It was a hectic day and there's a helluva lot of K-State news to discuss.  Here we gooooooooooo!

My Assignment For You, BOTCers: When Burnt Orange Nation made the switch to SBN 2.0, PB had the brilliant idea of using FanShots to create a UT highlight vault.  Let's do the same thing.  Here are the instructions (I'll get things started after this post is finished):

1) Go here and stick the FanShot button on your browser.

2) Go to YouTube and find a K-State highlight you love.

3) Use your FanShot widget to send it to BOTC.

4) Make sure you tag the Fanshot with 'youtube' and 'k-state highlights', along with other relevant descriptors.

And that's it. Instant vault of K-State highlights, sortable by tag.

Updating the basketball roster: I'll be damned if I have a clue about counting scholarships, but Frank Martin announced today the signing of Jordan Henriquez, a 6'11", 220-pound high schooler from New York.  I know next to nothing about him, other than the obvious: he's gonna need to pack on some pounds.

Also, and importantly, Martin announced Andre Gilbert is leaving K-State, and he's doing so in good academic standing.  Given the problems we have with the NCAA's ridonkulous APR formula, it's huge that players don't leave the program in bad academic standing.  I can't say there's much about Gilbert I'll miss as a contributor to the team, but you can't say anything bad about a kid who kept his grades up, played his role, and mostly stayed out of trouble.

Bat Cats Snubbed: OK, snubbed is probably too strong of a word, because it would have been a minor miracle for a .500 team to be selected for the NCAA tournament.  All the same, I find it a shame that OU got in ahead of us.  But that's just because I'm bitter.

Overall, a good finish to the season by K-State, and a season that can be built upon with wins over Wichita State, Arizona State and UC-Irvine, not to mention a second consecutive appearance in the Big 12 tournament and a tournament championship-game appearance.

I Guess He's "Dalonte $400K" Now: After a full year of working under a term appointment, men's basketall associate head coach Dalonte Hill has signed a formal contract.  His deal is for five years and pays $420,000.  I'm sure Jason Whitlock is foaming at the mouth over this one as though someone just set half a cow and a heaping helping of tireamisu in front of him.

Speaking of Whitlock, I had no idea he cared about the Indianapolis 500, but apparently he does.  Apparently, he cares about IRL, too, because he is now their P.R. agent, and his first advice is to let Danica Patrick kick everyone's ass.  Which would be a great idea, except for two things:

1.  Danica is 5'2" and weighs 100 pounds.  I would probably even have a chance in a fair fight.

2.  Cheap stunts and fights are for pro wrestling and NASCAR, in that order.

That's it for today.  I'll be back sometime tomorrow with a new "BOTC Thing from the 90s."

If you read pretty much any other SBN site, you've noticed most of them have a new look.  That new look is coming here to BOTC, probably before most of you read this post.  There will be a new look and oodles of new features to play with, and I think all of you will be very impressed.  Tomorrow, an explanatory post should be up giving you information about the new platform and how to use it.  If you have any questions, don't hesitate to email me at bringonthecats --at-- gmail --dot-- com

If you haven't seen the new platform, check out Burnt Orange Nation or Corn Nation for examples.

Who: K-State vs. Texas
What: Big 12 Baseball Championship | Championship Game
When: May 25 | 1:00 p.m.
Where: Bricktown Ballpark | Oklahoma City, Okla.
Media: 1350 KMAN, FSN

Great day yesterday, as the Cats beat Baylor and Oklahoma State beat Nebraska.  Now, one game stands between us and our first NCAA tournament berth.  Unfortunately, I won't be able to watch as I'm leaving shortly for Indianapolis Motor Speedway, so keep things updated in my absence.


Go Cats!

Who: K-State vs. Nebraska
What: Big 12 Baseball Championship
When: May 23 | 4:00 p.m.
Where: Bricktown Ballpark | Oklahoma City, Okla.
Media: 1350 KMAN

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe a K-State win today coupled with a Baylor loss would guarantee the Bat Cats play on Sunday in the championship game.

Go Cats!

Big win for the Bat Cats: K-State came up big last night with a 3-2 win over Oklahoma State in pool play at the Big 12 Championships.  Also in our pool, Baylor knocked off Nebraska, 10-4.  Next up for K-State is a Friday, 4 p.m. showdown with Nebraska.

Sticking with baseball: Congrats to Brad Hutt and Daniel Edwards for their selection as all-conference performers.  Edwards was named to the second-team, while Hutt drew honorable mention.

End of the Road: A solid season by the K-State men's golf team came to an end last weekend at the NCAA West Regionals.  The Cats finished 18th at 38-over-par 902, or 14 shots shy of moving on to Nationals.

Although that's not nearly all the news, that's all I have time for today.  Also, I'm leaving for Indianapolis tomorrow, so I'll try to get another post up before I take off, but no promises.  At the least, I'll get an open thread up for the baseball game on Friday.

Who: K-State vs. Oklahoma State
What: Big 12 Baseball Championships
When: May 21, 2008 | 7:30 p.m.
Where: Bricktown Ballpark | Oklahoma City, Okla.
Media: 1350 KMAN

The Big 12 baseball championships kick off today, with Mizzou and Texas leading off at 9 a.m.  At 7:30 p.m., the Cats square off with Oklahoma State, the tournament's No. 2 seed.  Remember, the Cats took the season series off the Cowboys, and another win against OSU tonight would be a huge step toward making the Big 12 championship game.

In my finals-week delirium, I occasionally took study breaks to do various odd things.  You know, work out, watch TV, plan my entire summer hour-by-hour.  One of those breaks was dedicated toward brainstorming posts to fill the long summer months here at BOTC.

I will honestly claim that I came up with this idea before reading Seth's "Music I Like, But Probably Shouldn't Admit in Public," but the two ideas are so similar I felt obligated to give him credit for a good idea.  Of course, my idea is infinitely worse than his, so maybe he doesn't want credit.

Either way, here it is: I grew up in the 1990s.  Started school in 1989, so I experienced the full spectrum of the 90s from various age perspectives.  As such, I've decided to run through a bunch of things that I remember from the 90s.  You'll notice I didn't say things I like from the 90s, just things I remember.  The initial idea was to use a bunch of music videos, but I'm thinking about branching out to other things.  Ideas are welcome, feel free to send yours to bring on the cats --at-- gmail --dot-- com

After the incredibly brief intro, here is your initial "BOTC Thing From the 90s":

Warren G and Nate Dogg, Regulate

(I had to link to it because embedding has been disabled by request.  Damn you, intellectual property lawyers!)

Maybe it's a little odd to put this song in a "things from the 90s" list, because it transcends that whole time-space continuum, whatever it is.  But every time I hear this song, I tend to think more of middle school dances than I do regulating any stealing of my property.  Plus, unlike most Texans, I'm not particularly handy with the steel, if ya know what I mean.

For a middle school kid from whitebread Nebraska, it was imperative that we get something played at dances that had something resembling a beat.  This song was juuuuuuuuust clean enough (it was the Bible Belt, after all) to get by the censors, although the school admins weren't thrilled with it.  Plus, most of us were just starting to experience voice change, so we always liked to see who could hit the low note on "Eastsiiiiiiiiiide, mote-ey-ee-ey-ellllllllllll."

There you have it.  BOTC's first "thing from the 90s."  This series will be updated with great frequency, or approximately every time I don't have anything else to write about.

Chalk it up as a Bat Cats sweep of that team down the river.

It didn't look good going into the bottom of the ninth Sunday, as KU held a 10-9 lead.  And you know, I almost feel sorry for a team whose season ends on a hit-by-pitch with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth.

What do they call that, a walk-off plunking?

Anyway, the win sends K-State to Oklahoma City this week for the Big 12 baseball championship.  Here is the schedule for the week:

Wednesday, May 21, 7:30 p.m.: K-State vs. Oklahoma State
Friday, May 23, 4:00 p.m.: K-State vs. Nebraska
Saturday, May 24, 7:30 p.m.: K-State vs. Baylor

We need to have the best record among the teams in our pool to advance to the championship Sunday, 1:00 p.m.  I won't be able to do a lot of updating as I am traveling to Indianapolis (yes, I'm going to The 500) this weekend, but you can be sure I'll be following the proceedings and cheering the Bat Cats on.

Go Cats!

Who: K-State vs. KU
What: The Sunflower Series
When: May 16-18 | 6:00 p.m., 6:30 p.m., 2:00 p.m.
Where: Hoglund Ballpark, Lawrence, Kan. (Friday), Tointon Family Stadium, Manhattan, Kan. (Saturday-Sunday)
Media: 1350 KMAN

The Sunflower Series caps the regular season, and it will be huge this year.  Here are your current Big 12 standings, spots 7-10:

KU 9-15-0
OU 8-15-1
K-State 8-16
Texas Tech 7-17

Win two of three and we qualify for the conference tournament for the second time in a row.  It's that simple.

I'll be in Lawrence tonight (probably a little late, but there nonetheless) and will be at the game in Manhattan on Saturday.  See y'all out there, and as always...

Go Cats!

Yesterday, I wrote down and published my feelings in the aftermath of Dr. Jon Wefald's announced retirement.  Today, Wichita Eagle columnist Bob Lutz weighed in with his thoughts.  If you compare the two, you may notice that while I mentioned only the overwhelming good Wefald accomplished at K-State, Lutz couldn't help but use the opportunity to bring up any and every perceived flaw in the man.  For some reason, he couldn't fill a whole column with all that Wefald accomplished at K-State. I wonder why.  Credit where credit is due, though, his analogy of Bill Snyder as rock star with Wefald on guitar was much better than I managed yesterday.

First, Lutz speculates that former athletic director Tim Weiser left K-State because Wefald was, essentially, too much of a control freak.  I don't think it's much of a secret that Weiser wanted to fire Jim Wooldridge one year before he did and that Wefald didn't let him.  But I also don't think it's much of a secret that Weiser aspired to a job beyond being an athletic director one day (see?  I can speculate, too!).  He got it when he moved down to Dallas this winter (hint, Tim, buy a lot of credit cards and run up a lot of debt so you'll fit in!).

Next, he strongly implies the hiring of Bob Krause to replace Weiser was odd.  Yeah, Krause has no experience in athletics.  Looks like he took care of that by delegating responsibilities to Jim Epps, as Lutz notes.  I'd damn sure rather have an AD who recognizes his limitations and gets somebody to take care of them rather than just screwing everything up himself.  On top of that, Krause's predominant value as AD is his base of connections and fundraising ability.  As noted last week, K-State is embarking on an ambitious fundraising and facilities-improvement plan.  We need someone who will go out and stick a hand in the deep pockets of K-State alums (OK, that sounded gross) and get things rocking on this project.  If we had brought in an outsider, that would be much more difficult.  Also, need I remind you that Krause's wife's maiden name is "Vanier?"  You do recognize that name, don't you?

Lutz also makes the same mistake everyone else has.  Frank Martin did not sign an extension.  When he was hired, he never signed a contract because his agent and the athletic department couldn't come to terms.  The contract he signed recently was merely his first contract.  There was nothing to extend.  I guess that's as much the fault of Lutz's copyeditors as it is Lutz himself, but someone so well informed should know better.

Finally, I can't help but note this:

Wefald's legacy hasn't fully been formed. The Snyder chapter, though, is a doozy. And, just maybe, impossible to follow.

First the obvious.  Lutz hopes to God Snyder and Wefald's act is impossible to follow, because he'd love to see K-State relegated to pre-1990 levels of football eptitude and 1990s levels of basketball eptitude.

Now, I beg to differ that Wefald's legacy hasn't been fully formed.  I realize two of the coaches he had a large hand in hiring are as-yet unproven commodities.  But take a look at some of the figures mentioned in the KC Star the other day.

K-State — which had suffered from declining enrollment, low faculty morale, limited research and graduate programs, and a losing football program — is now ranked among the top 10 land-grant universities.

I guess I can accept just being a top 10 land-grant university.  Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, you may depart for the jury room.

Enrollment grew from 16,000 to 21,000 in Wefald’s first five years. Today, it is close to 23,000.

Only a 44 percent increase in enrollment.  I'd say the jury's still out on that one.

Under Wefald’s leadership, K-State saw private giving increase from about $6 million annually to nearly $100 million. Wefald expects to see the university cross the $100 million threshold before he leaves the presidency.

Private giving only fifteen-tupled (however you say that).  And K-State leads the Big 12 in percentage of alumni who donate.  Still deliberating...

Competitive research dollars went from about $15 million in 1986 to more than $110 million in 2008, and overall research funding shot up to more than $220 million in 2008.

Research money increased by a factor of seven.  Bailiff, check on those jurors.  Make sure they're OK in there.

In 1999, for example, the university made food safety and security and animal health a top priority. Today, K-State is one of the Department of Homeland Security’s five finalists for a $451 million federal biodefense laboratory.

Top five in the country.  This is a hard case, order those jurors some dinner.

During a period when state and federal funding waned significantly, he led the university through construction of more than 2.2 million square feet of new buildings. And by the time he leaves, he hopes to see completion of one more structure — the Center for Leadership Studies, scheduled to open by fall 2009.

Hey, with increased enrollment, you need more space for everyone.  Let's adjourn for the night, let the jury come back and think it over tomorrow.

Wefald has served longer than any sitting president of a Big 12 university.

It's hard to establish a legacy in just 23 short years.

Jury's back, Bob.  Judge, will you read the verdict?

"Dr. Jon Wefald, accused of inability to successfully imitate God by a sportswriter in Wichita, Kansas, is hereby found not guilty.  Wefald is ordered released immediately, and we order Lutz never to write another word about K-State."

Hey, I can dream, can't I?