Oklahoma State looms, and so does Washburn

There’s a ton of stuff to get to today, so we’ll spare you any editorial ranting and dive right in. Your first two stops: Derek, flying solo this week because Luke’s moving to some godforsaken hellhole where he’ll forever be two hours behind us, talked with Pistols Firing’s Kyle Boone in this week’s podCATS, and TB kicked the tires on the official vehicle of Oklahoma State, the Bondo Dodge Ram.

Football

Lots of preview material from the bad guys this morning, which we’ll bullet for your convenience.

• Austin Higgs at our sister site Cowboys Ride for Free
• Mark Cooper at the Tulsa World with a quick preview
• Kendrick Marshall of the World with three Wildcats to watch
• Jason Elmquist of the Stillwater NewsPress on OSU respecting K-State
• Elmquist also has some predictions for the game
• And the official OSU site looks back on some Mike Gundy-era thrillers against the Wildcats

Also, there’s Kellis Robinett’s three minute preview at the Star.

Men’s Basketball

The men are in action at Bramlage tonight against Washburn in the season’s second and final exhibition. Game time is 8pm on FS Kansas City (within Kansas, ESPN3 otherwise). It’s the final time we’ll see Bob Chipman first-hand on the Washburn sideline, as the former Wildcat will retire at season’s end. Corbin McGuire spoke with Chipman for Sports Extra.

In news hits, Robinett discusses how Bruce Weber’s feeling about Xavier Sneed so far, and fantasizes about the Big 12 in 2026, when it has 12 teams. At Today’s U, Wendell Barnhouse previews the Cats’ 2016-17 season, while Joseph Nocco reports on James Love III’s broken foot.

Women’s Basketball

Immediately before the men’s game tonight, tipping at 5:30, the women see their first action of the season, also at Bramlage against Washburn. This one will air in horrible standard definition on FOX College Sports Central (probably 608 on Directv, 301 Verizon, 648 UVerse) and in glorious HD on KStateHD.tv.

Rick Peterson at the Capital-Journal previews this one from the Washburn perspective.

Volleyball

Hats off to Katie Brand, one of 10 women selected as finalists for the NCAA Senior Class Award for volleyball. Katie’s rocking a 3.64 GPA... in a science major. Want to see her win the award? You can vote. As the Purple & Black entry in The Basketball Tournament proved, we’re good at voting.

Brand was also selected District 7 COSIDA Academic All-District, along with teammate libero Kersten Kober. They both also received the honor last season. Kober, also a senior, sports a 4.0 GPA in accounting. They’re two of the seven members of the All-District team, which spans the southern Great Plains, southern Rockies, and all of Texas too.

Other

At the Star, Sam Mellinger reminisces about the Big 8, the Big 12, and the messy divorce. And at KSAL.com, we discover that the flight team at K-State Poly has qualified for nationals.