MBB, WBB play final games of 2018

Basketball

The Kansas State sports calendar for 2018 winds down tonight with a basketball doubleheader at Bramlage Coliseum.

First up, the women’s team takes on Northern Iowa (7-4) this afternoon. Tip-off is scheduled for 1 PM, and the game will stream live on ESPN3. The Wildcats are currently 8-3 and this is the final non-conference tilt of the season. Northern Iowa won the last meeting in the series 72-71.

The men’s team (9-2) takes the court at 7 PM tonight against George Mason (6-6). The teams have never played in Manhattan before, but the Patriots did draw first blood in the series, beating the Wildcats 87-77 way back in 2007. George Mason began its 2018 campaign 0-3 but has bounced back to win six of the last nine contests.

Football

Head coach Chris Klieman announced three more additions to his near-complete staff: Ted Monachino, Brian Anderson, and Van Malone.

Monachino, most recently at Missouri as a defensive analyst and a longtime NFL assistant/coordinator, will be Kansas State’s defensive coordinator and also coach the linebackers. He’s joined on that side of the ball by Malone, whose previous stops include Mississippi State, SMU, and Oklahoma State, will coach cornerbacks in Manhattan. Anderson, most recently at Illinois State, and previously an assistant at Minnesota, will be in charge of wide receivers for the Wildcats.

Speaking of changes in Manhattan, Alex Delton announced he was headed to UTEP, where he will play for a familiar coach in Dana Dimel, and maybe find himself in a familiar situation with regard to playing time too, at least according to UTEP analyst Alex Nicolas:

Meanwhile, there’s plenty of actual college football to be watched in the next few days!

Although our beloved Wildcats are home for the bowl season, plenty of their Big 12 brethren have already played in bowl games in 2018:

— TCU won the Cheez It Bowl 10-7, in a Dickensian best-bowl-game-ever-worst-bowl-game-ever sort of game.

— Not to be outdone by its most hated rival, Baylor produced its own version of bizarre bowl game highlights in a 45-38 win over Vanderbilt.

— Iowa State and Washington State pulled out all the stops in what might be the best bowl so far (at least in the conventional sense). Iowa State did a lot of Iowa State things, including letting Wazzu take a 21-7 lead, making a furious comeback only to falter at the end and lose 28-26, and getting their coach flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct over some genuinely terrible officiating. But the most Iowa State thing to happen in this game came from the fans, who (gasp!) ran out of beer during the game!

— West Virginia joined Iowa State in the loser’s column, dropping a 34-18 decision to Syracuse in the Camping World Bowl. Without the services of Will Grier, the ‘Eers struggled, although Jack Allison did tally nearly 300 yards through the air despite missing receivers and not finding the end zone. The bigger news though? Dana Holgorsen’s seat is pretty hot right now.

There’s apparently some big game featuring Oklahoma and Alabama tonight, but I’m just putting that entire ESPN-led hypefest on ignore.