Round, round, round it goes, where KU will end up? Nobody knows!

This conference re-alignment thing just gets more confusing by the minute. Reports were coming out yesterday that Texas A&M were still heavily considering the SEC, and that Texas had no interest in the SEC. That means a spot could be opening for KU to sneak in and move to the SEC. The problem with that is that I don't see KU leaving KSU and splitting conferences, but that's how many felt about Texas and Texas A&M. So this little story leaves two questions. Will Pac-10 put A&M on the clock and will Texas and Texas A&M really split up? Only time will tell. You may be asking, what does this have to do with KU? Well, like I mentioned before, this could affect where KU lands up if the Big 12 goes down. If Texas A&M does decide to go to the SEC, that means the Pac-10 would need one more team to complete their plans and KU could be the final team to complete the Pac-16. But like I mentioned before, I honestly don't see KU splitting up with their in state rival, KSU.

Another big story that just came out today was Boise State is moving to the Mountain West Conference (MWC). What does this have to do with both KU and KSU you say? With the addition of Boise State, the MWC is almost guaranteed the Big 12's spot to be a BCS conference. This should be very exciting to KU and KSU fans, I know I am. I'm excited because if the Big 12 explodes, then KU and KSU will now most likely have a home. Boise State makes 10 teams in the MWC, so they will most defiantly want to expand more to compete with the other BCS schools expanding (not to mention, it makes a lot more sense geographically wise than the BE or ACC). If they do decide to expand to 12 or 14 teams, KU and KSU (and maybe Missouri, who announced they were staying in the Big 12, and Baylor) have a very good chance to find a new BCS home.

The future of the Big 12 will be discussed today by the people who hold the key to it's destruction, the Texas Board of Regents.

The Midwest Conference?

The college sports image is changing as we know it. Nebraska to the Big Ten, possibly along with Missouri. Also Colorado heading to the Pac-10, with the Pac-10 heavily looking at Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State as well. So with the Pac-10 and Big Ten creating a couple of super conferences I believe the Big 12 should have some fight to obtain their conferences name. Kansas State, Kansas, Iowa State, and Baylor will be without a conference. This leaves a question for the Kansans, Cyclones, and Bears fans. Where will they go?

One option would be to take a "Notre Dame" approach to things and go independent. Positives of a decision like this is that it gives more freedom with scheduling and allowing these teams to play whoever they want. Negatives of this decision would be that it would cost much more money to bring teams to Manhattan, Lawrence, Ames, and Waco to play and also be harder to find games to play on the road, due to the majority of the other D-1 teams being within a conference.

Another option would be to respond to the Pac-10 and Big Ten's decision to recruit and take teams from the Big 12 by recruiting teams from the C-USA, SEC, and Mountain West. The expansion of the Pac-10 and Big Ten has left question in the mind of 4 Big 12 teams of where will they go? and what conference will they be in? Representatives of the Big 12 understand that money is the motive for teams to move. Yes, the Big 12 has been a successful conference winning football and basketball championships within the last 5 years. Also they have the money producing football program of Texas and basketball producer, Kansas.

Football wise I believe this is a poor decision. As we speak there are several problems with the BCS system and the expansion of several of these conferences definitely changes the way the BCS must do things. With the expansion it will be much tougher to make the Top 25 polls and also to decide on the teams who will play in the BCS bowls.

Basketball, No matter how much the conferences change the 68 team field will always be there. Yes the committee for the NCAA tournament will have tougher decisions to make because of the fact that there will be less conference champions. This puts the pressure on the committee to choice more teams off of the bubble. Besides that when March rolls around you will see the same selection show and the same format to win the National Championship.

Overall my position on the expansion, being a Kansas State fan, is that it is a very poor plan. It makes the BCS recreate the system that they never even predicted in the first place. Also it makes it harder to become a national champion in both major money producing sports, which as we can tell by the expansion that money is the most important thing in college sports.

The Big...5?

Yesterday Nebraska informally announced that they were taking the Big 10's offer and ditching the Big 12. Let the dominoes fall. Since Nebraska's decision, Colorado has also announced to ditch the Big 12 for the Pac-10, the conference that is going after five other Big 12 schools (Texas, Texas Tech, Texas A&M, Oklahoma and Oklahoma St.). Second domino down. So now the Big 12's future, and most likely final domino, belongs to Texas. They can either knock it down, or keep it up.

If They Knock It Down - If they knock it down, which all sources are pointing that they will do, then the Big 12 is destroyed. Texas will bring the aforementioned five schools with them to form the Pac-16. Which means they will leave KU, KSU, ISU, Baylor and Missouri (who have been getting the cold shoulder from the Big 10 leaving question to whether they will even be invited to join the conference). This leaves two options for the five schools. Rebuild or Re-locate (conference wise that is). With everyone expanding, I don't think it will be too difficult to find another conference. They could try to fit in the SEC which makes more sense geographically wise, or go to the Big East and have a super-super conference. The other option, rebuilding, makes for a more interesting story. The Des Moines Register gives the suggestion of taking in Cincinnati, Louisville, TCU, UTEP, SMU, Houston, Rice and Memphis (though one of those schools would have to be out if Missouri doesn't leave). That would leave the following divisions (if Missouri leaves) as so :

North - Kansas, Kansas State, Iowa State, Memphis, Cincinnati and Louisville
South - Baylor, UTEP, TCU, SMU, Houston and Rice.

Now it's not the strongest conference but it could still easily work out and, if it saves the Big 12, I'm all for it. I even made a logo for the new Big 12.

If They Keep It Up - If Texas keeps the final domino of destruction up, then all of this will go away, the Big 12 will find two schools (Most likely TCU and Memphis) to replace Nebraska and Colorado, and the Big 12 is saved.

Who knows, maybe a shake up is good, but no matter what happens, the Big 12 will survive for a least another year or two, then the college sports world is in for a huge shake up.

Danielle McCray selected in WNBA draft with the 7th overall pick.

It was draft night. It was a KU player. That persons number was 4. That person was also a guard. But it wasn't KU's most winningest player in their history Sherron Collins, it was his counter-part Danielle McCray. McCray, who like Collins, is considered one of KU's all time bests in her sport, with her name all over KU's record book. She is only the fifth KU women's basketball player to be selected in the WNBA draft, with the last Jayhawk being Jaclyn Johnson was selected in 2001. She is also the highest Jayhawk selected since Lynn Pride was also selected with the 7th overall pick. She was drafted by the Connecticut Sun

KSU Football 2010

Wildcat football fans, Spring is in the air and football is right around the corner. The 'Cats are expecting big things from 4-star running back recruit Demarcus Robinson (Wichita NW) and also 3-star recruit Linebacker Tre Walker (Olathe North). K-State (6-6(4-4 in Big 12) are looking to build off of the return season of Head coach Bill Snyder. There schedule is built around a Thursday showdown with Nebraska on ESPN. They will begin their season with a home game at home against UCLA. At times the Wildcats struggle putting points on the board and this year may be similar but the 'Cats will be lead by there tough hardnosed Bill Snyder defense. On offense the quarterback position is looking like the reigns will be handed to Carson Coffman a year after he lost his starting job to Grant Gregory. The tandem of Robinson and Daniel Thomas will be a bright spot for the 'Cats this year. Look for them to carry the offense at times of struggle.
Here is the schedule for the 'Cats 2010 Football Season:
Sat, Sep 4: UCLA
Sat, Sep 11: Missouri State
Sat, Sep 18: Iowa State at Kansas City, MO
Sat, Sep 25: Central Florida
BYE
Thu, Oct 7: Nebraska
Sat, Oct 16: at Kansas
Sat, Oct 23: at Baylor
Sat, Oct 30: Oklahoma State
Sat, Nov 6: Texas
Sat, Nov 13: at Missouri
Sat, Nov 20: at Colorado
Sat, Nov 27: at North Texas
Having that many home games will benefit the Wildcats but the road games will be a good test to show where the 'Cats are at the middle of the year and then at the end of the year.
Be Proud, Be Purple. GO CATS!

KU Football.

Now that basketball season is officially over (well, the playing part that is), it is time to turn our attention to the other major sport, Football. Like this years Basketball team, last years football team came in with huge expectations. It was a down year in the North, and it looked as if KU would be able to easily win the North for the first time since the formation of the Big 12 with returning talent in Todd Reesing, Jake Sharp, Kerry Meier and Dezmon Briscoe, plus the 31st ranked recruiting class. But like this years basketball team, the season ended in disappointment. Amid controversy over head coach Mark Mangino mistreating players and injuries throughout the season, the team ended the season on a 7-game losing streak and finished the season with a 5-7(1-7) record. After the season Mark Mangino resigned(though there was a heavy chance he was going to get fired anyway). Now it's spring, and a new season has begun. Now taking orders from head coach Turner Gill, the team is hoping to flip their luck around and fight for their first Big 12 north title.

Kansas State

K-State fans it is a great time to be a Wildcat. Frank Martin has done a fantastic job getting the program to where it is now. He only looks to build off of this record-breaking season. Looking forward to next season, the Wildcats will bring back 3 of their 5 starters from this season. These players are Jacob Pullen (SR.), Dominique Sutton (SR.), and Curtis Kelly (SR.). Also look for contributions from Big XII sixth man of the year Jamar Samuels (JR.) and Wally Judge (SO.). K-State has a pretty solid recruiting class bringing in Will Spradling, Shane Southwell, and Freddy Asprilla. Look for the Wildcats to return to the NCAA Tournament and prepare for them to head back to the Elite Eight and possibly farther. Be Proud and Be Purple. GO CATS!