What’s on your wish list?

Football

What’s under the tree, Wildcat Nation? I hope at least one of you asked Santa Claus for a bowl game win this year.

Speaking of the bowl game, we’re only days away from the Texas Bowl, and our own Luke Thompson and KSUEMAW! talk to Olin Buchanan from TexAgs on the latest episode of Bring on the PodCats. (Warning: That game is discussed at about the 34-minute mark, so skip ahead!)

For some Wildcats, gifts come unexpectedly, as was the case with Manhattan native Terrale Johnson who never thought he’d have a chance to come home again to play football. But it all worked out in the end for Johnson, and for Kansas State (Kevin Haskin, Topeka Capital-Journal).

As Kansas State prepares to take on Texas A&M, familiarity with at least one A&M player might be another gift. Trevor Knight is a somewhat known quantity who went 1-1 against Kansas State while wearing an Oklahoma jersey (Ken Corbitt, Capital-Journal).

Kellis Robinett picks up on the same theme, noting that Knight is familiar not only because of his time with the Sooners, but also because he shares some qualities with Jesse Ertz, including deceptive speed (Wichita Eagle).

We can all agree that Bill Snyder has been a gift to Kansas State football, to the institution, and to the Manhattan community. But do we take him for granted? (Stan Unruh, FanSided).

The junior recruiting pipeline was a gift to Kansas State football through much of Snyder 1.0, but will changes in JC recruiting practices have an impact on Wildcat football? Now that junior colleges in the Jayhawk Conference can recruit from out-of-state, in-state prep prospects are getting fewer looks from junior colleges (Haskin, Capital-Journal).

Basketball

If you wished for a hot start to the basketball season, you got just what you asked for. Barring a still inexplicable loss to Maryland, Kansas State has been perfect on the season, and have an 11-1 non-conference record to show for it despite a ho-hum effort.

Whether this early success will continue through the Big 12 slate remains to be seen. What happens to the Wildcats this season will depend largely on the starters, as Greg Woods notes.

The Kansas State women, on the other hand, played an uncharacteristically loose game and dropped the contest to Northern Iowa in Cedar Rapids on Wednesday night. They get a week now to work off their misery before opening Big 12 play against Baylor. Like the men’s team, the fortunes of the women’s team will go as their starters do.

Happy Christmas to all, and to all, a good night.