Shanoff’s Wake-Up Call: K-State Walks the Talk

Today’s Calls: Kansas State vs. Kansas, Tom Brady vs. Plaxico Burress, Peter Greenberg vs. the Mets, LeBron vs. LeBron, Jason Kidd vs. Devin Harris, NBA All-Star Reserves vs. NBA All-Star Rookies, Steve Mariucci vs. Josh McDaniels, Brett Favre vs. Retirement, Terrelle Pryor vs. Michigan fans and More.
The Opening Pitch: Kansas State takes Manhattan ... wow, it took long enough!
Fiesty Kansas State upended No. 2 Kansas in Manhattan (Kansas) handing the Jayhawks their first loss of the season ... and ending a 24-year losing streak -- AT HOME! -- to KU, the Wildcats’ most bitter rival.
But don’t call it an upset: K-State freshman star Michael Beasley, who guaranteed the win earlier this week, backed up his talk with 25 of K-State’s 84 points. (Bill Walker and Jacob Pullen combined for another 42.)
This was no Plaxico Burress score-prediction: Beasley threw down the gauntlet, no small talk given the scope of KU’s dominance at K-State.
Beasley will likely turn pro after this initial college season (he will likely be the No. 1 overall pick of the NBA Draft). This single win makes him worth the one-and-done deal for K-State fans.
Remove Kansas from the “Who’s the No. 1 team in the country?” debate, not because they aren’t unbeaten -- but because they aren’t even the No. 1 team in their own conference.
That would be Kansas State, unbeaten in the Big 12 and suddenly the league’s team to beat.
Just not by Kansas ... anymore.
Obligatory Tom Brady Coverage: “We’re only going to score 17 points?” That was Brady’s reaction to Plaxico Burress’ prediction that the Giants would win 23-17.
Of course, Brady is right: Burress loses credibility NOT for picking a Giants upset win, but for saying the Pats are going to be held to 17. The lowest Pats points output in 2007 was 20 in the slop vs. the Jets.
Patriots release much-anticipated injury report (at least the “initial” version): Surprise! Brady’s ankle isn’t on it.
Johan Santana Watch: Meet the Mets! Johan’s agent Peter Greenberg met with the Mets in New York to work on a new contract before the league-imposed deal-expiration deadline of 5 p.m. Friday. It’s in everyone’s best interests to get the deal done.
LeBron being LeBron: Scored 37, including the game-winning reverse at the buzzer (along with 3 consecutive clutch 3s down the stretch), to lead the Cavs over the Blazers.
Jason Kidd Trade Rumor: Possibly headed to Dallas? The main points of the rumored deal: The Mavs send Devin Harris to Portland and the Blazers move Travis Outlaw (and cap room) to the Nets.
More CBB Last Night: Memphis is the last unbeaten team with a win at Houston, which was the Tigers’ toughest remaining road game of the season ... So much for Mississippi State’s unbeaten start in the SEC: Arkansas spanked them by 20 ... Much-needed “quality” win for Texas A&M in a 17-point win over rival Texas ... In a rivalry as storied as Georgetown-St. John’s, it’s rare to see history made: The Johnnies were hit with their worst Big East loss in program history. (All together now: “Worst. Loss. Ever.”)
NBA All-Star Reserves named today: 2 guards, 2 forwards, 1 center, 2 wild-cards (per conference). Here are my picks:
East: Chauncey Billups, Rip Hamilton, Chris Bosh, Caron Butler, Andrew Bogut, Jose Calderon*, Antawn Jamison. (Sorry: Pierce and Wallace. Yes, I’m in the bag for my Wizards.)
* - NBA Last Night: How about Calderon’s 11 points and 11 assists (against only 1 turnover) in a 39-point Raps rout of the Wiz.
West: Chris Paul, Steve Nash, Carlos Boozer, Al Jefferson*, Amare Stoudemire, Baron Davis, Brandon Roy. (Sorry: Nowitzki and Kaman)
* - NBA Last Night: Jefferson emphasized his case (despite the T’wolves puny win total) with 26 and 20 in a Minny win over the Bulls.
(For the Bulls, a 16-point L to the team with the NBA’s worst record has to be Chicago’s worst moment yet this season, which is saying something.)
NBA All-Star Rookie Challenge rosters named: It’s always most intriguing to see which rookies and sophs were unheralded draft picks. For the rookies, it’s undrafted(!) Jamario Moon. For the sophs, it has to be 2nd-rounders Daniel Gibson and Paul Millsap.
Redskins to interview Steve Mariucci: You can’t blame Dan Snyder for conducting an exhaustive search, but it’s getting closer to exhausting.
I think Snyder is killing time until Bill Belichick’s 31-year-old prodigy Josh McDaniels is done with his season on Monday morning.
(But it begs the question: What kind of “Li’l Genius” offensive mind wants to take a job where the offensive coordinator has already been hired?)
NFL Coaching Carousel: The Rams hired Al Saunders as offensive coordinator. I’m sure they’ll enjoy his 600-page playbook.
Brett Favre Retirement: Will he or won’t he? (Ugh: That time of year again? I figured after this past season’s renaissance, Favre might spare us his annual self-indulgent tease. Apparently not.)
Bills fans are among the most passionate in all of sports: I wonder how they’ll feel about the NFL shipping one of their home games to Toronto? I know it’s close, but it’s not the same.
Clemens Scandal, Cont’d: Roger Clemens comes to Astros training camp. Can you say: “AWK-ward!”
Meanwhile, C.C. Sabathia welcomes increased drug-testing. I wish more superstar players would publicly demand the same thing.
Huhh? Forget the umps’ outrage at MLB background checks; why is MLB even looking into whether umps are involved with the KKK?
CFB Recruiting: Signing Day is less than a week away (next Wednesday), and there are two outstanding questions:
(1) Where will uber-QB Terrelle Pryor sign? All common sense points to Michigan, but now there’s a heavy vibe he could go the other way and commit to Ohio State.
(2) Which team will have the No. 1 class? Looks like Florida, which boosted an already massive month-long push by getting a verbal Wednesday from William Green, a top 10-ranked OLB from Alabama.
The Last Word: Coaches, don’t bite your athletes. Or you’ll end up like Ebensburg, Pa. high-school wrestling coach Mike Marshall, who had to resign after biting one of his team members on the leg while wrestling with him. Marshall’s lawyer said the coach was joking and the bite was “completely innocent.” Well, not completely, obviously.
Dan Shanoff writes The Wake-Up Call every weekday morning for SportingNews.com and blogs daily at DanShanoff.com. Got any comments, questions or feedback? E-mail Dan at shanofftsn-[at]-gmail-[dot]-com.
↵