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We are in the dog days, indeed. Not only is Kansas State news sparse, there hasn't been a national college sports story of note all weekend. That, of course, leads to bored speculation and the dreaded Search for Content. That, in turn, leads to the inevitable Big 12 expansion discussion. Jason Kirk at the mothership did some research and some math and discovered that setting aside the benefits of expanding the conference's footprint, opening up new recruiting pastures, picking up a couple of decent media markets, and putting an end to all this nonsense, the teams in the Big 12 would lose... precisely nothing on the balance sheet by adding two decent teams.
I can think of no better argument for getting it done.
On with the usual:
Reed Bergstrom is number 69, and he's the latest contestant on BracketCat's countdown.
Brian Howell at the Boulder Daily Camera writes about what's going on with Colorado's defense, which we normally wouldn't care about except for the guy in charge of it: Jim Leavitt. The main reason we point this article out today, however, is that Leavitt dropped a very curious and utterly inaccurate quote:
However, when I went to Kansas State, we had the No. 1 defense in the nation and not one of those guys got drafted.
Leavitt was at K-State from 1990-1995. During that time, and in the two years immediately after his departure, six Wildcat defenders were drafted: Maurice Henry (1990), Rogerick Green (1992), Elijah Alexander (1992), Thomas Randolph (second round, 1994), Percell Gaskins (1996), and Chris Canty (first round, 1997). At least one of those six played on every single team Jim Leavitt coached in Manhattan, so not only is his comment baffling but somewhat worthy of outrage.
Speaking of old Wildcat alumni, one of them holds an NCAA record. Martin Gramatica might want to pay close attention over the next few years, because that record could be in danger. An uncredited post at FOX has video of Alabama commit Eddy Pineiro nailing a 73-yard field goal in practice.
Miami has declined their option on Michael Beasley, who is now a free agent.
Our pals over at Bruins Nation report that Jalen Hill has committed to UCLA as part of their 2017 recruiting class. Hill is the son of former Wildcat center George Hill, who played for Dana Altman (and then Tom Asbury, poor guy) in the early 1990s.