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Previously on BotC: Someone returned our stolen Kitchen, and we found Big 12 Power Rankings in the fridge.
Later on BotC: The Old Boss gifts us with a charting post, and I suspect we'll probably see a preview of tomorrow's game at some point today (or maybe tomorrow morning).
Football:
The Deathstar's Jake Trotter offers up his Big 12 All-Bowl team, while Brandon Chatmon gives the Wildcats their final grades for the season. (Spoiler: they pulled a 3.0 GPA.)
CBSSports.com announced their All-Bowl team, too, covering all 35 bowls rather than just the Big 12 teams. One Wildcat made it.
Deron Thompson, a three-star running back from Wichita-Northwest, is headed to Colorado State. He held an offer from the Cats, but Manhattan never seemed to be a priority, so it's not like K-State lost one here.
Zach Hacker of the Emporia Gazette has a profile of someone who's part of the program we don't normally see profiles of: Hilary Heinrichs, who was a student trainer for the Wildcats from 2009-2012. This one's really worth a read,simply because the subject matter isn't something we get to look into very often. Best paragraph: when Miss Heinrichs talks about how hard it is to follow social media when fans are speculating about a player's undisclosed injury when she knows the details.
Basketball:
Meet Bruce Weber. (Part One) (Part Two)
Marcus Foster's getting a media push heading into the weekend. Kellis Robinett writes about Foster exceeding expectations, Sean Keeler from FOX Sports insists Foster's name belongs in the same breath with Wiggins and Embiid, And Rob Dauster at NBC, in the process of linking back to Robinett, says Foster's not getting enough attention.
The C-J's Eric Smith is also talking freshmen, specifically their preparations for their first visit to Allen. Smith's focus, however, is on Nigel Johnson.
For their part, the KU youngsters are fired up for their first meeting with the Wildcats, according to Gary Bedore at KUSports.
K-State's RPI took a little ding last night: Gonzaga lost at Portland for the first time since 1996.
National:
Last night, we traveled back in time to 1981, where DePaul fought off a scrappy Butler squad in two overtimes to prevent a stunning upset. In the here and now, though, Butler's mired in the cellar of the Big East, leaving us to wonder if the salad days are over in Indianapolis.
The coaching carousel turn. Mike Vrabel has left Ohio State to join the Texans, Michigan lured Alabama OC Doug Nussmeier to Ann Arbor, Nick Saban's actually considering hiring Lane Kiffin to fill the vacancy, and that's just assistant news. Western Kentucky has promoted former Louisville QB Jeff Brohm to head coach, replacing the departed Bobby Petrino, and it looks like James Franklin is leaving Vandy for Happy Valley. Meanwhile, Red McCombs is kicking the dirt, regretting his comments about Charlie Strong.
A lot of guys have announced they're staying in school, none more prominent than Braxton Miller ... Things are going pear-shaped in Troy, Alabama, as four students over the winter break, including one football player, the sister of another (whose alleged killer is a 2013 signee), and a former player has been charged in another killing. Bad stuff all around, and Troy is responding by testing ALL its athletes for drugs ... P.J. Hairston has officially dropped out of North Carolina ... Kevin Ware is officially taking a medical redshirt at Louisville ... Jimbo Fisher claims Auburn had Florida State's signals in the first half.
Finally, remember Austin Hatch, who was in a plane crash which killed his mother and siblings as a child, then in another plane crash while on a recruiting trip to Michigan which killed his father and stepmother, and left Hatch in a coma? Wednesday night, the Loyola High senior made his way back to the court for the first time since that second crash. He drained a three, and his team got teed up for rushing the court. Awesome.
