There should be plenty of home cookin’ for the Big 12 Saturday in basketball action.
Each of the five home teams are favored.
- Texas Tech at Kansas
- Oklahoma at Kansas State
- TCU at West Virginia
- Oklahoma State at Baylor
- Texas at Iowa State
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Kansas State almost pulled off a stunner Tuesday night but a fox trot to the basket enabled Kansas to win 90-88.
KU coaches and players shrugged and said something along the line of, “Gee, I don’t know if he walked.”
Well, Svi Mykhailiuk made it from the top of the free-throw circle to the basket without a dribble to score the winning bucket with no time left.
Wildcat Coach Bruce Weber couldn’t have been more certain. Neither could network announcers throughout the night and day. He traveled. He must have had a free pass.
“I think everybody knows what happened,” Weber told reporters after the game. “Want to see my phone? There’s a hundred (messages). Everybody knows what happened. I mean, it’s obvious.”
The replay certainly showed the obvious, but the officiating crew of Mike Stuart, Ray Natali and Keith Kimble never blew a whistle. Did you have a little salt and pepper to season the whistles when you swallowed them. You get two steps, not three and four, guys.
Uh, hey, where were they playing this game? Oh, Allen Fieldhouse, the sight of so many last-second calls by officials that favored the Jayhawks.
Coach Bill Self finally conceded that Mykhailiuk did walk.
By the way, the Star didn’t list the names in the box score of the three game officials,
Oh well, game over. KU’s Josh Jackson matched a career high with 22 points to go with 9 rebounds and 6 assists. Landen Lucas added 18 points and 12 rebounds, as the Jayhawks (13-1, 2-0 Big 12) pushed their home winning streak to 50 and the 10th straight over the Wildcats.
Dean Wade matched a career high with 20 points to lead the five Cats in double figures.
A chance missed for the Cats.
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And a blown column by Star columnist Sam Mellinger. He spent precious words on saying the obvious — the one play was one of many that could have turned the game and didn’t cost the Cats the victory. Of course not. But it happens so often in Allen Fieldhouse.
Mellinger’s arguments about K-State’s mistakes and what they should have done to play better made him more of an apologist than a columnist. He didn’t allow the Cats to hurt. We won’t mention more than once that Mellinger went to KU. The next time he covers a game with a walk-off homer, a missed field goal with no time left or missed shot at the gun, I will expect him to go into a nuanced account of how the game could have turned on numerous other plays.
Again, the Cats lost. Right, as my buddies say after I have handed over a few pesos on the golf course: Play better.
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Wow, maybe Texas Tech and TCU do have the talent to contend for the first division in the Big 12 as they showed in games Tuesday night. Tech beat No. 7 West Virginia 77-76 and TCU slipped by Oklahoma 60-57.
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My superb prep insider tells me that Park Hill and Lee’s Summit West are the teams to beat on the Missouri side of the Kansas City Metro area. They were each division champions in the recent William Jewell basketball tournament. In the finals, Park Hill beat Raytown 58-54 and West downed Blue Springs 71-48.
West is playing terrifically with Christian Bishop displaying strong leadership skills and talent. Elijah Childs is a good one, too.
Ronnie Bell can fill it up for Park Hill. The Trojans also have a 6-10 sophomore, Roman Wilson, who scored 5 points in the victory over Raytown.
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On the Kansas side, the East Kansas League is dominant. I mentioned to a good friend of mine that Bishop Miege might be one of the best prep teams in the country, not just in the area. He said he wasn’t so sure after watching some of the teams showcased on ESPN.
The Stags have the talent. That starting five can play with 6-8 sophomore Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, 6-7 senior Franceso Badocchi, 6-2 senior Semaj Ray, 5-11 senior Landry Weber and 6-2 junior Ezekial Lopes.
But Tuesday night, the Stags fell on their home court 61-57 to St. Thomas Aquinas. Badocchi, whose home is in Italy, didn’t play because, according to sources, was ill and couldn’t travel back after the holiday break.
The Stags did not play well, needing someone to step up for the missing starter. The Saints did play well, getting 30 points from Angelo Allegri.
The loss snapped a 22-game winning streak.
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According to newspaper reports, Oregon defensive coordinator Jim Leavitt won’t be required to pay Oregon any portion of his buyout should he leave to become a head coach at Kansas State.
The contract says he would owe Oregon $500,000 if he leaves for any other job before January 31, 2018, and $250,000 for any other job after that date but before January 31, 2020. But “should he voluntarily terminate this agreement to become the head football coach at Kansas State University” his buyout would disappear.
Leavitt, 58, was an assistant coach at K-State for six seasons under current head coach Bill Snyder from 1990-95. He left to become the head coach at South Florida, where he led the team to a 95-57 record until he was fired in 2010 amid allegations of player mistreatment. Before Oregon, he was the defensive coordinator at Colorado, where he helped the Buffaloes turn around their defense and play in the Pac-12 championship game this season.
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Kansas State’s 33-28 victory over Texas A&M in the Texas Bowl has Wildcat fans in a tizzy in looking forward to next season.
And why not! A bunch of talented players are returning and solid prospects fill the redshirt corral, including Skylar Thompson, a 6-2, 205-pound left-handed quarterback from Fort Osage who has star quality potential. However, it’s difficult to measure those held out a year because Coach Bill Snyder keeps that information pretty much under wraps.
On offense, the Cats have eight returning players listed first team on the depth chart who will be competing during spring drills — a sophomore, five juniors and two seniors. Five juniors and four sophomores off the second team are scheduled to return. (The classes listed are what they will be next season). Running back Charles Jones, right guard Terrale Johnson and wide receiver Deante Burton will be gone.
On defense, some good ones will be missing: defensive end Jordan Willis, linebackers Will Davis and Charmeachalle Moore, defensive back Donnie Starks and Safety Dante Barnett. However, good ones return. Two sophomores, three juniors and two seniors are back off the first team. A sophomore, a junior and seven seniors were listed on the second team.
That kind of experience should be a signal for a clear shot at the Big 12 title.
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The media paid little attention to the corner blitz by Cre Moore that forced Aggie quarterback Trevor Knight to throw hurriedly and off the mark on A&M’s last offensive play of the game.
Aggie coach Kevin Sumlin said on post-game reports, “We got beat; there was zero coverage. It was man-to-man, and you’ve got to beat the blitz with a throw.”
Knight said, “I checked the out route out there; they showed zero coverage and we weren’t going to block the guy off the left side. I didn’t make the throw. We just didn’t execute it and that’s one that will probably haunt me forever. But we didn’t execute it and that’s the way the game ended up.”
Snyder explained, “The guess was probably right but when you go back and look at it, they probably had a chance to complete that pass. That young man is a great quarterback and a great person, but he threw the ball a little bit out of reach and consequently we got off the field. In all reality, the route was kind of open. We had some good fortune on that.”
But Moore was in Knight’s face in a hurry and that surely made the open receiver moot.
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Kansas State left tackle Scott Frantz held Texas A&M star defensive end Myles Garrett without a sack and that helped him earn a spot on the Associated Press All-Bowl team.
The Star had the story but wouldn’t it have been of interest to mention that Frantz, a red-shirt freshman, played high school ball at Lawrence Free State!
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On the first play of the fourth quarter, Sumlin’s decision to try a 52-yard field goal instead of going for it on fourth down drew considerable second-guessing.
He explained that the kick was within Daniel LaCamera’s range but that he just got under it a little bit. “We needed points,” Sumlin said.
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One of the reasons for Kansas State optimism is the return of quarterback Jesse Ertz. He improved as the season progressed, even his downfield passing looked better.
Sumlin was impressed with Ertz’s running ability: “You know, he’s been doing it a lot. He got loose on some quarterback draws against really zero coverage once he broke the line of scrimmage.”
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The South always rises in football bowl season. Bubba loves his bowls. However, the SEC is at 6-6 with Alabama still playing. The Tide will take on Clemson Monday night in Tampa for the college title.
The bowl records of the power conferences:
- ACC 8-3
- Big 12 4-2
- SEC 6-6
- Pac 12 3-3
- Big Ten 3-7
The Mac went 0-5 while Conference USA and the Mountain West were each 4-3.