To be completely honest I did not expect this serious of an injury after watching Walker’s hard landing Saturday against Texas A&M. I was relieved to see him return the bench in the second half sans crutches. I was even a bit hopeful after I heard this morning that Walker’s first MRI was inconclusive. But now it seems as though Bill Walker’s first season at K-State will end after only six games.

With Bobby Knight and Texas Tech coming to town for Big Monday, the healthy portion of the team must not let this be a distraction. K-State played tough at College Station and nearly pulled off the upset of the No. 11 ranked team in the country. All this with Walker out during most of the game. With Walker hurt, it was Akeem Wright who decided to step it up a notch and make up for the 11.3 ppg sitting on the bench. If he’d had a bit more help from points-per-game leader Cartier Martin, K-State might have knocked off their first ranked team of the season.

Just as Walker’s addition to the team seemed to inspire the other players, so too must his temporary departure. The rest of the team must use this as motivation to step up their own game. Tonight’s showdown with Texas Tech will be a good indication of how much the “original” K-State team his improved.

Head conditioning coach Rod Cole has resigned his position after 14 years, and will join the Texas A&M football staff.

Defensive coordinator Raheem Morris is said to be planning a return to the NFL.

Tim Horton is planning to return to the Air Force Academy.

There has been word that offensive coordinator James Franklin and OL coach Tim McCarty may also be planning coaching moves.

Baylor cornerbacks coach Wesley McGriff will be joining the K-State staff. He will likely coach either cornerbacks, or runningbacks.

Basketball:

Star freshman Bill Walker will probably not play tonight (Jan 8.) against Texas Tech. An unconfirmed source said that he was awaiting the results of an MRI and it was unknown how long he would be out.

Is this the same K-State team that took two OTs to beat Washburn, beat William and Mary by 10, got humiliated and embarrassed by New Mexico and Cal, and had Huggins questioning the toughness of his players? Absolutely not. In all honesty, the past two games weren’t the most well-played NCAA match-ups this year. While K-State shot well overall, their 3-point percentage could only be described as profane. J.R. Giddens and New Mexico had their own problems getting the ball in the bucket, and USC’s Loderick Stewart (identical twin of KU’s Rod Stewart) was not as impressive as he has been in the past. But in a tournament that saw an undefeated and top-10 ranked Wichita State team lose TWICE, K-State seemed to stand out as the class of the bunch. A far cry from the 24-point beat-down the cats suffered against New Mexico at The Pit earlier this season.

What was most interesting about these two wins was that Huggins had his centers in the game a combined total of four minutes. That includes a whopping one minute of playing time for the 7′ 3″ shot-blocking machine Jason Bennett. K-State’s small lineup, more than anything, was too quick on defense for either team to get open shots. Gone, as well, were the days of repeated fast-break points against the Cats that had Huggins frustrated much of the first part of the season.

K-State needs to carry their new-found momentum into the game against Xavier next week. A 7-game winning streak would be nice to take into their Big 12 opener at Texas A&M. With the Cats opening conference play with two road games and a Big Monday home match-up against Texas Tech sandwiched in between, they’ll need that confidence to get off to a good start. This team still has a lot of games to win before they can start talking about the big dance. But for the first time this season, talk of an NCAA tourney bid has been started not because of who K-State’s coach is, but how the team is playing.

K-State simply has to learn to focus for 40 minutes. At times it seemed as though they were content to watch the clock run out. Passes were bouncing off hands, players were forcing shots, and the defensive effort seemed to lack the energy that it had in the first half. Even Bill Walker returned to the bench with a cold stare from Huggins after he received a technical foul for arguing with refs. These are talented players, with a lot of potential, combined with a great coach. It is what makes K-State’s effort frustrating.

On the other hand, even with their sloppy second-half play, K-State still managed to shoot over 50% and hang on for a 21-point win. This is a good team capable of making noise in the Big 12. Once they learn to play a complete game, and harness the power of one Bill Walker, the results could be scary. On Friday, we’ll be able to see just how much K-State has improved since the dreadful outing at Cal. USC is a good team, but K-State must prepare for this level of team every week when Big 12 play begins. Lets hope the ‘Cats haven’t taken their Christmas break early.

To be blunt, this was not a good Kennesaw St. team. K-State had more first half points (55) than the owls finished with for the game (54). However, Walker’s athletic ability and calm court presence were noted, and those are two traits that will allow this new Wildcat to progress quickly. Imagine what he’ll be able to do after he learns more than one offensive play.

Walker will get one more tune-up tomorrow against Maryland-Eastern Shore, a team that fellow Las Vegas tournament participant Wichita State beat by 56. With a few more practices under his belt, Billy will get to show his stuff against a decent USC team when the ‘Cats travel to Vegas. A win gives Walker and the ‘Cats a shot at current top-10 Wichita State. While the next few weeks will surely be fun to watch, the next few years (if he doesn’t leave in ’08) look to be very memorable for Wildcat fans.

Click here for Walker highlights.

1.  In Kansas, it can be nearly 80 degrees one day, and below 40 the next.

2.  It is possible to hold the attention of 20 high school musicians as long as you never stop talking.
3.  I am painfully slow at reading novels.

4.  Dark roast coffees contain less caffeine than light roasts.

5.  When a person lacks knowledge about a certain negative situation, he or she will become exceedingly frustrated with anyone near them who shares this lack of knowledge.

5.  Just 2 beers can temorarily compromise almost 12 years of proper clarinet playing technique.

6.  Everyone on the planet should listen to the third movement Brahms’ Symphony No. 3 AT LEAST once.

7.  When you get a foam finger at a football game, you instantly become 5 years old.  No exceptions.

8.   You can buy an empty styrofoam cup at an Amoco convenience store for 16 cents.

9.  I have the attention span of a pencil.

-C. Johnson

While the final score of K-State’s 24-6 loss to 8th-ranked Louisville was not what optimistic wildcat fans had hoped, it was nonetheless much better than many had predicted before this season began.  The last time K-State faced a ranked opponent was October 15, 2005 when the cats were hammered by No. 13 Texas Tech 59-20.  Saturday was a far cry from that dreadful outing when a disheartened wildcat team basically gave up in the second half.  While the home atmosphere surely helped, you couldn’t help but notice that this K-State team played with more speed, more energy, and more determination than the disappointing ’05 squad. 

If we are to act as Bill Snyder, and assess the progress of the team without looking at the final score, we find mixed results.  On defense, the cats held Louisville to just over 400 yards, about 160 below their average.  The amount of time that the wildcat D was on the field definitely didn’t help their cause.  If the wildcat offense could have held the ball a bit more, we would likely have seen even more impressive numbers from the ‘mob.

On offense, it appears that the ‘cat’s lack of depth at quarterback is starting to show.  After an ineffective Dylan Meier was unable score for K-State, Prince had no choice but to put in inexperienced freshman Josh Freeman.  While Freeman showed improvement since his outing against Florida Atlantic, his numbers (3-10, 18 yds.) were no more productive than Meier’s, and he still seemed uncomfortable in the pocket.  No matter who is behind center, K-State must create some big plays if they want to compete in the Big 12.  Meier had several opportunities to hit wide-open receivers downfield, but simply could not connect.  The few passes Freeman attempted were erratic at best, although he does seem to have a cannon for an arm.  K-State’s running game was somewhat effective, but was seldom used during the first half when the cats actually had time to run the ball.  Prince’s “bold and daring” mentality was probably necessary to pull an upset of this nature, but trying to force an ineffective quarterback to make big plays only ended up costing the cats.  This offense needs a spark.  Only time will tell if Meier or Freeman are able to deliver that spark.

Overall, the game’s outcome only proved what most fans already knew:  The defense is for real, and the offense is real bad.  Here are some numbers and rankings to ponder on your way out:

Kansas State
Total Offense – Rank: 91, 288 ypg.
Total Defense – Rank: 33, 272 ypg.
Points Allowed – Rank: 24, 13.5 ppg.

2. Texas Tech – Pvs. (2) Tech was a little shaky this week in an OT thriller over UTEP. Still, Graham Harrell is second in the nation in passing yards and the Red Raiders continue to be an offensive machine.

3. Nebraska – Pvs. (3) The Huskers enjoyed their Saturday with a 56-7 pummeling of hapless Nicholls State. They will take a quantum leap in competition next week as they travel to USC. Time to see if the Big Red is back.

4. Oklahoma – Pvs. (5) While Oklahoma wasn’t all-together dominant, they seemed to be able to make good halftime adjustments to finally pull away from Washington. Paul Thompson is comfortable at quarterback, and Adrian Peterson is his usual amazing self.

5. Missouri – Pvs. (10) Chase Daniel and Mizzou are starting to turn heads after their thrashing of Old Miss. The tigers are emerging as possible candidate challange Nebraska for the Big 12 North.

6. Baylor – Pvs. (6) Baylor bounced back from their heart-breaker at TCU with a 37-point slaughter of Northwestern State. The bears have more than a legitimate shot at a bowl this year.

7. Texas A&M – Pvs. (7) After holding La.-Lafayette to a paltry 107 total yards, the wrecking crew may finally be back. Maybe.

8. Iowa State - Pvs. (4) A controversial call upset UNLV players and coaches after a 6-point Iowa State win. Regardless, the cyclones must play better than this if they want to even survive in the Big 12 this year, much less win a North Division title.

9. Kansas State – Pvs. (11) K-State showed improvement in a 45-0 shutout of the young, inexperienced Florida Atlantic team. They must continue to improve, however, with Marshall and top-ranked Louisville visiting over the next two weeks.

10. Oklahoma State – Pvs. (9) OSU didn’t dominate this game like they should have, but they still won, and won big. The cowboys face FAU next week, fresh off a shutout by K-State, who have lost their last 3 games, dating back to last season, by a combined 115-6.

11. Kansas - Pvs. (8) A failed two point conversion was all that stood between KU and Louisiana-Monroe. The Jayhawks need to hope this was just a bad day.

12. Colorado – Pvs. (12) Colorado and Dan Hawkins must reevaluate themselves and try to figure out what is going wrong. Hawkins is a good coach, and the talent at CU isn’t that bad. The buffs need to pull themselves together and take one step at a time.

1. Add an options page for the feeds. Feeds should be completely OFF by default and should allow users to select exactly what they want to broadcast.

2. Focus feeds around “what’s going on in my network” instead of streaming every detail about what changes people are making to their profiles. New photo albums, new notes, and new hosted events are all good candidates for a feed. Adding friends, joining groups, or updating interests shouldn’t be considered “news.” (Solution No. 1 would allow some flexiblity here.)

3. Organize the feeds better. Feed items should be organized by type, ie. all new events together, all photo albums, etc…. Make it easier for people to get what they want from the feed. Moving the “big” feed off the middle of the home page might also help.

I sincerely hope that Facebook does not completely discard their new “Feeds” idea. It has the potential to be one of the most useful features added to Facebook in quite some time. Currently, however, the idea has vast room for improvement. To the disgruntled users: be patient. Making changes like the ones mentioned above take a good deal of time to actually implement in code; in other words, just because they haven’t changed anything yet doesn’t mean they aren’t working on it. C’mon Facebook. Can’t we be a happy family again?

The old Facebook start page displayed important information, such as upcoming birthdays, event invitations, and and message notifications. All that has been pushed aside to make way for the new “holy-f–k-what-the-hell-is-all-this” feed (I decided I wouldn’t swear in this post. Oops, I said “shit” earlier. Shit.). For those who have not yet experienced this new cluster-”you know what” here is an example taken directly from my own start page:

While the overall structure is somewhat confusing, there does seem to be a pattern here: a decent amount of people believe that Facebook’s new “bang-land-o-ma-jinger” feed does, at times, attempt to vigorously inhale a pair of male reproductive organs. I did, however, chuckle at the fact that a certain friend’s engagement is portrayed to be just as exciting as a group about the Mohawk Man.

Emailing Facebook about the issue will usually earn you a generic reply about how the feed does not display information that couldn’t normally be discovered, or that any feed items can be deleted. The problem, chief, is that any information posted about you by other people will also show up on feeds. Photos tagged with your name, notes linked to you, or personal actions that you may just forget to remove will all be announced in a large number of main feeds so that everyone can point and say “Ha ha ha, what a wanker.” There’s also a chance that deleting feed items could actually get you burned. Example: you decide to add “Jimmy the Ostrich f—er” to your friends, but you don’t want a lot of people to know that you associate with Ostrich f—ers, so you delete the item. Later on, “Jimmy the Ostrich f—er” sends you a disappointed message concerning your new friendship’s absence from your “holyhellbananabing” feed. Its enough to make easily-affected high school girls cry.

Overall, the new feature doesn’t seem to be anything but a new call for people to waste their time on Facebook. A cluttered hodge-podge (did I just say that?) of irrelevant information. Or, a new way to be obsessed with someone who is completely un-obsessed with you. In any case, I have a message for the people at facebook: Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. And I digress.