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Friday is here, faithful miscreants, and we actually have a ton of things to talk about this morning. Given today’s world news, one wonders if at some point in the future we’ll see Longhorns lining up to vote for a #Texit. But that’s not important. What is?
Scheduling. AMS reported on four football games which will happen when your grade schoolers are already enrolled at K-State: home-and-home series with Colorado and Washington State.
We also got more countdown blasts from BracketCat, with profiles of Evan Curl and Dalton Risner.
More takes on the scheduling news, from NBC’s John Taylor, Pat Rooney at the Boulder Daily Camera (via the Longmont Times-Call), Stefanie Loh at the Seattle Times (who points out exactly why K-State’s scheduling a series with the Coogs), and the official sites of both Colorado and Washington State.
ESPN’s Big 12 blog is asking who the most indispensable player is for each Big 12 school. Jake Trotter has the answer for the Wildcats: Dante Barnett.
The NBA draft was last night, and while there weren’t any Wildcats on the board there were a half-dozen Big 12 players getting paid. Buddy Hield, a fan favorite even for Oklahoma’s rivals, went to New Orleans with the sixth pick. Baylor’s Taurean Prince was selected at number 12 by Utah, and was then traded to Atlanta. The second round saw Jayhawk Chieck Diallo going to the Clippers, Iowa State teammates Georges Niang to Indiana and Abdel Nader to Boston, and Hield’s teammate Isaiah Cousins to Sacramento. It’s the eleventh straight year the Big 12 has had a lottery pick.
Tyrek Coger, the 21st-ranked JUCO player in the land this year, is being courted by Bruce Weber. The competition for the 6’9” forward from Cape Fear Community College in North Carolina, according to Kellis Robinett at the Star, is Oklahoma State, Rutgers, and North Carolina-Charlotte. Coger originally wanted to go to Ole Miss, but was not eligible due to a relatively arcane SEC rule.
Robinett also reports on Wesley Iwundu, who’s trying to discover his jump shot.
We’ve reported quite a bit on the Purple and Black entry into this year’s edition of The Basketball Tournament; they concluded the fan voting portion of the event by kicking the snot out of everyone and amassing by far the highest vote total. Before that tournament begins with the Midwest Regional in Chicago in mid-July (which our own Gracey Terrill will be covering live), the members of the team will drop by Bramlage July 8-10 to host the Purple and Black Camp for third- through ninth-graders.
Dani Winters, the reigning NCAA indoor women’s shot put champion, is among 517 nominees for the NCAA Woman of the Year award. That seems like a lot.
Levi MaVorhis wasn’t drafted, but he’s signed a free agent deal. Unfortunately, he signed with the Cardinals, which means he’s dead to us until he gets traded or something.
The Big 12’s Academic All-Rookie team has been announced, honoring students from all sponsored sports. The Wildcats had 30 honorees, a school record. Five posted perfect 4.0 GPAs: rowers Nikole Cain and Grace Reilly, distance runner Laina Ewoldt, wide receiver Zach Reuter, and All-American shot putter Brett Neelly. Notables in the other 25 include Kayla Goth of the women’s basketball team and quarterback Alex Delton.