Joe on K-State Sports

Spring football ended Saturday for Kansas State with their final practice open to the public.  K-State has some key newcomers and returners that will need to step in and produce right away if they are to get enough wins to become bowl eligible this fall.  They are losing a lot of production, especially at the tight end position and on the defensive side of the ball, which will need to be replaced. Here are five players you may not have heard much about that are creating some buzz around the program.  Chris Klieman and company hope these guys can step in and replace lost production and help the team improve on their four wins in 2020.  Keep an eye on these five players heading into the fall. Jacardia Wright, Sophomore Running Back The first time I remember seeing Jacardia Wright was when he had 59 yards on 14 carries against Bowling Green in 2019.  I mentioned in a post-game blog post how impressed I was with him.  For some reason, he was used sparingly last season and every time  the r

  It's a K-State potpourri edition of "From The Couch."  Two incoming transfers to the basketball program, some K-State sports alumni news, and a new "Ask The AD."  Let's go.... "A 6-foot-5, 220-pound shooting guard, (Mark) Smith will have one year of eligibility remaining after the NCAA granted fall and winter sport student-athletes an additional year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Under NCAA graduate transfer rules, he will be eligible to play for the Wildcats in the Fall 2021 after graduating from Missouri with an undergraduate degree in Sport Management. He is expected to graduate in May." ...K-State Sports, March 31, 2021 JM:  Reaction is mixed to Mark Smith joining the K-State basketball program from Missouri.  A big MU fan buddy of mine texted me and said "He will be perfect for Weber and Bruceketball.  Another non-scorer.  And when he's not scoring, he's usually turning the ball over."  That's not exactly a ringin

Congratulations to the Baylor Bears for advancing to their third Final Four in school history and their first since 1950.  Big 12 schools have a long and proud history in the NCAA tournament and have had a representative in the last two Final Fours that have been held.   Of the first 21 tournaments played from 1939 to 1959, schools from the current Big 12 were participants in 13 Final Fours and won three national championships. Oklahoma played in the first Final Four held in 1939. Here is the number of Final Fours for each school in the current Big 12: Kansas 15 (1940, 1952, 1953, 1957, 1971, 1974, 1986, 1988, 1991, 1993, 2002, 2003, 2008, 2012, 2018) Oklahoma State 6 (1945, 1946, 1949, 1951, 1995, 2004) Oklahoma 5 (1939, 1947, 1988, 2002, 2016) Kansas State 4 (1948, 1951, 1958, 1964) Texas 3 (1943, 1947, 2003) Baylor 3 (1948, 1950, 2021) West Virginia 2 (1959, 2010) Iowa State 1 (1944) Texas Tech 1 (2019) TCU 0 Since the Final Four is this weekend, I thought it would be fun to look b

    Spring football is in full swing and the coaching staff held a press conference on Thursday.  This post will concentrate on the quarterback position and the comments of quarterbacks coach Collin Klein.... "He's (Skylar Thompson's) done a great job, attacking his rehab and taking it one step at a time but getting after it. Throwing wise, he's spinning it really good right now in most things. We're still trying to protect him a little bit just so he doesn't get knocked around or take a weird fall or something like that. But he's doing tremendous and ahead of schedule." ...Collin Klein, Quarterbacks coach, March 25th JM:  It's good news that Skylar is ahead of schedule in his rehab. "I think the last three practices (Jake Rubley)'s made great strides. There's a lot in our offense that is on his plate and he has to handle. Obviously, it's a tempo that is going fast and pieces moving fast around him. So, he's drinking fro

"Kansas State men's basketball received some good news on Tuesday afternoon (March 23) when senior Mike McGuirl announced that he was utilizing his extra season of eligibility and returning to the Wildcats for the 2021-22 season."... www.kstatesports.com, March 23, 2021 JM:  Mike McGuirl is coming back, which is some "good news" according to the official K-State sports website. Guess there's been plenty of bad news lately with all the transfers, so it's nice to get some positive news like this.  I wouldn't have minded if McGuirl would have decided to move on, but fan reaction is mixed. "This was an easy decision for me. The coaches and the Kansas State community have been so great to me and I wanted another year with my brothers on the team." ...Mike McGuirl, March 23, 2021 JM:  How many seniors do you think will return to their teams and play an extra season instead of calling it a career?  We will see.  Skylar Thompson decided to retur

It's been a rough college basketball season for many fans, but especially for Kansas State fans.   I had a few friends text me throughout the season saying "your articles almost write themselves, don't they?"  They definitely don't write themselves, but record-breaking futility does give one plenty of topics to write about.  It also means that K-State fans once again have to watch the NCAA tournament rooting for their bracket since their team isn't in it again. I have to admit it's almost infuriating watching all of these ex-K-State coaches not only take their teams to the tournament but find a lot of success there while K-State is not a participant yet again.  It's hard to watch and not think "what might have been" had some of them stayed at Kansas State.  This gave me the idea to look at all of the K-State basketball coaches in the last 35 years to see what they did in the tournament while coaching at K-State vs. what they did in the tourna

    Bruce Weber lost three key players off the basketball team roster this week when Antonio Gordon, DaJuan Gordon, and Rudi Williams all hit the transfer portal. It's pretty hard, if not near impossible, to run a successful basketball program with this kind of turnover every year. Let's take a look at what happened.... "I want to thank the people of Manhattan for their tremendous love and support throughout this year. I would also like to thank my teammates for accepting me and loving me like a brother. I would lastly like to thank Coach Weber, Coach (Brad) Korn, coach (Chris) Lowery, Coach (Shane) Southwell, and Coach (Jermaine) Henderson for giving me the opportunity to play at this university. I will truly miss the memories that were made here with so many great people. But after prayer and long talks with my family and those close around me I have decided to enter the transfer portal to continue my athletic and academic journey." ...Antonio Gordon, Twitte