The Wildcat basketball team has a chance to get the first K-State win of the New Year tonight, but the headline news around the athletic program this morning concerns 1997-98 quarterback and K-State football legend Michael Bishop, who suffered a “small stroke” and had a blood clot behind his left ear. Fortunately, he is recovering and says he will do rehab to regain his strength. Best wishes, Mike.
Basketball
Bruce and the boys will try to shake off Saturday’s late meltdown in Norman, as they host the Texas Christian Horned Frogs tonight at 8:00. The athletic department provides its usual preview of the match against the 10-3 Frogs, who beat Iowa State 81-79 in overtime to begin their league slate. Desmond Bane leads TCU for what seems like his seventh year.
This is a game the Cats need to win. Kellis Robinett thinks the defense may help K-State win the day, if only by a smidgen. He also recounts Coach Weber’s praise for the freshman and challenge to the older players to contribute more.
K-State Sports Extra this morning features Mike McGuirl, who has put in extra work as he seeks to be a consistent performer for the team.
Football
Corbin McGuire looks at five takeaways from Coach Klieman’s first season on the sidelines, along with a glance ahead at potential areas of strength and need going into next year.
The executive director of the AutoZone Liberty Bowl sent a nice letter to the editor of the Kansas City Star, praising K-State and its fans for their showing in Memphis. This is probably something he routinely does, but let’s pretend it’s not. We’re special, and we know it.
At the Oklahoman, Berry Tramel had to swallow his pride and praise Texas for being the only Big 12 program to win in what turned out to be a disastrous bowl season for the conference.
At SBNation sister site One Foot Down, Matt Boomer looked at “other” teams Notre Dame has never played, with a favorable nod to K-State and a sad recollection of 2012-2013 and the assumption that the Domers, who lost to Alabama, could have handled the Wildcats.
The Mercury ran a short piece about local players selected to play in the Shrine Bowl, including future Wildcats Sam Shields, Nate Matlack, Haldey Panzer and Cody Stufflebean.
And, finally, kstatesports.com published a playoff-truncated version of its weekly feature on Wildcats in the NFL, starring Tyler Lockett, who (upon further review) made an amazing 39-yard catch along the sidelines in the Seahawks’ wildcard win over the Philadelphia Eagles.