K-State Slate: 3.24.14

Josh Kirkendall of SB Nation's Bengals blog Cincy Jungle reports that Bengals DB Mark Carrier was in Manhattan to check out Ty Zimmerman on his team's behalf.

Recaps of the end of our season from K-State's official site, Eric Lindsey at Kentucky's official site, The Capital-Journal's Ken Corbitt, The Lexington Courier-Journal's Kyle Tucker, and an appropriately respectful Glenn Logan over at A Sea of Blue. The C-J's Ben Ward also weighs in on Will Spradling's final game.

All the way from Australia, the Melbourne Herald-Sun's Adrian Ballantyne offers up a list of the dumbest rules in sports -- a list which concludes with something about a pre-game technical foul. That was hardly the only reaction. Corbin McGuire of the Capital Journal reported on it, while his colleague Kevin Haskin thinks it will actually provide motivation for next year. SB Nation's own Brian Floyd was nonplussed, FOX Sports ran a piece on it, Chris Chase of USA Today's For The Win! comments (with video!), and some clown had an alternative take on the reason the good guys were penalized:

"Technical foul on K-State: having an engineering major who can dunk"

— Jon Morse (@jonfmorse) March 22, 2014

Although the season's done, the future's bright, according to the AP's Dave Skretta (courtesy the Greenfield, Indiana Daily Reporter). Kellis Robinett has similar thoughts, expecting the Wildcat's anemic offense to improve next year.

Corbitt and Eric Smith provided a pre-game look at the Shockers game against Kentucky, including the most awesome bit of trivia ever: Willie Cauley-Stein and Ron Baker's mothers were teammates at St. Mary of the Plains College. Speaking of Cauley-Stein, Tucker reports that he knows full well K-State probably feels that he betrayed them.

Andrew Carter of the News & Observer has the details on Iowa State's win over North Carolina, while Baylor's destruction of Creighton is covered by Jimmy Burch of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. The Wichita Eagle's Rick Plumlee weighs in on what might be one of the greatest games in tournament history.

CBS fixated on a young boy watching his dreams die Sunday, and Twitter was (rightfully) outraged. Look, you want to do that to a grownup, I'm completely okay with it. If you're an adult and you're crying over losing a game, you might be too invested. But a kid? I don't care that he's a Jayhawk fan. Leave the poor kid alone.

Blair Kerkhoff of The Star has a post-Sunday notebook ready for you.

Courtesy of ESPN via NBC Sports' Rob Dauster, the last time we headed to the regional sites without having either Duke, North Carolina, or Kansas along for the ride, we ended up with Magic Johnson and Larry Bird squaring off for the title.

You may not have realized this, but there were three Wiggins brothers busy this weekend. Andrew and Nick have an older brother, Mitchell Jr., who plays at NAIA school Southeastern (FL). He's part of our next story, as he lost out in the NAIA Division I Slam-Dunk contest held during Saturday's quarterfinals at Municipal Auditorium, beaten by Tyler Inman of Southwest Christian (OK). Oh, there's video.

Lastly, eat a block of salt with this, but we would be remiss if we didn't note that there are rumblings coming from Durham that Semi Ojeleye may be coming back home. If anything materializes on this, we'll let you know.

After a pair of devastating meltdowns on Friday and Saturday, the BatCats rebounded to at least salvage a win over the Sooners on Sunday, marking their first shutout in Norman since before Nixon was re-elected. Those links are to JT's coverage (and if you're not properly bowing before his greatness, you need to get busy); K-State's official site also has full details and box scores from Friday's 11-4 loss, Saturday's 11-2 loss, and Sunday's 5-0 win.

The indoor season just ended, and we're already venturing into the great outdoors. Sonia Gaskin won the women's 200m, Alyssa Kelly won the women's triple jump, and the K-State men captured the 4x400 relay at the TCU Invitational at Lowdon Track Complex in Fort Worth over the weekend. The 'Cats notched 11 top-five finishes in the event.

Cliff Rovelto's added five more recruits, bringing the class total to 16. The haul includes long-jumper Chadnee Knox (Omaha TX-Paul Pewitt), the top ranked long jumper in Texas; Caribbean Games U-20 triple jump champion Shardia Lawrence from Jamaica, Lincoln NE HS sprinter Keiteyana Parks, Jamaican high jumper Christoff Bryan (bronze medalist at the IAAF World Youth Championships), and Iowa Central CC transfer Brady Grunder, this year's top weight thrower in the JUCO ranks.

Finally, Kelly McHugh profiles K-State's Big 12 champion pole vaulter Kyle Wait.

Petra Niedermayerova picked up career win number 100, but wasn't enough to keep the 'Cats (8-6) from dropping a 4-3 decision at Cal-Santa Barbara (4-12). Later this week, the ladies return home -- for their first home outdoor matches of the season at their brand new facility, Mike Goss Tennis Stadium -- for a pair of conference matches with the Oklahoma schools.

Last weekend, the women posted their best result of the season; this weekend, it was the men's turn. The Wildcats notched a 11-under fifth-place finish at the 2014 Desert Shootout at Palm Valley Country Club in Goodyear, Arizona, eight strokes behind winner UMKC. Both Seth Smith and Kyle Weldon finished in the top ten; Weldon was 10-under to tie for sixth, six strokes back of champion Nathan Hughes of UMKC, while Smith finished in a tie for eighth at 4-under.

For the first time ever, K-State rowing has the scalp of a ranked opponent. The Wildcats took two of four races -- first and second varsity eights -- against #19 Oklahoma at the Longhorn Invitational on Lady Bird Lake in Austin, Texas. The Cats also took one of five runs against San Diego and three of four against Tulsa, but lost their only head-to-head meeting with the hosts.

Spring practice is under way, and the Wildcats have announced their spring schedule. They'll take on Creighton in a March 29 scrimmage at Ahearn and face the Heart of America Havoc in Kansas City on April 4. After that, two tournaments; the Wildcats will host Illinois, Kansas, UMKC, Wichita State, Arkansas State, Missouri State, Drake, and Saint Louis on April 12 at Blue Valley West, and they'll take part in UMKC's spring tournament on April 26 in Brookside.

(Is it just me, or are Big 12 teams forming stronger relationships with UMKC?)

From the official site, a look at one of K-State's new additions: sophomore transfer Brooke Sassin, late of Mississippi State and high school teammate of Wildcat setter Bailey Shurbet.