Joe on K-State Sports

In the early 2000's it was a great time to be a Big 12 football fan. From 2000-2004, Kansas State, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas, and Colorado all had teams ranked in the top five at some point during those years.  Add to that the fact that Oklahoma won the national championship in 2000, and it's easy to say the Big 12 conference produced some of the best teams, had some of the best games and gave college football fans some of the best moments of the early 2000s.  As a result, coming up with a list of the top Big 12 games from 2000-2004 was a lot of fun. I prioritized games of national significance between ranked teams versus games that didn’t have as many eyes on them.  I came up with the top five games and five "honorable mention."  Hope you enjoy looking back at some of the best Big 12 games from 2000-2004. 2000 Kansas State 29 Nebraska 28 This was a battle for the Big 12 North title, as number four Nebraska visited number 16 Kansas State on a cold 17-degree day

  Steve Grogan was inducted as a part of the inaugural class of K-State's Ring of Honor in 2002.  One of the best quarterbacks in Kansas State history had a noteworthy and successful career in high school, college, and the NFL.  I learned quite a bit about the career of Steve Grogan when putting this post together. One of the unanticipated things I learned about him is that he's a quote machine.  There are scads of Steve Grogan interviews archived online and because of that, this post is quite a bit longer than usual.  Hope you enjoy reading and learning a little bit more about K-State great Steve Grogan. "Steve Grogan was active in sports at Ottawa High School and helped led the Cyclones to state championships in basketball and track.  He was a member of National Honor Society and was named Mr. O.H.S." ... https://www.usd290.org , December 2, 2019. JM:  Grogan led Ottawa High School to the Class 3A state championship football game in 1970, losing 21-12 to Emporia.

From the dawn of the Big 12 conference, its football teams have been major players on the national stage and have played some of the most memorable games in college football history.  I thought it would be fun to take a look back and rank the greatest games in conference history.  Instead of listing them all in one article, I decided to do a series of articles and break it up into five-year increments starting with the 1990s.  From 1996 to 1999, Big 12 programs Kansas State, Nebraska, Missouri, Texas, Texas A&M, Colorado, and Oklahoma State each finished in the top 25 at least one season, giving the fans some colossal match-ups along the way. This was an interesting and time-consuming exercise.  My list was much longer when I started and the process of elimination was difficult.  I ended up prioritizing games of national significance between ranked teams versus games that didn't have as many eyes on them.  Hope you enjoy this look back at some of the best Big 12 games of the

Bruce Weber spoke to the media on Wednesday about the incoming transfers and the upcoming basketball season.  Here are some quotes of note from the presser: "I know a lot of coaches that I'm friends with that I've talked to. I was on the phone with (Missouri coach) Cuonzo Martin yesterday, (Purdue coach) Matt Painter the day before, (Michigan State coach) Tom Izzo last week late in the week. We're all skeptical. I told President Myers last night at the baseball game that I worry about college basketball in the future, and I know change is hard for everybody and change is part of life." ..Bruce Weber, April 28 JM  Weber was responding to a question about the transfer portal and its effect on college basketball. Weber and the coaches he mentioned are not fans of the way college basketball is heading. "I still go back to Coke and Coke Classic. Sometimes people make bad decisions and they have to go back and say, 'What did we do? Did we did we mess this up?

The 2021 NFL draft begins this Thursday and while there is a lot of buzz about the draft nationally, there seems to be little buzz locally. Kansas State had at least one player selected in the NFL draft for 26 straight years from 1993 to 2019, which was the longest streak in the Big 12 conference until it was broken last year when no Wildcat was selected.  The Oklahoma Sooners now hold the longest draft streak in the conference. There was a time in the past when I loved watching the NFL draft and was especially interested in seeing local players, especially K-State Wildcats, get selected.  Somewhere along the line, I lost interest in the draft.  Despite my indifference, it's still very popular among the masses.  A simple internet search for "NFL Draft" or "Mock NFL Draft" will give you hundreds of websites to visit to peruse their mock drafts and read about prospects. Can K-State start a new NFL draft streak in 2021?  Unfortunately, it doesn't look promising

  Lynn Dickey is the first player in my series of K-State football Ring of Honor members.  I became a fan of Lynn Dickey long before I was ever a fan of K-State.  I grew up in Wisconsin a huge Green Bay Packer fan and Dickey was my favorite quarterback.  He led a proficient Packer offense, throwing the ball to John Jefferson, James Lofton, and Paul Coffman, another K-State great.  These guys were my Patrick Mahomes, Tyreek Hill, Sammy Watkins, and Travis Kelce.  I was 10 years old at the time, but still vividly remember those Packer teams.  When I decided to attend Kansas State, I heard stories of Lynn Dickey, but it mostly got muddled into the "K-State had the worst football program of all-time" talk in the early 90s.  When researching Dickey's accomplishments while at K-State, I was surprised to learn that he quarterbacked some pretty good teams and that K-State was contending for Big 8 championships against Nebraska and Oklahoma.  I enjoyed researching and reading arti

  "Arkansas, Cincinnati, Illinois and Kansas State – four men’s basketball programs that have combined to win three NCAA titles and reach 21 Final Fours – will compete at the 2021 Hall of Fame Classic Powered by ShotTracker Nov. 22-23 at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Mo." ...www.halloffameweekend.com, April 21, 2021 JM:  The College Basketball Hall of Fame made the announcement official today.  I really like this lineup. Two really good programs in Arkansas and Illinois, Cincinnati breaking in a new head coach and K-State.  I'll be there to watch. "Weber said he will specifically request for K-State to open against Arkansas or Cincinnati." ...Kellis Robinett, Wichita Eagle, April 21, 2021 JM:  What?  This was a random sentence in Robinett's write-up about the Hall of Fame Classic.  He didn't explain why Weber would specifically ask not to play Illinois.  Is he afraid of playing them?  Does he not want to play them because he used to coach there?  Th