SLATE: Kansas State Basketball starts tonight, sort of

It’s not officially time yet, but tonight K-State fans are at least going to be able to get a look at... well, at basically the same team that reached the Elite Eight last year. At 7:00pm, the Cats will enter the Octagon to take on the Pittsburg State Gorillas in their only exhibition of the season.

(This is going to create a great deal of drama within the Royal Family, as your benevolent despot’s mother is a Pitt State alum. Then again, she hates basketball so we’re probably overreacting.)

Of course, it’s not exactly the same team. Corbin McGuire makes sure we all understand this in today’s Sports Extra; he profiles the most high, um, profile newcomer to this year’s squad, Austin Trice. He’s not the only one, as Kellis Robinett also zeroes in on Trice at the Eagle.

At the mothership, the staff has unleashed its season preview:

K-State very nearly got two guys in the top 50 of SB Nation’s Top 100 list, as Dean Wade is ranked #15 and Barry Brown checks in at #52. For those who might be thinking the Cats are overrated, we’ll suggest that having two of the top 52 players in the nation sort of inherently warrants a ranking just outside the top ten. (#Maths.)

Mike Rutherford offers 10 predictions for the season; his tenth, in his own words, is not bold. He thinks Kansas will win the Big 12 again. Rutherford also runs down the 50 best non-conference games of the campaign, and K-State is on the list at #33 with their December 1 trip to Marquette.

Ricky O’Donnell penned the staff’s preseason top-25 post. Surprisingly perhaps, given their opinion of Wade and Brown, SB Nation only slots K-State at #15 heading into the fray.

Finally, at Blogging the Bracket, our pal Chris Dobbertean has been doing his annual breakdown of non-conference schedules, and the other day he dropped his analysis of the Big 12’s slate. He ranks the conference #1 overall, which is nice. He correctly holds his nose at K-State’s schedule, and expects the Cats to win the Paradise Jam.

Women’s Basketball

The ladies have already gotten started. Last night, it took a layup from Peyton Williams with only 25 seconds left to overcome the Division II Fort Hays State Tigers in a far-too-close 48-46 contest. Justin Toscano of the Mercury provides further coverage. The women will try to improve on Monday, when it’s their turn to host Pitt State.

Football

Robinett discusses the Bill Snyder situation at the Eagle, referring obliquely to the editorials posted by TB and Fitz as well as the Collegian all calling for him to retire.

Speaking of Fitz, he addresses rumors regarding North Texas head coach Seth Littrell over at GPC. Interestingly, he frames those rumors as a question while mostly debunking them, which could just be bait or it could indicate he’s not sold on the denials.

We’ll close this section with content from the other purple camp. Drew Davison at the Fort Worth StartlegramStar-Telegram offers up some things to look for from the TCU perspective, while his colleague Peter Dawson explains why TCU is so damned disappointing this year.

Volleyball

K-State is preparing for the return match with West Virginia, at Ahearn on 7:00pm Saturday night.

Rowing

Alexandra Hein of FOX News reports on Samantha Scott’s cause of death. Scott fell ill from Lemierre’s syndrome, an extremely rare bacterial infection which was initially mistaken for tonsillitis. That mistake likely cost Scott her life, as an early diagnosis generally renders Lemierre’s treatable.