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Welcome to that weird weekend where people are more interested in talking about last year's movies, next year's president, and some guy who's really good at shooting the basketball from somewhere outside the stadium or something like that. Meanwhile, we have some news. Not much, but it's all interesting.
Jeff checked in with the visual box score from the massacre at Hilton.
Ken Corbitt at the Capital-Journal noticed something, and maybe you did to: D.J. Johnson is now suddenly K-State's scoring threat.
Over at the NIT Bracket Project, it looks like K-State is currently in position for a two seed. We should probably take a moment to consider how stacked the NIT field will be this year; the current projected field also includes some big-name teams like UCLA, Virginia Commonwealth, LSU, Ohio State, Georgetown, BYU, Alabama... well, you get the idea. This year's parity is turning the kiddie table into an intriguing tournament.
Tonight at 8pm in Stillwater, the K-State women will attempt to finish the year with a .500 conference record and effectively seal an NCAA bid. As is always the case for us here on Monday morning, we can only look at a week-old bracketology from Charlie Creme. Creme has K-State as the best of his last four in, and a nine seed... but since then the Cats have won at Iowa State and suffered a respectable loss at home to Baylor. That probably improves their position, but a win would secure it. (A loss wouldn't be devastating, as it would be a road loss to a 20-8 team in the top half of the bracket.)
It doesn't look like K-State has officially announced it yet, although maybe it's just hard to find. But the 2018 non-conference schedule, which already included home games against UTSA and Mississippi State, is now complete as they'll open the season at home against South Dakota.
Speaking of non-conference schedules, The Sporting News's Lisa Horne looks at the Big 12's lineup this year to see who's got game and who's ducking challenges. It's a slideshow, which we normally eschew here, but... well, you'll see.
The Star's Terez Paylor breaks down NFL Network draft analyst Mike Mayock's take on Cody Whitehair. Mayock is still set on Whitehair as the top option at guard in the draft, despite Cody's poor showing in the bench press workouts; his three-cone drill seems to outweigh that.
Two days after being taken behind the woodshed by Oregon State, the BatCats got revenge against the Pac-12 with an eruption of guys running around in circ-- okay, in squares. Or diamonds. Shapes are hard.
K-State (4-4) blasted Utah (2-5) 20-4 yesterday in Surprise to wrap up their portion of the Big 12/Pac-12 Challenge. Colton Kalmus only lasted five and a third, but it wasn't like he was needed; he left the game with a 9-1 lead to get some rest. Jake Wodtke had three hits on the day, while Clayton Dalrymple had three RBI. Steve Serratore and Tyler Moore both homered, which is significant: it's the first time two BatCats have had jacks in one game since April 2014 against Kansas.
Next up, the home opener on Friday afternoon against Arkansas-Pine Bluff.