Jug Of News (05.22.12)

Welcome to our humble abode. Pull up a seat and grab a glass for a sip from today’s Jug of News. Hit the jump for  Big 12 Baseball Championship news, a couple of basketball recruiting updates (including a video interview of Semi Ojeleye), John Currie opining to Kellis Robinett on the Big 12, and more Big 12 expansion news. And oh yeah, Fanning’s latest column posts at 8:00 AM this morning.

After the Bat Cats finally sewed up the final position in tomorrow’s Big 12 Baseball Championship with last weekend’s series win over Texas Tech, their reward is a first-round date with the highly-ranked Baylor Bears. KSU’s sports information department has a thorough Baylor preview(PDF), and you can get a full bracket from the Big 12 website.

On the basketball recruiting front, Rivals recruiting guru Eric Bossi caught up with 4-star Ottawa (KS) prospect, Semi Ojeleye. The younger brother of just-graduated senior Victor Ojeleye, Semi recently added the Cats back to his list of schools, after Frank Martin left for South Carolina. While he doesn’t address that issue specifically, during the video interview posted by Bossi, one has to think that Martin’s erratic behavior was one reason Semi Ojeleye wasn’t considering KSU until after Martin left. That may have also played a role in K-State losing out on highly-touted prospects Willie Cauley and Perry Ellis.

Also on the recruiting front, the Cats have opened recruitment on 2013 Texas prospect, Dustin Thomas. The versatile 6’7″ forward from Texarkana, Texas, has played every position from post to point guard while in high school. While K-State has yet to formally offer Thomas a scholarship, the Cats seem fairly high on his list, as he notes that Weber and his staff have called him more than the other schools currently in the running, including Arkansas and Texas.

Finally, realignment news rarely seems to take a break around here lately. The most recent news has Florida State and Clemson preparing to inform the ACC that they will be exploring other options for conference affiliation. Against that backdrop, John Currie spoke with the Kansas City Star’s Kellis Robinett yesterday, and one of the topics addressed was the Big 12’s future, as well as the proposed college football playoff system, and the Big 12/SEC partnership.