Is it too early to start talking football? Just a little? Maybe just Big 12 football?
There are three “Givens” when Big 12 pre-season picks come out: Oklahoma is always mentioned in the top two. Kansas is always mentioned in the bottom two and Kansas State is never picked higher than the middle of the pack. That’s pretty much where we are again this year in all of the magazines and sport sites that are tired of baseball already and wanting to start a football conversation.
The good news is that everyone is picked in the Top Ten. The bad news is that there are only ten teams in the Big 12. Big 12 expansion? More on that later. The bad news in expansion, for Kansas and Iowa State, is that the Big 12 is likely to expand with a couple of teams that are pretty good at football so Cyclone and Jayhawk fans shouldn’t look for expansion to solve their problems.
Take heart Kansas fans, I think the Jayhawks of David Beaty will defeat Iowa State this year and escape the cellar of the conference. Two or three wins are on the horizon for Kansas. Iowa State, with a new coaching staff, starts over.
Until the scandal at Baylor that cost Art Briles his job, perhaps undeservedly so, the Bears would have been co-favorites with Oklahoma to win it all. The distractions of a new coaching staff and the scandal will cost the Bears their focus in big road games. Texas Tech, those gunslingers, are a notch or two below the elite teams on defense which will leave them scratching just to make a bowl game.
Oklahoma State has been knocking on the door of a championship pretty regularly but always seem to find a way to lose a game at an inopportune time. Of course the finale against Oklahoma will probably decide the conference championship. It’s the Cowboy way!
Kansas State? They will win more than the “experts” think they will and will find their way into a bowl game, though it probably won’t be a biggie!
1. Oklahoma State 2. Oklahoma 3. TCU 4. Texas 5. Baylor 6. Kansas State 7. West Virginia 8. Texas Tech 9. Kansas 10. Iowa State
This could change if Notre Dame were to join the Big 12 this summer. Just sayin’!
CHALK TALK: The KC Royals are playing like a rubber band this season. Just when they stretch out a winning streak………………SNAP! They pull back. They are in desparate need of a “stopper”.
The peripatetic Larry Brown has resigned as basketball coach at SMU. He accomplished what he wanted to and what SMU wanted: namely putting the Mustangs back on the collegiate basketball map. In his last three seasons SMU won 27, 27 and 25 games. The dude can coach!!
You’ve got to be a real basketball junkie to pay attention but there is a lot of interesting stuff going on in the NBA Summer basketball league. The league pits all of the recent draftees plus some free agents and second year players against each other. Usually the value of one year of experience shows but Wichita State’s Ron Baker and Oklahoma’s Buddy Hield have shown that the NBA 3-point line is not an issue for them.
The Minnesota Timberwolves may have to consider changing their name. Maybe to the Minnesota Jaywolves or Minnesota TimberHawks. They have three former Jayhawks under contract for next year. Of course Andrew Wiggins is one of their stars but they recently inked former KU center Cole Aldrich to a three-year, $24 million deal and just this past weekend signed former Jayhawk star Brandon Rush to a one-year, $3.5 million deal. Rush started 25 games for the Golden State Warriors last year and was a valuable contributor off the bench.
You can reach Charlie at budtabler@gmail.com