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Basketball
It’s finally happened. The Kansas State women’s basketball team has finally received enough votes from the AP voters to sneak into the Top 25 poll at #25. It should have happened after the Cats beat Baylor, but at least it has finally happened.
Now the trick will be to hold on to their spot in the rankings, and perhaps even move up. And that will be the challenge tonight, as the #9/12 Iowa State Cyclones are in town for the first Top 25 (regular season) match-up in Bramlage since the final game of the 2016-17 season (coincidentally, that was also the last time the Wildcats were ranked in the Top 25). Tonight’s game tips off at 6:30pm CST and can be seen on Big 12 Now on ESPN+. And yes, we will have a game thread for you tonight.
For the third time this season, Serena Sundell has earned the Big 12 Freshman of the Week award after averaging a near-double-double of 13 points and 8 assists in the wins at Oklahoma State and West Virginia. Through 15 games, Sundell has more assists (83) than any freshman in K-State history through the same period, though she will need to notch well more than that over the final 15 games to reach Shalee Lehning’s mark of 189 from her freshman season in 2005-06.
Football
The K-State family is in mourning this week after the passing of Matt Miller this past weekend. Miller, who was 49 when he lost his battle with prostate cancer, started at QB for the Wildcats 1995 season and led K-State to the program’s first 10-win season and a final ranking of #6/7, the first time K-State finished in the Top 10 in the final polls. Miller then went on to serve on the K-State coaching staff for 10 seasons before moving on when Bill Snyder retired the first time in 2005. Eventually he became the head coach at Garden City Community College for the 2013 and 2014 seasons where he coached, among others, current Chiefs star receiver Tyreek Hill.
That 1995 season may be best remembered as the last, and perhaps only time that K-State and KU faced off while both teams were ranked, with the then-No 14 Cats demolishing the then-No 6 Jayhawks 41-7 in Manhattan.
The two-sport start at K-State (he also played baseball) fought to the end, and is fondly remembered by family and teammates not only for his actions on the field, but also for the man he was off the field. Rest in peace, Matt.