1. Without much hard news to discuss in the dead heat of summer, we gladly rely on these kinds of articles to stay entertained. This time, Big 12 football blogger David Ubben concocted a list of former Big 12 basketball players and transformed them into gridiron stars: his All-Big 12 crossover team includes Blake Griffin at tight end, DeMarre Carroll at defensive end Paul Pierce at QB and Mario Chalmers at kicker. Interestingly, Ubben used former Texas A&M center DeAndre Jordan as a wide receiver. An unorthodox pick, sure– Jordan is 6’11”– but we are happy to see Ubben find innovative new ways to change the game of football.
2. With rumors swirling lately about Clemson and Florida State joining the Big 12, league officials have finally put an end to the speculation. The Big 12 is happy with 10, apparently, and athletic directors within the conference are too. “We feel we’re really well-positioned at this time with 10,” Iowa State AD Jamie Pollard told reporters. The idea that expansion is over may sound comforting, but we would not be too trusting in this situation. Clearly, the league is not actively looking to expand (at least publicly), but these sorts of situations can change on a dime. For all we know, by next week, all hell will break loose again.
3. Texas released its 2012-13 schedule this week, and coach Rick Barnes is once again challenging his team with several high-profile match-ups. The Longhorns will play in the Maui Invitational in November, but things really heat up with a few interesting games in December. Texas plays Georgetown in the Jimmy V Classic on December 1, and a week later it will play UCLA at Reliant Stadium in Houston. Later in the month, Barnes’ team will host North Carolina in a return game from last year before heading to East Lansing to face Michigan State. And that’s all before the calendar year ends.
4. It appears Ben McLemore‘s legal situation has been resolved without much fuss. The Kansas guard, who was ineligible to play last year, must now pay a few hundred dollars in court fees and fines after prosecutors reached a diversion agreement to dispose the case. Police arrested McLemore for a minor in possession of alcohol charge back in November. Hopefully this will be the end of McLemore’s trouble in what has been a tumultous year.
5. In lighter Jayhawk news, incoming freshman Perry Ellis likely won’t need any lawyers to rescue him when he arrives in Lawrence. The Leavenworth Times wrote a gushing feature on the stud recruit, who finished high school with a 4.0 GPA and was named valedictorian. Not bad for a guy who was also coveted to play hoops for every major program in America.

dnspewak (343 Posts)

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 31st, 2012 at 9:15 am by dnspewak and is filed under big 12, microsites. Tagged: ben mclemore, blake griffin, georgetown, kansas, michigan state, north carolina, perry ellis, rick barnes, texas, unc. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.