K-State Slate: 5.7.15 - 100 problems and the Big 12 is all of them

There has been a lot of commenntary and some sniggering over the Big 12 conference's alleged lack of talent as evidenced by the NFL draft. Well, that was never the whole story, and TB set the record straight yesterday: Context Is Everything.

The Big 12 has not put its best foot forward in the past few weeks. First, conference commissioner Bob Bowlsby suggested a championship game was the need of the hour (Jon Solomon, CBSSports). Then, after meeting with key stakeholders including conference coaches, he backtracked and announced that a conference championship game was not going to happen in the immediate future (Dennis Dodd, CBSSports).

Now Bowlsby is undoubtedly more experienced in such matters than the rest of us, and This is only a personal opinion/editorial comment, but I feel compelled to say it: all this waffling makes the conference look bad. These deliberations could have been kept under wraps until a final decision was reached. If people treat the Big 12 like it is a clown show (and they do!), it is partly because the messaging is so poorly managed.

Yesterday, the conference announced unanimous agreement on a new tiebreaker process that is very much like the old tiebreaker process. The one significant change is that there will be no co-champions (Max Olson, ESPN). The winner of the head-to-head matchup of the top two teams in the league will be designated the One True Champion (although the linked article erroneously states the conference only began using that slogan to make a case for Baylor last season).

The football team was honored as the top men's team for 2014-2015 at the Powercat Choice Awards, the Wildcats' own version of the ESPYs. Curry Sexton and his one-handed touchdown catch against Texas Tech won the Showstopping Moment of the Year award and Tyler Lockett was honored as male Athlete of the Year, with Matthew McCrane named male Newcomer of the Year.

Redshirt senior Shane Conlon recorded his 200th hit, but the BatCats fell to Wichita State 11-5 after giving up six runs in the first two innings and 15 hits total. Conlon combined with Taylor Moore for the first three runs but three errors (the most since March 10) doomed the team in this game. Pitcher Mark Biesma took his third loss of the season.

The BatCats are back in action tomorrow in the first game of a three-game series against Oklahoma. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 PM at Tointon, and this will be the team's last home series of the season.

Sophomore Madison Talley will represent Kansas State at the 2015 NCAA women's golf regionals in San Antonio, Texas. The tournament begins later today. Talley is the first woman in school history to earn an individual bid to an NCAA regional. She is part of a six-player regionals field including fellow Big 12 player Yupaporn Kawinpakom of Kansas.

Kansas State track and field is moving from strength to strength. This week, the men's team moved into the Top 25 of the national rankings, slotting in at No. 20. Meanwhile, the women are at No. 10 for the third consecutive week. This is the second straight year that both teams have been ranked in the Top 25 simultaneously.

In other track news, the women's team was named the best team at the Powercat Choice Awards, with Akela Jones taking home Female Athlete of the Year honors and A'Keyla Mitchell was named female Newcomer of the Year. Cliff Rovelto won Coach of the Year honors.