As the world turns...

Thursday has dawned, and still no official word on the coach Huggins situation. I still haven't been able to find official confirmation that West Virginia has even talked to Huggins, although I'm certain they have. No news on when we can expect a decision, either, although I'm sure we'll know by the weekend.

The one thing that scares me in this is Huggins' silence. It's not unexpected, but silence from a coach is a scary thing, considering what we just saw up at Creighton (more on that later). Everyone knew Dana Altman was getting interest from Iowa and Arkansas, and he did not come out and say there was no reason to worry, that he wasn't going anywhere. Certainly that approach is to be commended over telling a bald-faced lie, right Nick Saban?

Also, having lived (relatively) far from home now, I know how enticing the call of home can be. I'm sure Huggins would love to go back home, he's even said so. There's something about being back where you came from (assuming you like the place, which Huggins apparently does) and being able to see old friends and nearby family when you want to. As I understand it, Huggins' dad still lives in eastern Ohio, and one of his daughters goes to school in Ohio. He'd be a lot closer to them back in Morgantown.

Some are speculating this is about money, because at $800,000 per year, he's far underpaid. That's not it. He was born in Morgantown, played basketball there, was a graduate assistant there. This is about going home. Certainly if WVU offers him a lot more money, he's even more likely to go, but this isn't about money. Tim Weiser does need to step up and offer a lot more, to the tune of about a half-million more, though. Surely all that money we made from all the sellouts and merchandise sold gives us the ability to pony up that much, right?

The killer thing about this whole situation is we just have to sit around and wait, and sometimes deal with digs from other schools while we do so. None of us knows what Huggins is going to decide. On the one hand, he's only been with us a year, and has a lot of really good players that he's put a lot of time into coming into the mix next year. On the other hand, there's the chance to go home to his "dream job." Let's all remember this...even if he does leave, K-State basketball will go on. We have some good momentum from last year, and we've shown coaches they will be supported if they win.

***

I swear, everytime I blog about something, it turns right around. I said it looked like Gillispie was gone...he wasn't. I wrote that Altman was gone...well, he was, but now he's back. He says he's going to finish out his career at Creighton now. Well I damn sure hope he's planning on that, because he's not going to get very many offers in the future.

Altman claims it was his ego and the money that caused him to temporarily go insane and move to Arkansas. I can understand the money part, he was apparently offered $1.5 million per year at Arkansas. But the ego? Talk about a sideways comeback. Creighton apparently isn't sufficiently prominent for his ego. I can understand that in some sense, it's a non-BCS program that has never made a Sweet 16. Hardly one of college basketball's elite. But when you're coming back to a fanbase you've recently jilted, I wouldn't say it was my ego that caused me to leave. It's whatever, though, I'm still happy he's back.

It also sounds like there might have been some other reasons for Altman's departure, although he won't admit they were a factor. I do believe Altman realized he actually wanted to stay in Omaha, and I'm hardly going to get worked up about two college kids smoking weed. That stuff happens everywhere, it's hardly unique to Arkansas.

I know this, I sure wouldn't want to coach anywhere the fans yell "whoo pig sooie" as their leading chant.

***

The greatest golf week of the year starts today, with The Masters tournament kicking off. I won't bore you by giving my uninformed thoughts on who is going to play well. Obviously Woods is the prohibitive favorite, and I'm sure the long-hitters will top the leader board. Whether you're a golf fan or not, though, turn the TV over to the tournament for a little while this weekend, and just enjoy the music CBS plays and the beauty of the course. There are few places more beautiful in the world than Augusta National Golf Club.

College basketball's silly season

The end of the college basketball season always fires up the coaching carousel, and now that K-State has a high-profile coach in Bob Huggins, we can expect to hear talk each spring of the programs who would love to lure him away from Manhattan.

That talk appeared yesterday when news broke that West Virginia coach John Beilein is talking to Michigan. Today, ESPN is reporting it's a done deal between Beilein and the Wolverines. Of course Huggins appears to be a natural replacement, having been born in Morgantown and playing his college ball at WVU. There's no official word out of Morgantown who the replacement is likely to be, but of course the early message board talk is focused on Huggins.

I'm not really worried about this for several reasons. First of all, the timing for Huggins is horrible. He's only been at K-State this year, and has a bunch of players he's cultivated for the last several years coming in next year. Leaving those guys high and dry would be a tough call to make, although not because Huggins is all that concerned about his media image. Also, the players coming in happen to comprise the #1 recruiting class in the nation, which gives Huggins a chance to have a contender in the Big 12 this year.

Of course, all this talk has brought up one subject that always gets me started. All fan bases have ignorant fans, and West Virginia and K-State are no different. Some of the talk the last day has centered on Huggins wanting to get out of "the middle of nowhere" to a place that's "nicer" than Manhattan. Unless you've ever been to Manhattan...shut the fuck up.

Manhattan isn't for everybody. If you like the fast-paced, congested city life, you'll hate the wide-open spaces and slow pace of a town of (almost) 50,000. It's more of a rural atmosphere, with an element of redneck thrown in. But if you're from West Virginia, you have no room to talk about rednecks. We see it all the time in the Big 12, the fans from Nebraska call the fans from K-State call the fans from Oklahoma rednecks (or fucking hillbilies, in Nebraska's case). K-State fans are just as guilty of it from time to time, but that doesn't change my overall opinion of all of it. The point is, every place has its positives and its negatives, and you're never going to convince me that you have some special knowledge about a coach or player that demonstrates they won't go to a certain place because of certain "characteristics."

Not to mention, Huggins doesn't appear to be having any problems recruiting to Manhattan. We even hear he likes it here.

***

Last night's national title game certainly lived up to my expectations of giving me a severe case of the yawns. Congrats to Florida on winning a second consecutive national title, that's an impressive accomplishment. Also, congrats to the players who passed up guaranteed millions to come back and have fun as a college athlete for another year.

Now, a word of advice to Joakim Noah. When your dad is a famous tennis player and your mom is a well-paid model, don't act like you're a hardened thug from the streets in your postgame interview. I'd try to describe it, but I'll just let the video speak for itself.



***

Surprising news out of Omaha yesterday, as long-time Creighton basketball coach Dana Altman left to take the head coaching job at Arkansas. I suppose my status as a casual Creighton fan (have family at the school, native Nebraskan, etc.) made me a bit blind, but I did not see this coming. Altman has always acted like he had it made in Omaha, and indeed he was the coach of one of the best programs among the non-BCS conferences in the nation. He had a beautiful facility in the Qwest Center, and he had a fan base who loved him for bringing their program back from the dead. I was actually more worried about the Iowa opening than Arkansas, because I didn't think Altman would go to Fayetteville. However, it's not as far from his Nebraska roots as I thought (about 430 miles from Omaha), and the Sows do have money and tradition, and they play in a major conference.

Time will tell if this was a good move for Altman, as he already showed once he couldn't handle the spotlight of a major college program, at K-State. Of course, he's older, wiser, a better recruiter and a better X's and O's coach now. I wish him the best. It sounds like the early front-runner to replace Altman at Creighton is Oral Roberts' Scott Sutton. This might be a good fit, as Scott is the son of former Creighton coach Eddie Sutton (yes, THAT Eddie Sutton), and at least in my opinion, Creighton would be a step up in money, exposure and opportunity from Oral Roberts.

The week in review, 4/1

Sorry the update is on Monday instead of Sunday. Got pretty busy yesterday with school after a great weekend in STL.

It was a little lighter week in K-State sports, but still plenty going on.

Baseball

Great weekend for the Bat Cats, as they took a winnable series off Texas Tech in Manhattan. In the past, it always seemed like Coach Hill's club was right on the verge of winning series like this, but just couldn't pick them up, so maybe this is a sign things will be different this year. This team's goal should be to make it to Oklahoma City for the conference tournament, as that would be a solid sign of progress in the program under Coach Hill.

Rainy weather Friday made for a double dip Saturday at Tointon. Things started off well as the Cats rallied for 3 runs in the 8th to take game one from the Red Raiders, but got ugly fast as Tech hammered Chase Bayuk in a 16-5 game that had to be ended after seven innings because of the 10-run rule.

Importantly, the Cats bounced back from Saturday's shellacking to take the rubber match Sunday with another eighth-inning rally to take the series. The win puts the Cats in a fifth-place tie in the Big 12 standings, updated below.

Oklahoma State 5-1
Texas 7-2
Missouri 4-2
Texas A&M 5-4
K-State 3-3
Oklahoma 3-3
Texas Tech 4-5
Nebraska 3-6
Kansas 3-6
Baylor 2-7

In midweek action, the Cats dropped their first game in more than a year to the #10 Wichita State Shockers, 8-3. Tough game to lose to an in-state rival, especially at home, but I'm not telling you anything new by saying the Shox are a good team and program.

K-State stays in Manhattan this weekend to take on the Mizzou Tigers. Mizzou stands third in the conference standings, having taken its first two series, over Nebraska and arch-rival KU. It'll take a hell of an effort to take the series off the Tigers, but if the Cats can pull it off it would be a huge springboard for the rest of the year.

Women's basketball

The women's improbable run to the WNIT semifinals finally ended last week after a triple-overtime loss, 89-79 at Wyoming. Good effort by the ladies in the postseason, and here's hoping everybody stays healthy for next year. Also, congrats to senior Claire Coggins on a good career with K-State, but I know a girl who locked you up good in high school.

Men's Golf

No action this week for the men's golf team, who returned to action today in Wichita at the Shocker Classic. The tournament will be played at Wichita Country Club, and a recap will be forthcoming next week.

Women's Golf

A disappointing finish saw the women's golf team fall from its seventh place standing after the first day of the Mountain View Collegiate to a 10th-place finish. Not a bad outing for a couple of the ladies, however, as both Michelle Regan and Katy Heffel earned top-20 finishes. The tournament boasted a solid field, with the Cats finishing behind four top-50 teams in Northwestern, Michigan, Denver and Indiana.

The ladies will travel to Norman, OK, for their next action this week.

Track and Field

Sadly, I missed a chance to catch the Track Cats in Houston this weekend as the team travelled to the Space City for the Bayou City Classic at Rice University. It probably should have been called the Rain City given the weather Saturday, as the event was delayed two hours by some ugly thunderstorms in the Houston area.

The Cats had a successful weekend, with the women collecting one event championship (Kaylene Wagner-high jump), while the men took three (Bryce Bergman-pole vault, Mike Myer-100 meter dash, Scott Sellers-triple jump).

Good luck to the Cats next weekend as they compete at the University of Oregon, on the track where legend Steve Prefontaine made his name for the Ducks.

***

I hate to say it, but I have almost no interest in watching the NCAA championship game tonight. A rematch of the BCS Title game? Yawn. Call me crazy, but I kind of like it when we get a little new blood in there. I like the story lines of the teams who the national media doesn't talk about 24/7.

Further, I hate to agree with Jason Whitlock on anything, but money is out of control in college sports (big news, huh?). So we have another national championship matchup between the schools who rank first (Ohio State) and fourth (Florida) in money spent on sports? The devil, you say! Money can buy a good college team, too? I'll be damned.

It just makes me that much more proud when a school like K-State (athletic expense rank: 59th) walks onto the same field as the big-money teams and shows that outworking and outthinking the competition can still work (right Texas?).

Oh, and to anyone reading this who's a fan of those teams and is thinking to yourself, "Oh, poor baby, whining about us having more money...", I say...unless you attended that school and put time, money and effort into supporting the sports programs, shut...the...fuck...up. If you just latched onto some team because they happen to be good, this bona fide alum isn't listening to one word you say.

So what do you do when two teams you hate are playing for a national championship? Cheer for a meteor on a collision course with the Georgia Dome.

***

I'm really enjoying opening day in front of my TV. The Royals are on here in Houston, which is pretty cool. They're playing well right now, up 2-1 on Boston in the third. The rumor is they're not mathematically eliminated yet.

Beasley takes MVP, and Huskers gone off their rockers

K-State recruit Michael Beasley took MVP honors in last night's McDonald's All-America game. I tried to post some video, but I'm having trouble getting it right. Anyone who knows how to post videos from Youtube, please advise.

Anyway, Beasley scored 23 points on 10-13 shooting and grabbed 11 rebounds. That's the (really) good news. The bad news? He made a couple mistakes that led to bad turnovers. I shouldn't complain, the kid's a huge talent and is going to be great in purple next year. I just want to throw a word of caution all the fans who are predicting he'll be the next Kevin Durant. If you are predicting that, you don't realize how special Durant is. He's incredible, unbelievable, every adjective in the book. If Beasley is half that good (and by half, I mean a 15 points/8 boards kind of guy) he'll be a hell of a freshman. Between him, Walker and Hoskins, we'll have plenty of scoring punch. Throw in the experienced guard play of Clent Stewart and Blake Young, and the potential for a really good year is all there. Now, will Jason Bennett or Luis Colon put in the time this offseason to really step up? Our biggeset hole is in the middle, and if one of those guys becomes a serviceable big man, there's the CHANCE we could win the Big 12 (emphasize chance).

Anyway, I'm excited. It was great to have Beasley to watch last night and read and write about today considering there isn't much football news yet.

***

Before I start this section, a confession. I'm not a born-and-bred K-Stater. I'm a transplant. This next section should let you know where I came from.

This has been a loony week up in Lincoln, Nebraska. Last weekend, we had the Sam Keller saga, wherein he lost a parking spot to a girl, then attempted a crossing route with her car as the receiver and a plastic cup as the football. All in the middle of some apparently foul language. As I hear it, the charges will be dropped (although I don't have an official source for that).

Of course, Husker fans would have been thrilled if that was the worst news they faced this week. Running back Kenny Wilson somehow managed to break his femur while moving a TV (that must have been one big damn TV). That's really not good news for the Huskers, as they are starting to look awfully thin at running back. Brandon Jackson left for the NFL, Marlon Lucky spent some time in critical condition in the ICU this offseason, and now Wilson breaks the biggest bone in his body and is out for the year. It appears Cody Glenn is the only Husker running back to make it through the offseason healthy thus far.

Potentially worse news also broke yesterday, as starting cornerback Zac Bowman sustained a knee injury in practice yesterday. Apparently, it's not the knee he blew out last year, but today's reports indicate he'll be out 4.5-6 months. That means the earliest he could return is the middle of August, and he could be out until the end of September. That's bad news for a defensive secondary that, to put it mildly, wasn't particularly impressive last year.

But of course these days in Husker nation, it's never enough that there's controversy and bad things happening on the field. Hell no, just when you thought the Husker civil war (old school vs. new school) had subsided for a while, it rears its ugly head again. Apparently the athletic department will be host to its annual Lettermen's Tournament (golf) at Wilderness Ridge the day before the spring game this year. But now, another group associated with Husker football is holding a "reunion" tournament THE SAME DAY.

This wouldn't seem to be the end of the world except for two major things. The other tournament is called "Fun-The Original Husker Way." Umm, if you think that refers to anything other than Husker football pre-Steve Pederson and pre-Bill Callahan, you're probably dumber than the recliner I'm currently sitting on. But even better, I want to draw your attention to a single line from the story linked above...

"[Tom] Osborne said he didn't receive an invitation to the athletic department's event."

I've officially heard it all. I had to dig my feet into the scorching Houston dirt to see if I could feel the chill from hell freezing over. I'll be checking the news reports to see when Steve Pederson's ego breaks loose and leaves Lincoln in ruins.

We're talking about Tom fucking Osborne here. This guy takes a back seat to no one in Nebraska, God included (and God is a very important guy in NE). This guy won you people 2.5 national titles (or one and two halves, as AJ puts it). I know Democrats in Nebraska who switched their party affiliation to vote for Osborne (who makes Newt Gingrich look liberal) in the primaries. And now he's persona non grata at your AD's annual golf tournament? Mere words cannot describe my thoughts on this.

Is this a rebuke for Osborne because he is now a mentor at Creighton, who some Husker fans view as their evil in-state nemesis? Is there something deeper here? Is this the explanation for why Pederson can't raise enough money to pay for the sports complex that bears Osborne's name?

The split in the Cornhusker State has now manifested itself for all to see. I never thought I'd hear anyone (other than the few Nebraska Democrats) criticize Tom Osborne. That thought ended today when I cruised by this tidbit from a moderator at HuskersIllustrated.

Osborne needs to get out of the way. If he doesn't want his actions perceived as shots at the current athletic department, maybe he should quit taking obvious shots at them. It's plain hypocritical crap that says more about him than it does about the current administration.

Holy shit I don't know what to say. Can't wait to see how this story unfolds in the coming days.

My only complaint is that the competing tournament is at HiMark. Couldn't you get a better course?

***

Have a good weekend everyone. I'm getting on a jet plane to St. Louis tomorrow, so don't expect any updates before Sunday. I hope to have another K-State "week in review" post up Sunday night.

Spring practice starts today

It sure is nice when the break between the end of basketball season (one week ago today) and the beginning of football season (today at 4 p.m.) is one week or less. In the future, the gap should be even smaller, if Huggins can continue to show the type of improvement we saw just this year.

Apparently Josh Freeman has put his offseason to good use in the weightroom. I like to hear that he's bigger and stronger, because he took a beating last year behind our inexperienced and injury-ravaged offensive line. I'm not sure the offensive line is going to be a whole lot better this year, meaning Freeman may need the extra bulk to withstand another tough season.

My only fear is that he concentrated too hard on the weightroom this season and neglgected the film study and on-field improvement aspects of the game. He made some great improvements in reading and reacting to opposing defenses last season, but considering where he started (...the Baylor game, *shudder*), that's not necessarily saying much. I was at the Baylor game last year, and Freeman looked totally lost out there. He made horrible decisions under pressure, basically just throwing the ball up for grabs several times (he had three INTs that day, in case you forgot).

Now before you go and think I'm a Freeman hater, I'm not. The kid has amazing potential and wonderful natural talent. His play against Iowa State, Colorado and Texas was the primary reason we got into a bowl game. I think we'll see even more improvement from him this year, but I want to see some consistency, too.

Of course, Freeman's going to need some help. He got pretty much none most of the season from the big guys up front, which has to change if we want to make any strides on offense. I'm not breaking any new ground by saying the OL is the key to the entire offense, because if they can't protect the passer or make holes for the runners, it's going to be hard to make much progress. By my count, we have eight returnees who had starting experience last year (Unruh, Handy, Hafferty, Spexarth, Bedore, Rooker, Stringer and Robinson). I really think if we can avoid injuries up front (easier said than done), the OL can be one of the stronger units on the team.

We certainly have the talent at the other positions to take advantage if the line pans out. I love the combination of James Johnson and Leon Patton in the background, and we saw how good they can be when the OL got it together late last year (the weaker defenses of ISU and CU probably helped, too). We need Jordy Nelson to lead a young WR corp.

More comments to come as we get more news about the newcomers and how they are progressing.

***

For all you Cat fans who still live in the Manhattan area, here's an opportunity I wouldn't pass up. On April 11th, coaching legend John Wooden is coming to K-State. Hit the link for details of his visit and speech. I wouldn't miss a chance to see this man speak for all the weirdos in Lawrence, he's the greatest basketball coach who ever lived, and one heck of a good human being.

I'm watching the McDonald's All-America dunk contest right now. No video yet, but future Wildcat Michael Beasley had a couple sick dunks, including one for a perfect 50. He went for the kill shot on his final attempt, nearly pulling off a between-the-legs throwdown off the glass. The kid's going to be a stud, let's just hope he loses his Sharpie on the way to Manhattan.

***

It looks like Billy Gillispie is going to stay at Texas A&M now. Ok, so all the assumptions I made earlier based on what Arkansas officials were saying were wrong. But it also sounds like A&M threw themselves prostrate at Gillispie's feet to entice him to stay (new contract, new facilities, etc.). Props to A&M for doing what it takes to keep a top-flight basketball coach, this will do nothing but help the Big 12 down the road.

On a personal level, I think this is a good call by Gillispie. His name was tossed around at Kentucky when Tubby Smith left, but I can't figure out why anybody would want to coach at Kentucky. For the same reasons, I can't figure out why anyone would want to coach at Alabama in football. The expectations are practically unattainable, and the fans are too demanding. Further, with a tip of the hat to the Houston Chronicle's Richard Justice, there's almost no way you can top your predecessors there. Even at Arkansas, even if he did pull off a national title (certainly no sure thing) he'd only be as good as Nolan Richardson. If he won a national title at A&M, they'd probably rename the town after him, creating the "metro" area of Billy Clyde/Bryan, Texas.

Gillispie to Arkansas?

A bit of a surprise out of Fayeteville today, as the University of Arkansas announced it was firing head basketball coach Stan Heath. I had heard before the SEC conference tournament that Heath would be out if the Razorbacks failed to make the NCAA tournament. After a run through the weaker teams of the SEC, followed by a 21 point ass-ramming at the hands of Florida in the conference title game, the Sows somehow backed into the Big Dance ahead of teams such as K-State and Syracuse, despite their losing conference record in the weaker of two SEC divisions (I'm not still bitter about that or anything).

After making the Big Dance, the Sows certainly proved they belonged, only falling to USC by 17. It appears that even a selection committee gaffe wasn't enough to save Heath's job, however, and now the rumor mill is really ramping up as to who the replacement will be. The early word is that Texas A&M coach Billy Gillispie is the front-runner, with some sources even claiming it's already a done deal.

It all makes some sense to me that this is possible. Frank Broyles, the UofA AD, may have had his sights set on Gillispie from the beginning, and wanted to make sure he had him locked up before firing his coach. Probably better to do that than fire the coach before a sure-fire replacement is in the works, right Nebraska fans? Also, Broyles may have wanted to wait until A&M's tournament run was over, in which case he should be commended for not following in Dean Smith's footsteps when he openly courted Roy Williams during KU's run to the title game in 2003. If all this is the case, it's certainly possible an agreement in principle was reached between Thursday night (when A&M was eliminated) and today when Heath was fired.

I also have reasons to believe Gillispie would be interested in leaving A&M, in spite of his near-hero status in College Station. First, Arkansas fans may have a slightly inflated sense of their standing as a traditional power, but they do have a recent national championship to their credit, whereas A&M has never been on the map as a basketball powerhouse. Even worse for A&M may be the "Texas football syndrome." We saw it even in Oklahoma last year, as Kelvin Sampson bolted for Indiana, at least in part due to the fact that football will always be the primary sport at OU (the threat of sanctions probably didn't help either). In College Station, as in the rest of Texas where A&M fans reside (pretty much everywhere), football will always be king. I don't care if Gillispie had taken the Aggies to the Final Four this year, the A&M fans would still be equally interested in spring football news from Fran's Disaster Crew (sorry Ags, Fran should not be your man). At least at Arkansas, Gillispie can coach at a school where basketball can be considered the most important sport.

Another consideration could be the money. As far as I can tell, Gillispie is making $930,000 at A&M, and has the possiblity of earning a $1 million bonus if he stays through 2012. Apparently Heath made a bit less than that, but I'm guessing UofA would be willing to pony up for Gillispie if they really want him. All they really need to offer is $1.1 million per year for five years in order to match A&M's offer.

So what does this mean for the Big 12? Obviously it means losing a young and talented basketball coach. It also fuels the perception that the Big 12 is an inferior basketball conference, in my opinion. As long as the Texas schools continue their damn-everything-but-football mentality and the Big 12 front office (in Dallas) does nothing to promote Big 12 basketball (thanks Kevin Weiberg), the national perception will remain the same and teams like K-State will get shafted from the tournament if there's even the slightest reason to doubt them.

***

On a happier note, big ups to my sister for being offered her first post-graduate job today. Way to go sis!

The Week in Review, 3/25

A busy week in K-State sports, and as always some bad and some good.

Men's Basketball

The Cats ended their season with a disappointing home loss to DePaul. Still, it capped the most successful season in 10 years for K-State as Bob Huggins took us to the postseason in his first attempt. For my full season review, click here.

Women's Basketball

Lazarus, err, the K-State women's basketball team, has now recovered from its dreadful 4-12 record in conference play to win three games in the women's NIT (remind me how a 4-12 and last place conference team gets into the NIT?). Freshman forward Ashley Sweat has been the team MVP in the tournament, averaging 15 ppg the last three. Probably would have been a much better season if former Big 12 All-Rookie forward Marlies Gipson wouldn't have gone down with a leg injury. Good luck to the women against either Wyoming or South Dakota State.

Baseball

After two dreadful games against the ninth-ranked Texas Longhorns, the Bat Cats finally remembered how to hit today in Austin. After totalling six runs and 12 hits through two games, the Cats hammered out 17 hits and 11 runs today to take the final game of the series, 11-9. I think we all pretty much admitted we were going to drop this series to UT, especially on the road, so I'm happy to take one game when it would have been easy to mail it in. The conference is pretty much wide-open this year, as the current standings show.
1. Texas 5-1
2. Oklahoma, Missouri, Oklahoma State 2-1
5. Texas A&M, Texas Tech 3-3
7. Baylor, KU, Nebraska 2-4
10. K-State 1-2

Obviously we're tied with Baylor, KU and Nebraska in winning percentage, but I have us lower because of the fewer games. Next week, the Cats will be host to Texas Tech in a winnable series.

Men's Golf

Tim Norris' squad headed to Arizona for the Ron Moore invitational earlier this week, notching a third-place finish in a 17-team field. Don't let the high finish fool you though, the Cats trailed team champion and perennial power Wichita State by 19 shots and conference rival Nebraska by two, and did not finish in front of any highly touted teams. So far this spring, the Cats have finished last twice and in the middle of the pack twice against mediocre competition. Golfweek currently has the Cats rated #150, behind every other Big 12 program. Seems like a long time since the days when Matt Van Cleave and the crew only missed nationals by a shot.

Women's Golf

The women's golf team also traveled to Arizona this weekend for the Mountain View Collegiate. After one day, the women stand 7th in a 16 team field, behind primarily Big 12 competition. It's been an up-and-down spring so far for the women, who are rated 78th by Golfweek. Play concludes today.

Track and Field

The men's and women's track teams participated in the Jim Click Shootout this weekend against some solid competition from the Pac 10 and SEC. The women won six events, including Beverly Ramos (3000 meter steeplechase), Kaylene Wagner (high jump), Jenny Glodowski (shot put), Laci Heller (hammer throw), and Ashley Reider (hammer throw).

On the men's side, the Cats had one champion in Kyle Lancaster (high jump).

In other news...

I've been unimpressed by the officiating in the NCAA tournament. Individual calls are difficult, given the speed of the game, but the state of officiating these days is sad. My dad is a high school and college volleyball official back at home, and he went to an informational session for a mid-major college conference, where he was told by the director of the conference that officials who made close calls late in the game would not be hired. People who complain about officiating usually make two tired arguments...
1. Officials need to be more consistent
2. Officials shouldn't "decide games" by making a close call at the end of a game.
I have news for you. When a player commits a foul at the end of the game, the official is deciding the game by NOT calling it. Also, by not calling it then, the officials are being inconsistent with their earlier calls. It doesn't matter if it happens in the first 30 seconds or on the last play of the game, if it's a foul, it should be called.

This whole rant goes to the Georgetown-Vandy game on Friday. I don't care what Billy Packer says, that was a travel by Jeff Green on the game-winning shot. He had established his pivot foot, slid it, and then lifted it in order to create separation BEFORE jumping. Walk.

The other poorly officiated game was today between Oregon and Florida. Oregon was apparently not allowed to breathe on the court, while Noah and Horford continually got away with assault. I'll also never understand how Horford can back a guy down 10 feet with his shoulder and back (like he did against Butler) and that's any less of a foul than the touch on the arm he suffered on the shot.

***

I looked up Nebraska's disturbing the peace statute, and if Sam Keller really did what is alleged, he is probably guilty as charged. It certainly appears to me that he used "Provacative language consisting of profane, indecent or abusive remarks directed toward the person of the hearer." Like I said on Friday, a disturbing the peace by itself is really no big deal (it's a Class III misdemeanor). But I'll defer to AJ the HuskerH8er on why it's a bigger deal because of who the person is. And to the Husker fans who say they wouldn't even have been as calm as Keller, I suggest you try if you're ever in my current hometown (Houston) and are unlucky enough to have someone take "your" parking spot. Texans don't throw cups in retaliation.

***

Tough loss last night for KU. It looked to me like experience won out in that one, as UCLA did more than lose to two mid-majors the last two years in the NCAA tournament. Also, KU's lack of a go-to scorer seemed to hurt them, as it looked like nobody wanted to take a shot when the going got tough in the second half. I will be interested to see what this means for KU's players. There was speculation in the KC Star this morning that Brandon Rush, among others, may consider leaving. I won't be surprised if Rush at least tests the waters, but it sounds like Julian Wright is pretty firm about coming back. Mario Chalmers is one heck of a good player, but his primary selling point is his defense, which is less important in the NBA. Another year of working on his offensive game would do him some good. Darrell Arthur better not even think about it, he's nowhere near ready. But anyway, congrats on the good season Beaks, we'll see ya next year.

***

Congrats to Ohio State, UCLA, Florida (well, not really you bastards) and Georgetown. KU fans everywhere rejoice in Roy Williams' misery.

Sure wouldn't mind seeing this again in the UCLA-UF game next week.

Have a good one.