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It was a busy weekend, even with the Wildcat basketball teams sitting at home. Of course, we now have to contend with a Final Four consisting of evil, brutality, horror, and abject despair, but I'm sure you can somehow get through next weekend. It may involve locking yourself in a steel-reinforced bunker, but nobody ever told you life would be easy, did they?
BotC's official spokesmodel offered up some tournament musings.
It's only renderings, and they may not be the final design, but goEMAW got their hands on what Bill Snyder Family Stadium may look like in 18 months.
Ken Corbitt breaks down the situation as spring practice gets ready to kick off.
Not necessarily football-related, but pretty much football-related: Kellis Robinett reports on K-State's annual financial filing with the NCAA, a report which says "we gettin' paid". Of note, K-State's licensing/merch revenue is up 17 percent, which could just indicated existing Wildcat fans spending more on swag... or it could signify growth of the fanbase. On the other hand, hoops revenues have taken a tumble, and expenses are up everywhere. There's also a pretty interactive infographic, the general gist of which is "we're kicking Mizzou and KU's asses".
Grantland's Andrew Sharp looks back at The Cardiac Game. If you don't know which game I mean, report to our offices for corrective measures.
Also looking back at memorable moments is The Oklahoman's Berry Tramel, who picks his 25 most memorable shots. Checking in at number right: Ro Blackman's buzzer-Beaver in 1981. I'm honestly surprised that Jordan Crawford's ridiculous three from halfway to Colorado to send The Cardiac Game to a second overtime wasn't on Berry's list, though.
(As much as that shot pains us, we can all agree -- since K-State won in the end -- that it was freakin' awesome, right?)
Blair Kerkhoff dug around to find out the ultimate fate of some notable Final Floors. Not mentioned by Kerkhoff: the 2003 floor, now in Sioux City, is the floor on which the NAIA Division II women's tournament has been played in recent years.
David Ubben's final Big 12 basketball power rankings.
The NCAA Division II championship banner is now in Warrensburg for the first time in thirty years, and Vahe Gregorian has words about Kim Anderson. As it happens, and as unbelievable as this factoid may seem, this was the first time in the 58-year history of Division II that the men's basketball and football championships were won by teams from the same conference.
You, of course, will have already read JT's recaps of Friday's loss and the rebound wins on Saturday and Sunday. (You too could write awesome articles and have me gush about how cool you are!) The Collegian's Spencer Low recaps the entire weekend, Tim Perera at the Omaha World-Herald covers the series finale, and the official site has box scores and other goodies from Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Tomorrow, the BatCats take on Nebraska-Omaha, who swept South Dakota State in a doubleheader Sunday to improve to 12-9.
K-State track had a solid, but not spectacular, weekend in split meets at Austin and Emporia. At the ESU Spring Open, a couple of freshman won their events: Kaneil Harrison won the men's 200, and Morgan Wedekind won the women's 3k Steeplechase. Erica Twiss set a personal best and meet record in qualifying for the women's 100m Hurdles with a 13.74, but did not run in the final -- which was won by former Wildcat Ryann Krais, participating in the meet as a training exercise. Krais won the final in 14.18, which shows just how devastating Twiss's inability to run the final was. At the Texas Relays, Sara Savatovic added a third first-place finish to the 'Cats weekend, setting a personal best in winning the hammer throw. Her mark of 65.19m is the best throw in Division I thus far this year, and the second-best in K-State history. Alyx Treasure only finished fifth in the women's high jump, but it's okay: the event was won by Central Arizona CC's Kimberly Williamson, who'll be a Wildcat in about five months.
The women were cruising on Friday at the Mountain View Collegiate in Tucson, co-hosted by the Wildcats and Missouri. They finished the first day in fourth place, with three golfers in the top 14. Unfortunately, that success didn't last into Saturday, and the 'Cats finished in eighth place, 16 strokes back of event winners Nebraska.
It was not an awesome weekend. A 6-1 loss to Oklahoma on Friday and a 5-2 setback at the hands of Oklahoma State left the team with an 8-8 record, 2-2 in conference play. In between the matches, K-State Sports Extra's Kelly McHugh checked in with the team.
After dropping the semifinal to Oklahoma State 10-9 (in a match where the final total event scores were an insanely close 2856.5-2852.5), the K-State riders took third place in the Big 12 Championship in Waco with a 13-6 win over TCU. Five riders earned spots on the All-Big 12 Team, as Big 12 Equitation on the Flat Rider of the Year Rachel Webster was named to both the Equitation on the Flat and Equitation Over Fences teams, joined on both teams respectively by Henley Adkins and Alexis Graves. Kelly Bovaird earned the honor on the Horsemanship team, and Kara Guy was named All-Big 12 in Reining. In two and a half weeks, the 'Cats are off to the NCEA National Championship, also in Waco.
Best for last: K-State scored a 17-6 win over Kansas at Wyandotte County Lake to earn their fourth straight Sunflower Showdown victory. The 'Cats won three of four Varsity Eights races, but dropped both Varsity Fours legs. They're off to San Diego this weekend for the big San Diego Crew Classic.
The Chiefs and DeSean Jackson, who just endured a painful breakup with his ex Philadelphia, are passing notes to one another in class and trying not to make eye contact because that would be totes embarrassing.
I know he's the voice of KU, but Bob Davis also grew up watching the great Tex Winter teams play at Ahearn. Kevin Haskin chats with the KU and Royals broadcaster.