at home) to have played five or six home openers at this point, I'm guessing two is a little beyond the standard deviation. KU has played all of three home openers. Only one North schools has played seven conference openers at home (Missouri), while three South teams have played at least seven (Tech has eight).

Maybe a conference opener at home isn't a big deal. I know this, it's a lot easier to win at home than on the road, and there are some tough venues in the Big 12. Making a statement that sets the stage for your season is a lot easier at home than it is on the road.

So go ahead, Texans. Tell us how much the Big 12 sucks, and is bringing you down, and how you deserve so much better. Fact is, you're here because of the North (plus OU and OSU). When the SWC imploded under the weight of its own corruption (SMU ring a bell?), you didn't have many places to go. The SEC might have been interested in UT and A&M, but it already had 12 teams. The Pac 10 could have showed some interest, but it doesn't make much geographical sense to skip across New Mexico to bring in a few teams. Basically, the Big 8 needed you, and you needed the Big 8. You gave us TV sets, we gave you a respectable conference to play in with better TV exposure than you could have hoped for otherwise.

Now you've aggrandized yourself at the North's expense. We sometimes play the conference basketball tournament in Dallas in front of 17,000 empty seats, rather than in KC where it sells out every single year. I'm not against rotating the sites, especially in football, but what financial sense does it make for the conference to play in an empty arena in Dallas or San Antonio, cities that don't give a damn about Big 12 conference tournament basketball games. Boo-hoo, so you have to travel to KC every once in a while if you want to watch your team play. Most of you will be shocked, but there actually is life outside of Texas.

I think deep down, most of you realize you could have ended up in the shoes of schools like SMU, TCU or UH. But those of us folksy northerners extended a helping hand. We're not expecting much, just a fair shake and a little gratitude.

I'm not holding my breath on the gratitude.