K-State Q&A: Skylar Thompson, bowl destinations and college hoops

College basketball is back, but it’s hard to get all that excited about the start of another season.

Take a look at the schedule of games happening today. How many do you want watch?

The only game involving ranked teams is Texas A&M (down three suspended players) vs. West Virginia in Germany. Georgia Tech vs. UCLA in China and Iowa State at Missouri offer some appeal, as they involve teams from power conferences. As for every other game on opening night: Woof!

Here’s the Big 12 slate – American at Kansas State, Tennessee State at Kansas, Central Arkansas at Baylor, Northwestern State at Texas, Pepperdine at Oklahoma State, Louisiana-Monroe at TCU, South Alabama at Texas Tech, Iowa State at Missouri and Texas A&M vs. West Virginia.

Will the combined TV ratings of those games equal what K-State and West Virginia draw for their football game on Saturday?

College basketball is rarely relevant at a national level before March, and many fans don’t start paying attention until conference season arrives.

With boring games like this, it’s easy to see why. College basketball needs a better opening night.

That’s my two cents, anyway. Now, let’s get to your questions. Thanks, as always, for your participation!

It’s high, whatever it is.

Skylar Thompson looks like Kansas State’s quarterback of the future, and he’s playing well enough to be the team’s quarterback of the present. He’s got the best arm on the team, but he’s also pretty fast. Don’t know if he can stand up to the punishment that comes along with all of K-State’s designed QB runs, but he has dual-threat capabilities. He reminds me a lot of Jake Waters, who set K-State’s single-season record for passing yards in 2014.

Thompson made some great throws while leading K-State to a come-from-behind victory at Texas Tech last week. He’s only a redshirt freshman, but he’s already gaining experience.

His future seems bright.

Tough call.

I spent a good hour debating whether to pick K-State or West Virginia this week, before ultimately choosing the Wildcats. I went back and forth on the K-State/Tech game, too.

At Oklahoma State won’t be as difficult. The Cowboys will clearly be favored in that game. But even then, K-State has lost its past three trips to Stillwater by a total of 13 points. The Wildcats could win there.

Iowa State will be back to a toss-up. The Cyclones are a new team under Matt Campbell, but they haven’t beaten the Wildcats since 2007. Right now, I’m leaning K-State. But a lot can change between now and then.

Put me down for 2-1, which would give K-State a 7-5 record.

I actually like a good running back committee, when it’s handled the right way.

Ideally, I would like to see K-State use Alex Barnes as the lead back, Justin Silmon as his backup and then Dalvin Warmack on passing downs and as a change of pace.

Barnes should get 12-15 carries a game. Silmon should see 5-10 touches, depending on his effectiveness. And Warmack should get the ball a handful of times a game.

That way you keep all three running backs fresh and reduce their risk of injury. Not sure if Silmon will be able to play in this game after leaving the Texas Tech win with an injury, but no matter how you slice it they should share carries.

Here is the Big 12 bowl order:

▪ Playoff.

▪ New Year’s Six.

▪ Alamo Bowl.

▪ Camping World Bowl.

▪ Texas Bowl.

▪ Liberty Bowl.

▪ Cactus Bowl.

▪ Heart of Dallas Bowl.

The three most likely bowl options appear to be the Liberty Bowl, Cactus Bowl and Heart of Dallas of Bowl.

Where the Wildcats end up will depend on how they finish and how many Big 12 teams make the playoff/New Year’s Six bowls.

If the Big 12 places a team in the playoff AND a New Year’s Six bowl, the Wildcats are probably looking at the Liberty Bowl or the Cactus Bowl. K-State went to Memphis two years ago and it wasn’t the most amazing of trips. Here’s guessing the folks in Memphis would look elsewhere for a Big 12 team, making the Cactus Bowl a better possibility.

If the Big 12 misses the playoff and only places one team in a major bowl, K-State would be in the running for the Liberty/Heart of Dallas Bowls.

K-State could also win out and hope for a better destination ... Or lose out and spend the bowl season at home. Lots of possibilities at the moment.

After last year’s helmet switch, word out of the football complex was that Bill Snyder liked the change and wished the team would have taken things a step further and gone with new pants.

I’m expecting a step up from last year.

1. Kansas State 36, Baylor 35 in 2011: The day Arthur Brown beat Robert Griffin III.

2. Oklahoma State 52, Kansas State 45 in 2011: Thrilling back-and-forth game that featured an earthquake after it ended.

3. Kansas State 62, Texas A&M 14 in 2009: This is an oddball choice, but I vividly remember the game, because K-State lost the previous week to Texas Tech 66-14. When else do you get to experience a 100-point turnaround from one week to the next against conference opponents? The postgame scene was pure euphoria.

The plan is for him to become academically eligible and enroll in the spring/summer like a typical grayshirt recruit.

I haven’t heard anything about expansion. That was one thing John Currie was adamently against, as he favored a packed 50,000-seat stadium compared to a larger venue with open seats.

K-State is barely selling out games at the stadium’s current capacity this season. I doubt that ranks high on the school’s facilitiy to-do list.

I can’t say that I miss those.

But now that I think about it, I do seem to remember one video where Willie just got home from the grocery store and was irate when he realized a fan from the opposing team stole the bread he had just purchased. That was kind of funny.

Is it too obvious to say Stranger Things?

Because ... If it’s not ... STRANGER THINGS!

I finished off season two on my flight home from Lubbock last week, and it kills me that we have to wait another year for new episodes.

The show is a great throwback to 80s culture, with science fiction and horror thrown in. I’m not sure exactly what category this show belongs to. It’s got a lot of scenes with kids, teenagers, adults, families, monsters. Some of it takes place in another dimension. It reminds me a little bit of Lost mixed with Goonies.

Winona Ryder does a great job in this show, and I loved Sean Astin’s character this season. Good acting across the board.

Some episodes can feel a little slow, but others blow by. I was thinking the other day this might be my favorite Netflix show, right up there with BoJack Horseman.

Other possibilities:

Ozark -- It’s like Breaking Bad, only better.

Narcos -- Love this show.

Bloodline -- Season 1 is awesome.

Flaked -- If you like BoJack Horseman, you will probably like this. Will Arnett is the star!

Santa Clarita Diet -- A humorous spin on life as a zombie.

Friends from college -- I seem to be in the minority liking this show, but I thought it was funny.

Family Matters -- All the old TGIF shows are on hulu now, and I have enjoyed going back and watching some of these.

Fingers crossed!

Whataburger has never shown much interest in expanding north, but hopefully it will happen one day. It would do well.

There will likely be some situations this season where Xavier Sneed slides over to the four, with or without Dean Wade on the floor.

Given K-State’s big question mark at center, I feel like the Wildcats will try and take more of a Golden State approach to the season in which positions don’t matter all that much, especially if they go small with Wade at the five and Mawdo Sallah/Makol Mawien on the bench. Amaad Wainright, Sneed and Wade can all play multiple positions. Might as well take advantage of that versatility.

Unfortunately, the vast majority of college basketball teams play pillow-soft schedules before conference games roll around.

The Big Ten expanding to 20 conference games will make nonconference schedules even worse.

Outside of neutral-court events and tournaments, there aren’t many intriguing nonconference games to be found anymore. K-State could certainly schedule harder, but it’s not as easy as you might think. Bruce Weber has openly complained about teams from the Big Ten turning down requests for games. The Wildcats have tried to add better games, it just hasn’t happened.

The higlights this year are Arizona State and George Washington/Xavier in Las Vegas, at Vanderbilt, Tulsa in Wichita and Washington State in Spokane and Georgia in the Big 12/SEC challenge.

Next year, the Wildcats will play in the Paradise Jam (against an unknown field), Vanderbilt and Tulsa will stay on the schedule and they will hit the road for a SEC game. Odds are the rest of the games will be against overmatched foes, but we can always hope for some name opponents.

Complete stud might be taking things a bit far, but I like what I’ve seen from the junior-college transfer.

He had a solid exhibition game last week that included a nasty dunk. He should be one of the team’s better guards off the bench this season. He seems to have a good head on his shoulders. He’s happy to come in and be the glue guy, helping out in whatever role Weber assigns. After talking to some folks at Baylor, I know the Bears wish they could have found scholarship room for him in Waco this season, because he reminds them so much of his older brother, Ishmail.

I’m expecting him to be what Carlbe Ervin was the at the end of his senior year.

This story was originally published November 10, 2017 at 10:56 AM with the headline "K-State Q&A: Skylar Thompson, bowl destinations and college hoops."