Slate: Summertime Basketball Talk

Football

BracketCat hit the quarter-pole in his countdown to kickoff of the football season with a nod to No. 75, sophomore offensive lineman, Dylan Couch.

Basketball

Kellis Robinett is already thinking ahead to hoops, and he ranked K-State’s nonconference opponents, noting that the schedule is significantly upgraded from last season, when a fourth-place finish in the rugged Big 12 only merited a 9-seed in the NCAA tourney field. Highlights for the upcoming season include games against Marquette, Texas A&M, and Vanderbilt, whose recruiting class included two 5-star and a 4-star prospect. Gulp!

Vahe Gregorian’s piece on Luis Colon in the KC Star has been picked up by several other outlets and is definitely worth the time to read. His journey is remarkable, and not just because he’s one of ours. Luis brought brooding toughness to the basketball floor and was once tossed out of a game for fighting. Now, he works as a youth case worker in Wyandotte County, where he has the admiration of his supervisors, co-workers and a host of inner-city youth.

Track and Field

Corbin McGuire at K-State Sports Extra highlights the latest champion to cement K-State’s reputation as #HighJumpU, Tejaswin Shankar. By winning the NCAA outdoor high jump championship, clearing 2.24 meters (7 feet, 4.25 inches) on his third attempt in light rain, Shankar became only the third athlete from India to win an NCAA track and field title. The win was K-State’s fifth in the event in the past ten years. And Shankar, the Indian national record-holder at 7 feet, six inches, is only a freshman.

Miscellany

KSNT reports that the Regents institutions have all proposed tuition increases, with K-State requesting an additional $51 per semester. If the requests are approved, the privilege of wearing a beaky bird on the chest of your polo with the stand-up collar will cost $137 more per semester, the largest increase among the regents schools. That would also put KU above $5,000 for a 15-hour schedule, at $5,046. Not to devolve into a barefoot-through-the-snow-uphill diatribe, but I vividly recall students expressing outrage when tuition eclipsed $800 per semester my junior year. That was for full-time status, whether you took 12 hours or 20. Ah, good old days. Fort Hays State, meanwhile, is still getting the job done for the unimaginable bargain of $2,000 per semester.

Finally, Dan and Beth Bird, who have provided financial assistance to K-State athletics and other university endeavors, have been awarded the K-State Medal of Excellence. Just two more of the many fine folks who make K-State great.