Slate: Cats making that money.

Basketball

We’ll start today with the guys making money. First up, Dean Wade began his pro career earlier this week as the recently-graduated forward knocked down 14 points and grabbed six rebounds in his NBA Summer League debut for the Cleveland Cavaliers. He’ll be joined in the NAB Summer League by Barry Brown, and Brown’s first action with the Minnesota Timberwolves will come on Friday, July 5th, as the T-Wolves and Wade’s Cavaliers face off in Las Vegas.

Yesterday, some big(ish) money went flying a purple way, as former Wildcat star Rodney McGruder received a three-year $15 million deal from the L.A. Clippers. McGruder began his career in Miami but was waived by the Heat late last season to prevent paying the NBA’s “luxury tax” and was claimed off wiavers by the Clippers and was part of the team for their playoff run but did not participate due to NBA rules.

Monday, after the Slate dropped, K-State Athletics released the non-conference portion of the 2019-2020 men’s basketball schedule. The schedule features several teams that went to the NCAA Tournament in 2019, including Big12/Big East Series opponent Marquette, Mississippi State, and another SEC team as part of the Big 12/SEC Challenge.

Bruce Weber’s 2019 recruiting class got one more bump, as incoming freshman Dajuan Gordon got another bump in the final Rivals 2019 Rankings to check in at number 71 overall, making him the highest-rated recruit for Bruce Weber at K-State, and the highest rated recruit to Manhattan since Wally Judge in 2009. Gordon’s final bump came after his strong showing at the USA Basketball’s U19 tryouts, where he held his own against other top players. The Eric Bossi article linked here also includes a nice tidbit about Weber’s early returns leading the U19 team so far, and the team is averaging over 106 points per game through the start of pool play (who said Bruce can’t coach offense...).

Football

The Klieman recruiting train started July as it finished June, with another commit for the 2020 class. This time it was Durango, CO native Carver Willis, as the currently unrated OT prospect chose the Wildcats over offers from Wyoming (CK winning recruiting battles against his former boss), KU, and Colorado State. Offensive tackle is a big need for the Wildcats in the 2020 class, and Willis is the first pledge at the position.

Now that the doors of Vanier have been opened to the media, we’re getting a better look at the football coaching staff. And the biggest personality might just be Director of Recruiting Taylor Braet, who gets a feature from the Eagle/Star as Kellis Robinett takes a look at the man and his massive collection of purple shoes.

Chris Klieman unveiled an updated roster Tuesday night and there are several notable changes across the roster. To make it easy on you, Robinett has five observations, including several players leaving the roster and position changes. Also, we’re going to get to see the number “1” on the field again for the first time since 2008.

Chris Low at ESPN, the guy who got the big “first retirement” interview with Bill Snyder, now takes a look at the new Wildcat head coach, and how Klieman can follow Snyder at K-State.

Speaking of Bill Snyder, if you are so inclined, there will be a public event to celebrate the legend’s career on July 12th in Bramlage Coliseum. It is a free event to the public, and will be hosted by Mitch Holthus and will include appearances by former players Kevin Lockett and B.J. Finney, friends Jim Colbert and Jon Wefald, and former Oklahoma coach (and one-time Snyder assistant) Bob Stoops.

General

The Wildcats continue to uphold the “student” part of “student-athlete”, as 219 K-State student-athletes were named to the Spring 2019 Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll in an announcement from the league office today. The 219 student-athletes to earn the honor marks the 23rd straight semester K-State has placed 200 or more student-athletes on the honor roll, which requires a semester GPA of 3.0 or higher.

The film for the July 14th Movie Night at Bill Snyder Family Stadium has been announced, and you can watch “Incredibles 2” on the big video boards at the stadium that evening.