K-State Q&A: Big 12 football schedule, basketball predictions, KU rivalry and more
It’s time for another K-State Q&A.
There are lots of fun and entertaining topics to cover this week on the Wildcats. So let’s get right to them. Thanks, as always, for providing so many great questions.
From a K-State perspective, the Big 12 football schedule for 2023 turned out just fine.
The Wildcats get to start conference play at home. That alone should make fans happy, even though I will always argue that the location of a team’s first league game of the season doesn’t make a lick of difference. Had the Big 12 added an extra road game to K-State’s schedule for 20 straight years, that would have been worth complaining about. But I don’t see any difference between starting on the road or finishing at home. It balances out in the end.
I digress ...
K-State didn’t end up with a single road game against any of the new four teams. So that should help in terms of familiarity.
A road game at Texas Tech will be difficult, as the Red Raiders will be a popular darkhorse pick to win the Big 12 next season. Not playing Oklahoma is a bit of a bummer.
The bye week is oddly placed. One could argue it’s too early, with K-State playing eight straight games afterward.
But there are no major complaints to report. Iowa State probably got the toughest assignment of all. Poor Cyclones. Texas seems to have gotten off pretty easy, aside from a road trip to Houston. The Longhorns only have to leave their home state once for a conference game, and it’s at Iowa State.
I will say I’m happy that K-State will play at Texas at least one more time before the Longhorns leave for the SEC. It’s not a great thing for the Wildcats, because they always lose that game. But I grew up in Austin and still have family there and love the atmosphere are DKR Stadium. So that will be a fun trip.
The problem with going back to divisions is that it would take all control away from the Big 12 office.
Splitting into divisions is how you end up with Texas beating Colorado 70-3 in the 2005 Big 12 championship game while a pair of other teams with better conference records than the Buffaloes are stuck at home watching the bloodbath.
It’s also how you end up with a team like Colorado shockingly beating a team like Texas and no one advancing to the College Football Playoff, though that will be less of a concern with CFP expansion.
Splitting the league into fair divisions is an impossible task. Even the old North/South split had its problems, though I sure loved it.
Why not just have every team play their regional rivals and rotate the rest?
Two quality teams will end up in the league championship game and most teams end up playing the opponents they want each year.
Every other conference is doing it. It’s the way of the future.
The Wildcats should produce a good amount of NFL Draft picks in the spring.
Felix Anudike-Uzomah will probably be the highest selection. The former K-State defensive end could easily hear his name called in the second round, maybe even the first.
Julius Brents should be next, followed by Deuce Vaughn and then maybe Malik Knowles in the late rounds.
There’s also a chance some other names could emerge as late draft picks. If not, plenty more K-State players will catch on as undrafted free agents.
Texas is my current pick to win the conference.
The Longhorns have the best record at the midway point of the league season and they seem to have the easiest path to a 13-5 record, which is probably what it will take to win the crown outright.
Both K-State and KU probably need to beat Texas in the next few days to muck up the standings.
But there isn’t much value in betting Texas right now. If I had to bet on a team to win the conference it would probably be Baylor. The Bears are getting 15-to-1 odds and they’ve got more than enough talent to beat anybody.
K-State at 10 to 1 is probably worth a look, too. I don’t trust TCU (injuries) or Iowa State (bad road team) to get it done. KU is in good shape, but you can’t even get the Jayhawks at 2-to-1 odds right now.
My Big 12 Player of the Year is Jalen Wilson.
I think Markquis Nowell, Keyontae Johnson, Marcus Carr and Adam Flagler will join him on the first team.
It’s a huge game in the Big 12 race, because somebody needs to bring Texas back to the rest of the pack.
Everyone in the conference will be cheering for the Cats on Saturday.
If the Longhorns find a way to win at Bramlage Coliseum they will be two games clear of everyone other than the KU/Iowa State winner. Many more teams would have a shot if Texas suffered its third conference loss.
You’re right about K-State’s closing schedule. It is more favorable than some. The Wildcats have already played all the other contenders (Baylor, Iowa State, KU, TCU, Texas) on the road. Getting most of them at home down the stretch is better than vice versa.
If the Wildcats can protect The Octagon of Doom they will be in the race until the end.
The bad news is that K-State’s remaining schedule is not easy. Texas, TCU, Iowa State and Baylor are not automatic wins, even at home. Road games against Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and West Virginia aren’t going to be walks in the park, either.
There really is no such thing as an easy game in the Big 12 ... outside of maybe home games with Oklahoma and Texas Tech.
Analytic sites project K-State to finish Big 12 play 11-7. That’s not going to be good enough. I think 13-5 will be the winning record.
That or turnovers.
K-State hasn’t lost many games this season, but when it has the Wildats have been hurt by an abundance of giveaways and an opposing big man scoring at will on them.
The Wildcats turn the ball over on 19.1% of their possessions, which ranks 229th nationally. They also allow opponents to make 48.5% of their two-pointers, which ranks 114th nationally.
Quickly, let’s take a look back at their four losses.
Butler: 13 turnovers and 22 points, 10 rebounds from Manny Bates.
TCU: 20 turnovers and 40 combined points, 14 combined rebounds from Eddie Lampkin/Emanuel Miller.
Iowa State: 14 turnovers and too many points, rebounds to add up from Iowa State’s front court.
Kansas: 13 turnovers and 8 points, 3 rebounds from KJ Adams.
The loss at KU actually went off script. The Wildcats held the Jayhawks’ front court in check and didn’t turn the ball over a ton. But K-State let nine different KU players score.
But it’s still a valid point. K-State has three “centers” who all do different things. David N’Guessan brings balance to the lineup. Abayomi Iyiola is a decent defender and rebounder, but does little on offense. Ismael Massoud might be the best three-point shooter on the team, but he is a liability on defense.
Until Jerome Tang can figure out a way to utilize their strengths on a consistent basis that position will be a weakness.
What he meant to say was that the Wildcats ranked ahead of the Jayhawks in two significant all-time stats prior to 1988.
At that time, K-State had been to the NCAA Tournament more often than KU and it had won more Big Eight games than KU.
By incorrectly stating them as Final Fours and conference titles, Tang ignited a fair amount of completely pointless rage following the Sunflower Showdown rivalry on social media.
KU fans howled that he was making up history. K-State fans shot back by arguing the Wildcats were indeed just as good as the Jayhawks until 1988 regardless of what stats were used to make the comparison.
Between this and the people who were upset about Travis Kelce attending a college basketball game and congratulating the winning team afterward it’s been a rough week on Twitter.
My problem with Tang’s statement is this: Who cares what the status of the rivalry was 35 years ago? KU used to beat K-State all the time in football, too. So much so that the Jayhawks still hold the all-time series lead despite the Wildcats completely owning the rivalry in recent decades. So what? It’s not relevant to what’s happening today.
I hope Lance Leipold doesn’t try using that at a future news conference.
Times have changed. Why even bring that stuff up?
But I do understand the point Tang was trying to make. They used to be on somewhat level footing. Why can’t it happen again? This should be a great rivalry! I’m with him on that.
K-State fans take a great deal of pride (or possibly pain) in the fact that they were in the same weight class as KU as a basketball program 35 years ago before the teams were separated by the ultimate fork in the road.
Both teams met in the 1988 Elite Eight. KU won and went on to win a national championship and ultimately became the powerhouse you see today. K-State lost and slipped into mediocrity.
When I was in New Orleans for the Sugar Bowl I got roped into a long conversation with K-State fans about that loss in 88 and how it changed everything. Those same people probably liked Tang bringing it up.
Let’s end with this: The Sunflower Showdown gave us two entertaining basketball games this season with both sides protecting their home court. I hope it continues to be a fun rivalry with Tang in charge at K-State. We will be lucky if we get Round 3 at the Big 12 Tournament.