SLATE: Kansas State promotes Henderson, Southwell, will play UNLV

One sport ends its regular season today and another determines its 2019 Big 12 fate once and for all as we head into the final Sunday before the 100 days begin. That’s right, there are only 105 days remaining before your friendly neighborhood dealer returns with a fresh supply of football.

You should really learn to stock up to get you through the lean times, y’know.

Basketball

We lead with basketball today, because basketball made the biggest waves. On Friday, a two-game home-and-home series was announced between K-State and UNLV. The first game will be in Las Vegas on November 9, while the Runnin’ Rebels will return the favor with a visit to Bramlage on December 5, 2020.

Bruce Weber had another announcement Friday as well. Jermaine Henderson, who’s spent the last two years as the team’s Director of Student-Athlete Development, has been promoted to Assistant Coach. Henderson isn’t inexperienced; he spent 15 years at his alma mater, Miami (OH), under the late Charlie Coles before stints at Missouri State and Cleveland State. He came to Manhattan after the latter job in an off-court capacity, and he’s now been elevated back to the bench. As a player, Henderson played for Coles and his predecessor, Herb Sendek.

Henderson’s replacement in the vacated development position requires no introduction. That slot will be filled by former Wildcat star Shane Southwell, who’s been serving as a graduate student manager the last two seasons.

Rowing

The K-State crew will be on Melton Hill Lake in Oak Ridge, Tenn., today for the Big 12 Rowing Championship. The Cats will be attempting to carry forward some good momentum from the spring season and improve on two consecutive third-place finishes in the conference regatta. That might be a tall order, as the field includes the fourth-ranked and defending champs Texas, 20th-ranked Oklahoma, and Alabama received votes in the most recent poll.

(This is your friendly reminder that Alabama, Tennessee, and Old Dominion really are in the Big 12.)

Baseball

Friday, K-State got blown out by Kansas in a 10-0 rout, and still qualified for the Big 12 Tournament because Oklahoma did an even worse number on Texas in a 13-0 mercy-ruled beatdown.

Yesterday, nothing happened because we’re only happy when it rains, only happy when it’s complicated.

As a result, we’ll find out today, once and for all, whether the BatCats will be the seventh or eighth seed in the Big 12 Baseball Tournament. The Cats will play two against Kansas in Lawrence. Sweep the doubleheader, and seventh is theirs; otherwise, it’s the eighth and final seed. As things stand, it really doesn’t matter; K-State’s performance this year against the 1-4-5 teams wasn’t really any worse than their performance against 2-3-6.

Volleyball

K-State’s volleyball team is taking a trip on which they really should have invited us as a special guest: a nine-day jaunt to Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paolo from May 29 through June 6. They’ll spend some time training with the Brazilian Under-20s, take on U21 Fluminense, U21 Esporte Clube Pinheiros, and Sao Caetano.

Finally

Yesterday was graduation day! Many of the Wildcats who crossed the stage — including nearly every football player who graduated — will be back next year. But for star names like Eli Walker, Kali Jones, Jeremy Gandon, Barry Brown, Dean Wade, and Kamau Stokes, this is the end. If they ever wear the Powercat on an official basis again, they’ll be getting paid to.

Our warmest congratulations to the 56 Wildcats who can now call themselves college graduates. Skol!