A Sports Blog

I'm somewhat proud of myself and somewhat disturbed at the same time, because I'm writing my 20th blog entry, and none of them have been about sports. Not really, anyway. I had the cross country post, but that wasn't really about cross country.

I'm proud of myself because I don't want to be That Guy that relates to everyone he meets through sports. On the other hand, I'm a sportswriter -- it seems like I should have some sports columns welling up within me.

Anyway, I'm writing about college basketball this time, because it is time.

In case you didn't notice, the Kansas-Kansas State got roughly 48 times more interesting over the offseason when K-State hired Bob Huggins, a man who was fired at Cincinnati because "character counts" according to the university president. I don't feel like running down the reasons Cincinnati's prez would say that, but it involves, among many things, both DUI convictions and the punching of a police horse.

I'm not a K-State guy, but I like Huggins. As my friend and boss, Kurt Caywood put it, "He doesn't care. He's as bored with life as I am."

Huggins has been burned enough times by media that he has basically said, "Eff it. I get ripped no matter what I say, so I'm just gonna start firing my unfiltered thoughts on everybody, consequences be damned."

He's a sportwriter's dream.

Without him, this whole thing would be about Kansas, because until this season (and part of the last), KU has been the only relevant basketball program in the state. But now, I present the 5 big questions.

1. How long will it take for K-State's Jason Bennett to break Shawn Bradley's career dunked-on record?
The early line has it at 2.7 seasons for the 7-fot-3 Bennett, whose most famous picture is one in which Tyler Hansbrough (now at North Carolina) is teabagging Bennett during a high school game. Furthermore, there are some big dunkers in the Big 12 now -- KU's Julian Wright and Sasha Kaun, Texas' Kevin Durant, KU's Darrell Arthur to name a few.
2. How many times before Christmas will Kansas freshman Sherron Collins be called for a carry?
I'm putting this one at about 11. Kansas has 13 games before the break and Collins, whose main weapon is his crossover, is entirely capable of drawing one call per game.
3. Is this the year Bill Self's toupe falls off?
Doubt it. The way he massages that thing during games, I don't see him losing track of it.
4. How long will it take for K-State fans to start calling their school a "basketball school?"
This should have happened months ago. K-State historically has a much better basketball program than anything else and was even with KU right up until Kansas built Allen Fieldhouse. KSU was not far behind in the 80s. But Wildcat fans are still so delusional about their football "dynasty," -- this includes one conference title in the history of the program -- it may take some time.
5. How many McDonald's All-Americans does it take to win a first-round tournament game?
KU had two (three if you count Brandon Rush) last year and lost. It had three in 2005 and lost. This year the Jayhawks have five (again, if you count Rush, and you should). They'd better hope they don't play Belmont in the first round.