Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

Capitalizing on its historic year that brought a Big 12 regular season championship and top seed in the conference tournament set to start play tomorrow, several Kansas State Wildcats were honored yesterday for their contributions to the team’s success. Among the honorees were a conference player of the year, scholar of the year, seven first team players, one honorable mention, and two named to the All-Freshman team.

Taking home the day’s highest honor was IF Ross Kivett, who was recognized as the 2013 Big 12 Player of the Year. Kivett batted .353 this season while knocking in 24 RBIs, 12 doubles, and four triples to go along with 24 stolen bases. Although Kivett played well all year, he truly stepped up his game once conference season got underway and hit .376 in Big 12 play.

Also receiving an individual accolade was Jared King – a preseason Gold Spikes award watch list honoree and The Jug’s predicted team MVP. King shared co-scholar-athlete of the year honors with TCU’s Jantzen Witte – the first year the award has been presented. In addition to being named to the All-Conference First Team, the outfielder batted .342 on the season while maintaining a 3.52 GPA in the classroom.

Continuing the parade of hardware awarded to the Wildcat baseball team, relief pitcher Jake Matthys was named the Big 12′s freshman of the year. Matthys went 8-0 on the season, including a 5-0 record in conference play. He turned in an ERA of 2.01 in 28 appearances and also recorded six saves.

Topping off the player awards, coach Brad Hill was also honored yesterday. K-State’s coach led the team to its first ever Big 12 championship with an overall record of 39-16 while going 16-8 in league play.

Seven Wildcats were named First-Team All-Conference: sophomore IF Shane Conlon, sophomore IF Austin Fisher, Kivett, senior C Blair DeBord, King, senior utility man Tanner Witt, and P Matthys.

Senior OF Jon Davis was awarded an honorable mention. Pitchers Matthys and Levi MaVorhis were also named to the conference’s All-Freshman Team.

Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

Due to the horrific natural disaster in Moore, Oklahoma, the Big 12 has postponed its baseball tournament by a day and altered the format to better accomodate the response to the tornado that slammed the region earlier this week. Oklahoma City, which neighbors Moore, will still host the event which is now scheduled to begin on Thursday.

To accomodate the change, the league has changed the tournament from its previous double-elimination format. Teams will still be divided into two pools, with the team managing the top record in each pool moving on to the championship game on Sunday. K-State’s new schedule:

• vs. #8 seed Texas Tech on Thursday (the Wildcats took the season series against Tech 3-0)
• vs. #5 seed Baylor on Friday (the Wildcats lost two of three games to Baylor, including a 13 inning, 10-8 loss)
• vs. #4 seed Oklahoma on Saturday (the Wildcats took two of three games against Oklahoma to secure the Big 12 championship last weekend)

In pool two are #2 Oklahoma State, #3 West Virginia, #6 Kansas, and #7 TCU. Each game will be played at 12:30, with championship set to start at 1 p.m. on Sunday. All games will be played at Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City. The Wildcats are coming off their first Big 12 baseball championship and first conference baseball title of any sort since 1933.

With the 2013 NFL Draft coming up, I decided to look into the crop of Wildcats that were invited to the Scouting Combine and see where they may go.

Arthur Brown – LB

Brown’s stock has seemed to rise after many were disappointed that Brown’s shoulder injury kept him out of the Senior Bowl and Scouting Combine.  But a strong Pro Day has pushed Brown anywhere from mid first to early second round.  I have always liked Brown’s pro potential and under the right coaching, think Brown could really excel.  Brown has already met with the Bears, Rams, Jaguars and Bengals.

Prediction: Bears – 1^st Round, 20^th pick.  The Bears add Brown to replace Urlacher.  Sounds easy right?

Chris Harper – WR

Harper possesses great speed and strength that should translate to the NFL level.  The type of possession receiver many teams look for, Harper has been Collin Klein’s safety value and led the team in receiving the past two seasons.  I have seen him going as early as the second round all the way to the fourth.

Prediction: Ravens – 3^rd Round, 94^th pick.  Ozzie Newsome looks to replace Anquan Boldin.

Collin Klein – QB

One of the most decorated Wildcats in recent memory; Klein hurt his stock by not working out as a tight end despite many teams interest.  We all know the knocks on Klein, bad mechanics, and inaccuracy, not an NFL arm.  You can’t knock his leadership and determination.  Most mock drafts and rumors have him going seventh round or undrafted.

Prediction: I think someone will give him a shot in the seventh, due to his work ethic and hopes they can move him to another position.

Nigel Malone – CB

A key contributor for the Wildcats had eleven interceptions in two seasons with the team.  Size will hurt Malone, who is short by NFL standards as a corner at 5’10”.  Good hands and reaction time help his cause.  Mock drafts have him going 6-7 round or undrafted.

Prediction:  It’s a passing league; someone will give him a flyer in the late rounds.  You can never have enough corners.

Braden Wilson – FB

Wilson had a pretty productive career at Kansas State, considering he was very limited in touches.  His production came in the form of blocking for former second rounder Daniel Thomas and Heisman Trophy candidate Collin Klein and teammate John Hubert.  Some see his athletic ability translating better for a tight end.  I think Wilson could be a FB/TE hybrid in the league, or at least a special teams player.

Prediction:  Undrafted.  Fullbacks usually don’t get drafted unless you’re Mike Alstott.  I do think that he will sign with the flurry of undrafted players after the draft and will be a contributor to a team.

Anthony Cantele – K

Cantele was a reliable place kicker during his tenure with Kansas State.  Cantele hit on 82 percent of kicks last year, earning Second Team All-Big 12 honors.  Kickers usually don’t get drafted, but I have seen projections of Cantele possibly being taken in the seventh.  I would expect him to be one of the first kickers taken, if one is chosen.

Prediction:  Undrafted.  He should definitely earn a shot somewhere as a training camp leg, with the opportunity to maybe win a job.

Jerome Miron-US PRESSWIRE

Well, I’ve managed to do it again. Last week I went 4-1 against the spread, the only miss being a complete whiff  on the Easy Pick’em (Iowa State v. Oklahoma State). The preceding week I completely whiffed on the Easy Pick’em as well. This week I said Oklahoma gets an easy win against Notre Dame. Not just a win – an easy win. If you’re looking for a sure bet, just look at whatever I say is the easy game to predict regardless of rankings, records, or media attention. Then bet the opposite. My winning percentage against the spread currently hangs by a thread.

Week (Season)
Straight Up: 4-1 (18-5)
Against the Spread: 2-3 (12-11)

#22 Texas (-21) at Kansas
Prediction: Texas 40, Kansas 10
Final Outcome: 21-17
How anyone is saying Texas deserves to be ranked right now is beyond me – I’ll grant the Longhorns boast a nice 6-2 record, but they’re still awful. KU almost won this one, as Texas needed a two touchdown rally in the fourth quarter to get its victory. Additionally, the Jayhawks won the time of possession battle, forced more turnovers, had more first downs, were more efficient on third down conversions, and held a 14-7 lead at halftime. It looks like Weis is close to getting his first conference victory, while Texas finishes on a four game stretch that may very well leave Mack Brown at 6-6 this season.

Baylor at Iowa State (-2.5)
Prediction: Iowa State 30, Baylor 27
Final Outcome: Iowa State 35, Baylor 21

Just three weeks ago I was still singing Baylor’s praises, remarking that they had an exceptional offense but no defense following extremely close, high scoring affairs against West Virginia and Texas. It should be no surprise how I’ve soured on those teams, so my opinion of Baylor shouldn’t surprise either. Baylor is racing against KU to avoid being the last team without a conference win. Think about that for a second. Iowa State is still a good team, by the way. They aired it out a little this weekend, and demonstrated a nice vertical attack. Then again, it was against Baylor.

#14 Texas Tech at #3 Kansas State (-7)
Prediction: K-State 38, Texas Tech 25
Final Outcome: K-State 55, Texas Tech 24
Another week, another solid win for this Wildcat team. Texas Tech remains a good football team, and outplayed the Wildcats in the first half. Because K-State really hates playing two halves of football. Granted, they’ll buckle down and do it when they have to (Miami, Oklahoma, West Virginia), but just as often put up very lackluster performances the first thirty minutes (North Texas, Kansas, Iowa State). No one can argue with the end result though: this team stands at 8-0, 5-0 in conference play, and #2 in the BCS rankings. If the championship were to be held today, Alabama would face Kansas State. Sweet.

Texas Christian at Oklahoma State (-7.5)
Prediction: Oklahoma State 38, TCU 34
Final Outcome: Oklahoma State 36, TCU 14
Texas Christian is one of the most befuddling teams in the conference this year, alternating good and bad games every week. Oklahoma State lulled us all into believing they weren’t very good this year by starting off 2-2, then roared back in very good fashion to stand at 3-1 and in control of its own destiny in the Big 12. That’s right, the Cowboys are the only team besides K-State that doesn’t need anyone else to win, lose, or draw – they just have to take care of their own business. It starts this Saturday in Manhattan, where they face K-State for control of the conference. The Cowboys have Wes Lunt healthy again at quarterback, so this should be fun.

Easy Pick’em of the Week:

#5 Notre Dame at #8 Oklahoma (-10.5)
Easy Pick’em Prediction: Oklahoma 24, Notre Dame 10
Final Outcome: Notre Dame 30, Oklahoma 13
It’s not just that K-State needed this victory – the Big XII needed this victory with its lackluster list of quality out-of-conference wins. K-State should have received a big present by getting Notre Dame out of the championship picture while improving the quality of its opponents (a win here would’ve been the Big XII’s best of the season). Instead, Norman lost much of its mystique this year as an impenetrable castle and Oklahoma may have played itself out of a Fiesta Bowl.