Big 12 to concede all future titles to Kansas after it signed nation's top player

Baylor, nice try.
Same for Oklahoma State.

Just when the Big 12 was ready to crown a new men's basketball champion for the first time since 1934, Kansas just had to step in and go all Kansas on the conference yet again.

In a highly, highly anticipated decision, top prep basketball prospect Andrew Wiggins said he will attend the University of Kansas to play basketball beginning in the fall.

Wiggins is listed as a 6-foot-7 small forward; he has been called one of the top recruits in the past decade.

HOORAY FOR KANSAS, and specifically the institution of higher learning and edumicashion.

This has to be KU's biggest name recruit since Larry Brown hired assistant coach Ed Manning so his son, Danny, would play basketball in Lawrence. Ed apparently was a dynamite coach.

Wiggins is the best prep player in the country, and he was attracting interest from every blue blood program in the nation. He picked KU over Kentucky, North Carolina and Florida State to play college basketball.

He may even attend class, although I don't why.

(* It should be noted that I am a KU undergrad alum, class of ... just very recently.)

This guy is so gone to the NBA this time a year from now the only classes he should be taking are How to Change My Cell Phone Number Every 15 Minutes, The History of Groupies and Entourage Studies.

KU could potentially have the No. 1 pick in the 2013 NBA draft - Ben McLemore - and '14 draft, Wiggins.

Both Baylor and Oklahoma State should have an edge in terms of preseason conference ranking because of the number of quality returning players, but the addition of a talent like Wiggins to Kansas changes everything.

Just prepare now for another KU Big 12 title.

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Bill Snyder drops the truth about college football

Kansas State head football coach Bill Snyder will forever retire the Boring Interview award, but perhaps in his advancing age he is less afraid to state his own opinion. Bravo.

In an interview with 610 Sports Radio KCSP, Snyder went off on the state of college football that it has become a giant money grab that has altered the priorities of what a university should stand for.

Snyder said: "I can only speak personally. I'm grossly overpaid for what I do. That's part of what creates the issue."

No one is disagreeing with Snyder, but who is going to stop this giant gravy train of cash? The coaches? No. The agents? Hell no.

Snyder is 73, and recently signed a five-year deal worth $14.75 million. I wonder if he said, "Heeeeeey, no thanks."

Snyder continued: "I think it's in a bad place right now. It's in a bad place for a variety of reasons. We've allowed it to become money driven. We've allowed it to become TV driven. We've allowed athletic programs or football programs to mean more to a university than what the university is really supposed to be all about.

“The last I heard, we were educational institutions. Certainly there is an education that takes place in football, and I understand all the parameters. But it's not driven by values; it's driven by dollars and cents."

All of the above is accurate.

When schools realized a visible football and men's basketball team could be major revenue producers and beacons for donations is when the model dramatically changed. It has since become a race between coaches inside their own programs for "we need this and we need that" and the spending is non stop. These things need money. This means school officials have to beg donors, or agree to whatever TV wants to cover costs, which also include coaches' salaries.

What will change this reality Snyder did not say.

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TCU & West Virginia - comparatively speaking in the Big 12

TCU's first season in the Big 12 Conference has gone just about as good (or bad) as many of the coaches and administrators thought it would when it made this jump. The one sport the people around the school thought could immediately "hang" begins its schedule on Feb. 15, when the baseball team travels to play Ole Miss in Oxford, Mississippi for a three-game series.

According to BaseballAmerica.com, TCU is ranked 14th and Ole Miss is 13th.

Looking at the two athletic deparments and the "major" sports, here is how both TCU and West Virginia's first season in the Big 12 are going, compared against how each school performed in its previous conference last year.

TCU:          '12-'13 Big 12           '11-'12 MWC 
Football:        7-6, 4-5                   11-2, 7-0
M hoops:      10-14, 1-10                18-15, 7-7
W hoops:       7-15, 0-11                16-14, 9-5
Volleyball:    15-14, 4-12               25-7, 9-5
W soccer:      7-10-4, 1-5-2            7-11-1, 1-5 

West Virginia: '12-'13 Big 12      '11-'12 Big East
Football:            7-6, 4-5                 10-3, 5-2 
M hoops:          12-11, 5-5               19-14, 9-9
W hoops:          14-9, 6-6                24-10, 11-5 
W soccer:        11-5-4, 7-0-1          17-5-0, 10-1
M soccer:         9-6-2, 4-2-1           11-8-1, 6-3-0
Volleyball:      8-22, 0-16                 7-19, 5-9

Conclusion - It gets better. Ask Baylor.

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The truth about Big 12 (i.e. Kansas) basketball

FORT WORTH - Kansas coach Bill Self was wrong when he said his team played the worst half of basketball in the history of the program against TCU on Wednesday. Go with the worst half of basketball in the history of basketball. 

In scoring 13 first-half points, KU missed close shots. Three-pointers. Guarded shots. Free throws. Layups. Putbacks. Bunnies. Garbage.

The best that the Big 12 has ever had to offer in the way of men's basketball is good, but down. The same can be said of the entire league. It was bound to happen. As the Big 10 finally improved - Indiana, Michigan, Michigan State and Ohio State are legit - the Big 12 finally slipped. When I say "slip" I mean Kansas is not dominant.

No team in the Top 25, let alone top 5, should have lost to that TCU team. A serious case can be made that TCU this season is the least-good team in the history of the league.

KU's embarrassing loss at TCU on Wednesday night can not be used to accurately predict the future, but there are other signs to think that this team will not be in the Elite Eight again. No Big 12 team looks like it will go beyond the Sweet 16.

The Jayhawks have nice players, but this is not a tough team. The Morris Twins, Thomas Robinson and Tyshawn Taylor gave KU at attitude over the past few seasons that other teams could not handle. Self doesn't have a point guard. Center Jeff Withey should be in the NBA forever, but he's not overpowering like Robinson. Kevin Young is active, but not skilled.

Freshman Ben McLemore is the most talented player on the floor, but he needs another year. Freshman Perry Ellis looks lost. Upperclassmen Travis Releford and Elijah Johnson are nice, veteran players but don't have the type of talent to create their own shots consistently adn take over a game.

Kansas is not bad, and historically Self's team improve as the season goes, but his team is limited in a way to suggest that the Big 12's tournament run will be short lived in 2013.

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Texas would be stupid to fire Rick Barnes

Not that anybody in Austin cares, but the University of Texas men's basketball team sucks. Maybe Jody Conradt can coach 'em up, because Rick Barnes can't do much worse. 

The Longhorns got their butt whupped at No. 18 Kansas State on Wednesday night, 83-57. The Horns are now a healthy 9-11, 1-6 in the Big 12, and yet are still good enough to kick the blank out of TCU when the teams play on Feb. 2 in Austin.

The Horns are flying high to their first losing season under Barnes since he arrived in Austin in 1998. The only way this season is salvaged is if Kevin Durant returns to lead the Horns to a Big 12 conference tournament title and they reach the NCAA tournament for a 15th consecutive season.

The suspension of Myck Kabongo for taking impermissible benefits hasn't helped, but even had he played this team is still lacking.

The only thing saving Barnes right now is that college football signing day is Feb. 6, and that day is usually when football coach Mack Brown wins another championship. Also saving Barnes' butt is that he coaches a sport that the great people in the great state a Texas routinely marginalize.

Perhaps the only thing that will put Barnes in Bevo flop is if UT manages to lose to an awful TCU team either on Feb. 2 or in Fort Worth on Feb. 19.

Even then, however, any talk that Barnes should seriously be fired is inane. The man has done more to legitimize that program than any coach in the history of Texas basketball. The only time his teams at UT failed to win 20 games was his first season when they won 19, yet still reached the NCAA tournament.

Since he arrived, Texas has been the second-best team in the Big 12 to Kansas, which is one of the top five programs in the nation. 

Barnes can recruit, and despite what his critics say, he can coach. You don't reach a Final Four and 14 consecutive NCAA tourneys because you don't know what you are doing.

This will be Texas' first losing season it finished 14-17 in 1997-'98, the last year under Tom Penders.

Barnes' teams have generally played hard, been clean, and usually win. This season has not been the norm.

The man has earned the right to have a bad year.

 

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Time for TCU to no longer just be happy about being here

FORT WORTH, Texas - TCU finished its 2012 conference home schedule without a win for the first time since 1986. The prevailing feeling generated by fans and players etc. is that this first season in the Big 12 was a massive success.

If you look at the numbers - 7-5 record, 4-5 conference - this is TCU's worst season since 2007. The string of double-digit win seasons has been snapped at four. TCU will likely finish unranked for the first time since 2004.

Look past the numbers and this may have been one of the best seasons ever coached by Gary Patterson, and easily the most entertaining TCU regular season in decades. The scene and the crowds at Amon G. Carter Stadium this season were fun, and a place to be.

Oklahoma, Texas Tech, Kansas State and the rest coming to Fort Worth was laughably better than Colorado State, UNLV or New Mexico.

That said, enough with the "Thank yous, we're so happy to be invited to the cool kids' party" from GP and all of TCU nation. This school has tripped over itself in thanking de facto Big 12 commissioner DeLoss Dodds and everyone else associated with the conference. TCU proved it can hang and it belongs in the Big 12, and no one was embarrassed by adding the Horned Frogs to this league. 

Gratitude and humility are always appreciated, but TCU earned this. They were invited for a reason.

In this first season of the Big 12, TCU should have been happy to be invited to the cool kids' party. Now go find the homecoming queen and take her out.

 

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Fearle$$ football picks: It's time - Jayhawks (+5) vs. Iowa State

I began the 2012 season with $50 of Monopoly money, and plan to fake bet a fake $10 spot on five college/pro games against the line to see how smart I am. Last season, I was plus $110. This season ...

Gitt'n' it done! Slayed 'em last week. Eat it, haters! I was 4-1. I am now a very impressive plus $90 for the season. Time to get back to work.

Last week's results:
1. Texas A&M at Alabama (-13.5) AGGIES. WIN
2. Baylor at Oklahoma (-21.5) SOONERS. LOSS
3. Arkansas at South Carolina (-14). SPURRIER. WIN
4. Oakland Raiders at Baltimore Ravens (-7.5). RAVENS. WIN
5. Atlanta Falcons (-2.5) at NO Saints. SAINTS. WIN 

This week's picks
1. Arkansas at Miss State (-6). BULLDOGS. State hasn't looked as good lately but the Hogs are done.
2. Iowa State (-5) at Kansas. JAYHAWKS. Charlie Weis is getting so close to a real win.
3. Kansas State (-12.5) at Baylor. CATS. Too physical & now way to determined.
4. Cleveland Browns at Dallas Cowboys (-7.5). COWBOYS. Just no faith in Browns.
5. Indy Colts at New Engand Patriots (-9). PATS. Time for Colts to taste a little reality.

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Fox analyst Charles Davis on the determining variable for TCU v. KState

Fans of the Dallas Cowboys probably do not remember but there was a very, very brief time current Fox football color announcer Charles Davis was a Cowboy. He was a defensive back with the team in the training camp of Tom Landry's final season.

"I got cut right before the first preseason game," Davis said. 

That was the end of Davis' career as an NFLer. He is now a football analyst for Fox and will work the Kansas State at TCU game on Saturday night. We talked earlier this day about this game.

The Big Mac Blog: Do you see anything that says Kansas State QB Colin Klein is an NFL QB?
Charles Davis: I don’t believe he’s an NFL QB for a few reasons. I hate saying it because I don’t want to take away what he is as a college football player, and if he walks away with the Heisman it’s well deserved. It's not the throwing motion, it’s the speed. If you watch him throw it this year he’s faster.
You are not going to hang his passes in the Louvre next to the Mona Lisa. Is it in the right spot and on time? This season he has been all of those things. 

As a college kid it doesn’t get much better than him. I got a text from 2 NFL general managers and they asked me for my opinion on Klein as quarterback. That’s never happened before. That rings a bell.

The Big Mac Blog: Teams that go undefeated usually have one 'trip' game where they simply aren't as good and either lose, or barely win. Do you see that as a possibility for Kansas State on Saturday?
Charles Davis: I can see that for this reason - TCU is getting the momentum after winning at West Virginia. They have not won at home (in the Big 12) this season. Kansas State is plus-20 in turnover margin. TCU has 24 takeaways. Kansas State doesn't turn it over, and its quarterback hasn't thrown an interception since the third game. They have not had a game this season where they turned it over. If those happen TCU is in this game. They have proven they can hang with (Big 12) teams.

The Big Mac Blog: Is there any team that can beat Alabama?
Charles Davis: I think Kansas State can. I think they play closer to an SEC style of football than the other undefeated teams. Oregon I think could do this. They don’t make mistakes that is the key because Alabama is going to hop on mistakes.
Go back and look at the title game between Auburn and Oregon; that game was much closer. Go look at all of the SEC wins in the BCS title game and it's not like the SEC team was just blowing out everyone. This is closer than people think. 

 

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Gary Patterson is going to let Trevone Boykin speak to the media on .........

FORT WORTH, Texas - Gary Patterson has a strict rule about freshman talk to the media, which is they don't. This includes starting quarterbacks.

The freshmen can start for the team and suit up before 50,000 fans but stand in front of a microphone? Hey, hey, hey ... sloooooow down there champ. Let's not go crazy here.

GP says the player has to earn that right ... blah blah blah. GP is not the only coach to enact this verbal neutering process. This gives everyone the chance to properly scare the hell out of the kid from saying anything remotely interesting.

Despite repeated requests from myself, AP writer Stephen Hawkins, NBC 5's Newy Scruggs and others, Patterson has not allowed redshirt freshman QB Trevone Boykin to do an interview yet.

GP said after practice on Wednesday that he would allow Boykin, who by all accounts is a good speaker and a great kid, the chance to speak after the Frogs' final regular season game against Oklahoma on Dec. 1.

Do you care? 

Ms. Cheryl Gay does. Gay works at a 7-11 very close to TCU. She may be one the most polite, and nicest, people you could ever meet. Cheryl is a big TCU fan, and asked me on Monday to write a story on Trevone but I told her GP won't let him talk to the media.

He will soon so, Cheryl, this is for you.

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TCU should just expect Kansas State QB Collin Klein will play

Kansas State coach Bill Snyder said on the Big 12 media conference call on Monday morning that quarterback Collin Klein is out for Saturday's game at TCU.

OK. Just kidding. Snyder said nothing of that sort.

Snyder did say of Klein, who reportedly suffered a concussion in KSU's win against Oklahoma State on Saturday, "He seems fine to me."

Asked if Klein is going to play, Snyder said: "I hope so. I hope they all play."

At one point during the KSU game against Oklahoma State, Klein was walking around the sidelines without his helmet. That is often a sign the helmet has been taken away by team doctors/trainers because of a head injury.

"Maybe they're uncomfortable," Synder said of Klein sans a helmet.

Who are we kidding? Collin Klein may not be able to remember his own name and he would play against TCU on Saturday in Fort Worth.

KSU is No. 2 in the BCS and three wins away from completing a perfect season. He's playing.

There has not been a better college QB this season than Klein, who will never do a thing in the NFL. There is not a player who is important to his team's success than Klein. Kansas State is ranked second in the BCS standings primarily because they do not beat themselves, and their QB simply never screws up.

In nine games this season, Klein is completing 71.1 percent of his passes for 1,875 yards with 12 TDs and 2 interceptions. He is the second-leading rusher for Kansas State with 698 yards on 139 carries, and averages 5.0 yards per rush with 17 TDs.

Kansas State has not turned the ball over since it played against North Texas on Sept. 15, and have four turnovers this season. Kansas State is plus-20 in turnover margin, tops in the nation.

The most amazing stat: Kansas State has scored 111 points off of turnovers, and given up zero.

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