NCAA Basketball – Kansas State stuns Texas Longhorns

They say that every good story worth telling has two sides to it. This might also hold true to a vast array of daily life circumstances. If you have made it past the play-for-fun stage and enter the realm of either recognizing that in sports there’s either winning or losing, you’ll know exactly what is happening in Austin, Texas.

For the Longhorns, both on college basketball and particularly in college football, there is always a huge deal of pressure set upon coaches, players, and even fans. The Texas Longhorns might not have the most ambitious educational program in the United States, but you can be quite certain that when it comes to collegiate sports, they are expected to pass with flying colors. Every season: no exceptions. Anything other then making it into the NCAA Tournament, or going for a BCS Bowl Game is considered failure.

Kansas State doesn’t really live up to the same expectations. At least they don’t have to. First of all because for decades now, the Wildcats have been overshadowed by the Kansas Jayhawks. Things are not as intense when it comes to NCAA sports in Manhattan as they are in Lawrence, Kansas. But this time around, it really seems as if the Wildcats are giving it their very best to change those expectations and perform against the odds.

Yes, for the most part, Kansas State had been somewhat of a disappointment. They started as the No. 2 team in the nation before the season kicked in, but surely but slowly the Wildcats were underperforming. But recently things began to click in. After a 75-70 win over the Longhorns, last night, the Wildcats have now recorded its 5th consecutive win and 7th in the last 8 games played. To really get things into perspective, the Wildcats have defeated 3 teams in the top 30 in this last streak.

Great games by Jacob Pullen and Rodney McGruder have pushed Kansas State to collect wins over Kansas, Missouri, and Texas just to name the latest wins against ranked teams.

The Texas Longhorns, on the other hand, are falling into a slurp just two weeks after some sports reporters had believed that they would have no trouble dominating the Big 12. Texas lost for the third time during the last 4 games, putting a very significant and lopsided end to an 11-consecutive-win streak that had prompted them into top 5 positions in the rankings.

Things have not been good in Texas. The Longhorns have not been able to rely on some of their key-players who have failed to live up to their expectations. For instance: Jordan Hamilton shot 5 of 18 from the floor on this last game. And it is not a matter of having just one bad game. Everybody has a bad night, but heck, it really seems as if Hamilton totally lost his aim. In the Longhorns last three losing games, Hamilton has gone 15-of-58 from the field.

An 11-0 start in conference play had the Longhorns among the top contenders for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament. Now they’re trying finding their way back to the top and not having to worry too much about how much down they are going to fall.

Kansas State is finally figuring out how to get back on the winning side of things. There are some signs that warn us about what this guys could do in March. For instance consider that this is the Wildcats’ fifth straight win and first on the road over a Top Ten team since 1994. We’ll take that as a good omen.

NCAA Basketball – Jacob Pullen leads Kansas State to a win over Kansas

Instate Rivalry in college sports are among the most exciting games in NCAA regulated sports. There is so much tradition and so much history involved in each of this games that one can’t help but to feel a certain fascination for these games. So when Kansas State hosted the Kansas Jayhawks at the Fred Bramlage Coliseum in Manhatan, KS, it really seemed as if all the ingredients for a great game where on the ground.

And here is where it gets really interesting. Kansas State has been up to this point somewhat of a disappointment the No. 3 ranked team before the season kickoff was now unranked and could only hold onto a mediocre 16-9 record overall and 4-6 mark in the Big 12 before the game began. So Kansas State had to deal with the fact that the team had not have a good win since Thanksgiving and as if that was not enough, the team’s off the court shenanigans has brought them a couple of suspensions to their starters. Jacob Pullen was suspended for 3 games while Curtis Kelly took a 6-game suspension for violating NCAA rules.

On the side of the Jayhawks, there team was going through a great moment and just a couple of hours prior to the game the Jayhawks had pushed the Texas Longhorns from the top to claim themselves as the No. 1 team in the nation. So yes, on one side of the story the Jayhawks had to defend their votes that placed them ahead of the Longhorns; on the other hand, Kansas State really had to bring on their A-game and prove their fans that their season was not over.

And what better way to prove they are still alive and worthy of going to March Madness then taking a win over their instate rivals: the Kansas Jayhawks. That’s when Jacob Pullen began to shine. The senior guard was capable of turning the game around with a brilliant performance, scoring 38 points to lead the Wildcats to an outstanding upset 84-68.

To really put things into perspective, you might need to know that this is one of the most lopsided rivalries as the Wildcats have only won 2 of their previous 45 games against the Jayhawks. Pullen and company have now made that 3 wins in their head to head matchup. This was one heck of an upset. Just a month ago, the Jayhawks had beat the Wildcats by 24 points. But that was all going to change. Kansas State was a dominant, well paced and organized team.

Even head coach Bill Self, from Kansas, had to agree that the Wildcats were a much stronger team. In the press conference he commented:

NFL – Baltimore Ravens’ defense dominated the Kansas City Chiefs

Sometimes, they say, that winning is all about having the right answers at the right time. And truth be said, there’s got to be some reality behind this because at the end, when it comes to the NFL playoffs, it really doesn’t matter what you did in the regular season to get there. What really matters is whether you can survive on the single elimination challenge that leads to the Super Bowl.

Joe Flacco guided the Ravens and completed 25 of 34 attempts for 265 yards and 2 touchdowns, outplaying Matt Cassel who went for 9 of 18 for only 70 yards and 3 interceptions for a very low 20.4 passers rating. It wasn’t all Cassel’s fault as it was evident that the Chiefs were just simply not having their best Sunday ever. But it really doesn’t matter as there was very little the Chiefs could do to avoid a 30-7 defeat by the Ravens on the opening round of the NFL Playoffs.

The Kansas City Chiefs arrived to the Wild Card Round after a 10-6 regular season. They managed to win the AFC West division with a significant 6-game improvement over the previous season. Still, Joe Flaco and the Baltimore Ravens kept the young Kansas City Chiefs at just 25 yards during the second half of the game. Where it all went down: defense.

The Baltimore Ravens defense was simply outstanding. Guided by the powerful Ray Lewis, the Ravens sacked Matt Cassel three times and forced the offense into five turnovers in their outstanding 30-7 victory at the Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri.

It was a pretty close game between the two squads up to the start of the second half. From there on, the Ravens managed to simply hold the Chiefs offense on their feet. Two unanswered field goals by Billy Cundiff from 29-yards for the Ravens followed by 4 yard pass from Joe Flacco to Anquan Boldin gave the Ravens a 23-7 difference that opened up the gap clear open in the third quarter.

The Chiefs have now fallen to a 3-12 record. As of press time that is the second worst record in the postseason since the NFL Merger in 1970. Only the Detroit Lions hold a worst playoffs record, at 1-9. Kansas City finishes the season saddled with an NFL-record seventh straight playoff loss, dating back 17 years.

The Ravens were a -3 point favorite on the spread against the Kansas City Chiefs for this game. The Ravens managed to finish the regular season with a 12-4 record after winning 5 of its last 7 games to hold onto a Wild Card spot as the No. 2 team in the AFC North just behind the Pittsburgh Steelers who clinched division with a 12-4 record for the season. Now it is time to get back at the Steelers during the Divisional Round. The Ravens took a great win on the road on October 3rd against the Steelers in a 17-14 win. Now, you should consider that the Ravens were playing the Steelers sans starting quarterback Ben Roehtlisberger. Once Big Ben got back on the field he turned things around and guided the Steelers to a 13-10 win on December 5, 2010.

As of press time the Ravens are 9-7-1 Against the Spread for the season and a -3 point underdog in the betting odds for the Divisional Round game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.