Latest / Cocaine Willie / KU Brought a Belt to Bramlage = Rock Bottom? *PLUS* 2026 FB Schedule Release! (S4//E44)

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KU Brought a Belt to Bramlage = Rock Bottom? *PLUS* 2026 FB Schedule Release! (S4//E44) · Cocaine Willie

0:11
You're here to be on your cocaine, to be on this podcast.
0:25
Cocaine. What's up everybody?
0:40
You're listening to yet another edition of Cocaine Willie, the
0:43
official K State representative on the college Huddle.
0:47
I'm your commissioner, Bob Trollsby.
0:50
And as always, I'm joined by my Co host, Fireball, Matt
0:53
Marchisini. Good.
0:55
Chef is not here tonight. Sorry.
0:57
Sad. Yeah, he works for the Postal
0:59
Service and sounds like he was trudging through a foot of snow
1:03
today. But Needless to say, we are
1:06
here. We're ready to talk about the
1:08
cats whether we want to or not. It's just that's the game that
1:12
we're playing here. But before we get into the
1:15
episode, we do want to give a quick shout out to sponsor #1
1:18
which is Auntie Maze Parlor located at 616 N Wall Street in
1:23
the heart of Aggieville in Manhattan, KS.
1:27
Looking at their events, tonight is the night, Tuesday, January
1:30
27th. This is the pie in cocktails
1:33
with Therapy that we've been advertising since December at
1:36
this point. Don't worry though, never fear,
1:39
there is another pie in cocktails on Tuesday, February
1:43
10th. So they're always doing pie in
1:46
cocktails, they're always doing all sorts of events, comedy,
1:49
live music and everything in between.
1:53
Let's take a trivia smack down. They always have trivia smack
1:56
down. Thursday, January 29th we've got
1:58
Hostie, which is a one man thing apparently.
2:02
We've got live Jazz with Distilled that's on Saturday,
2:05
January 30th and next Thursday, February 5th we've got Bikini
2:10
Gordo with delicious Friction playing at the parlor.
2:15
So check it out. That one is sponsored by Casey
2:17
Bierko. Not a sponsor, could be, but
2:20
yeah, check him out. Check out Auntie May's cocktail
2:23
of the week. Let's just get a quick, quick
2:25
glimpse here. The cocktail of the week as
2:26
well. Drum roll please.
2:31
What are we looking at here? We've got the Gizmo featuring MI
2:36
Campo Reposado Paru Mezcal. OK, sign me up.
2:43
So lime juice and ginger beer. It's for 11.
2:49
Dollars all week. Their cocktails are good there.
2:52
Their cocktails are good. Bring back the John Daly.
2:56
Bring it back, bring it back. Bring it back.
3:02
Yeah. Shout out to Auntie May's best
3:03
bar in Aggieville, 616 N 12th Street, right in the heart of
3:06
Aggieville. Be sure to tell them cocaine
3:08
while he sent you. All right, Matt K State men's
3:11
basketball. I chose tonight to wear my Doom
3:16
Tang Clan sweatshirt. Shout out to the Aggieville
3:19
Alley cats. It's a term that I coined after
3:22
he got hired and they asked me can we make T-shirts for this?
3:26
So I said yes, I bought 1. And I think I've worn this thing
3:31
one time, maybe twice, because this is just, this is just been
3:36
a bad three years. The first year was fine,
3:39
obviously great Elite Eight run. That was fun, but three really
3:44
bad years since then. K State is now 10 and 10 overall
3:47
coming off an 8662 loss after being down four with 752
3:53
remaining. It's the worst home loss to KU
3:55
in Bramley since 2002. KU's Melvin Council wabashed at
3:59
center court. KU was dunking on us in the
4:01
final minute of the game. They brought a belt to the
4:04
locker room and we're smacking it on the ground in a little.
4:07
Literal belt to ass situation in a three-year stretch.
4:11
It's been filled with low points.
4:14
How have we somehow reached yet another low point?
4:18
Oh, that's a great question, 'cause last year towards the end
4:22
of the year when we lost to Arizona State at home, I felt
4:26
like that was a, that was a very low point.
4:31
I, I think it Saturday aside, I did not think this team is going
4:39
to beat KU with the guys that were out.
4:45
I didn't have a lot of confidence going into the game.
4:49
I thought it was going to be a double digit loss.
4:53
I was supposed to fly up for the game.
4:55
Thank the heavens for ice and everything that kept me from
5:02
going up there and wasting time and money.
5:05
But you know, I, I, I wasn't confident about, about them
5:09
being competitive against KUI was very surprised, you know, to
5:15
see this team for what was it 33 minutes, be competitive in that
5:23
game, making some big shots. But the last 7 minutes were
5:30
horrific in so many ways and, and kind of encompasses one of
5:35
my main feelings about this team is I feel like the coaching has
5:41
let them down in many situations in not just the season, but you
5:47
look at the previous I I would say last year, maybe I give a
5:53
little bit of a pass in your two because the Nikon Tomlin
5:56
situation and you know, if you had that one player you were
5:59
kind of building around, yeah, whatever.
6:01
But in the past two seasons, I think we've been really let down
6:05
by just inefficiency at the coaching spots.
6:09
And you at this point, with a 10 and 10 record in the toughest
6:16
conference in America, they're not a lot of games on the
6:19
schedule left where this team is. 1, I mean, definitely
6:26
favored, but two I think will win.
6:30
I mean, I just don't see a lot of wins left on the schedule.
6:34
The injury situation isn't helping, obviously.
6:38
You know, I think Kamari McGriff and and Abdi Bashir make a huge
6:43
difference in this game on Saturday just based off of how
6:46
things were going in those 33 minutes.
6:48
You're making some threes, which is obviously Bashir specialty.
6:53
I think having a big guy on the inside, you know, for Buca, he
6:58
had a really, I I think a great first half from an offensive
7:01
rebound, A rebounding perspective.
7:04
But it's him and Taj Manning at your at the five for a majority
7:10
of this game and that's it. When you're playing Marcus
7:14
Johnson out there who absolutely I have no understanding why he's
7:21
getting time out there because I don't see what he provides that.
7:26
You know, I mean, Andre Kostich looked very good for the
7:32
portions and men at sea played in this game.
7:34
He's still for the most part of the defensive liability, but he
7:39
has the ability to make shots and.
7:41
He had that steal, though. He had that steal.
7:43
He. Had a steal, yeah, but you know,
7:46
you're playing Marcus Johnson out there as a big guy, but he's
7:49
he's not a big guy. Well, he is a big guy, but he's
7:51
not a he's not a four or five, right?
7:54
Like he's that's not his position.
7:57
And so that's where I just look at the coaching staff and you're
8:02
putting CJ Jones out there who I for me watching him play out
8:08
there again, a guy I don't think he provides really anything.
8:13
Why aren't you playing Andre Kostich out there more time?
8:18
He's a freshman. He's gonna like if you keep him
8:23
out there and play 25 minutes a game, I think he's gonna be more
8:28
of a positive on the offensive end because this team is not
8:31
getting better defensively. Like you're 20 games in.
8:35
This team is not a good defensive team.
8:38
This team will not be a good defensive team for the next 12
8:42
games or however more that we have left.
8:44
So for Jerome Tang, you have to see one what you have for next
8:50
year. Whether you're going to be here
8:53
or not is not my decision. But you paid all this money to
8:58
get costage here and you're not giving him the time.
9:02
You're just not. And we're going to be, you know,
9:06
we're playing West Virginia tonight.
9:08
We're out without four guys. Like we're going to hear about
9:12
the injury thing for a good portion of time here, but in the
9:16
grand scheme of things, Saturday was another encapsulating moment
9:20
of the last 7 minutes of the game where you have guys out
9:23
there, they're not being coached I think efficiently enough to
9:29
try and be in big games like that.
9:31
And a 20 BB losing that game by 24 points is they could have
9:40
been down 24 in the first half and I would have probably felt
9:42
better than being down four with 7 minutes to go and you lose by
9:47
24. That's just, I think, really
9:51
bad, especially at home. I've never seen something like
9:56
where Melvin counsel doing the wabashing at at center court,
10:01
which whatever it's on him. Like if you're going to do that,
10:05
do that. I I've got nothing against him
10:07
for doing that. They were kicking our absolute
10:09
asses in this game. But for K state to just let it
10:14
happen for the guys on the team, for the coaching staff to just
10:17
allow it to happen. Seeing guys like Wesley One do
10:21
and Clint Stewart, some of the guys who are tweeting about it,
10:24
just saying like we would absolutely, I mean, commit a
10:26
flagrant, do something, send a message.
10:29
Yeah. It's it's like hockey in that
10:30
regard. You got an enforcer for a
10:31
reason. If someone does something you
10:33
don't like, they're going to fucking enforce.
10:35
There's no fight. There's no fight.
10:38
There's no fight. Coleman Hawkins is out there
10:40
saying you wouldn't have let it happen.
10:42
Of all the people that we've accused of not giving a shit
10:45
about the university, one of the guys we may be accused of giving
10:48
the least amount of shit about this university is up in arms
10:51
about this. There's I, I, there's no
10:54
passion. It seems like out there guys are
10:57
just going through the motions. It's just very sad.
11:02
Like it really is. I mean, even and I mean,
11:06
obviously in the past three years, you know, beating KU at
11:10
home has been a great achievement, especially last
11:15
year's team, which, you know, kind of went on that run where
11:19
you thought, oh man, they might make the NCAA tournament despite
11:21
the kind of shortcomings in the beginning of the year.
11:23
But you could see passion out there in those games.
11:29
And you just watch, you watch Saturday and it's just not it's
11:35
just not there. I just don't think, I don't
11:39
think these guys have the wants to be out there like it.
11:45
It's just it's just a weird thing to to watch.
11:49
And that's why I I think of the the changes in the coaching
11:55
staff this year and and you bring in Matt Driscoll and you I
12:01
I think he's gotten a little bit of Flack.
12:04
You know, this is a team that had that scores a lot of you
12:07
know, I I don't know, I don't necessarily have as big of a
12:10
problem with him as I think some other people in the K state
12:14
verse do, but it's just the defensive like this team is just
12:20
such a defensive liability and they just die.
12:24
I feel like they don't have a want to get stops or or come
12:28
together on the floor defensively, and that's where
12:31
teams will just go on a big run. You know, you have these teams
12:34
that will go on a run, you know, 8 O run, nine O 10 O run.
12:38
And at that point it just, it crumbles.
12:43
And and so that's exactly what we saw on Saturday.
12:48
If there was ever a time for a play hard chart, it'd be right
12:51
now. Because if if you had, if you
12:53
had something like that in place, if you're emphasizing
12:56
doing some of those little things, we we gave Bruce all the
12:59
Flack in the world for for having the play hard chart.
13:01
But at the end of the day, if you've got guys who are chasing
13:05
after loose balls and doing all those little things, it at least
13:08
shows some of that fight that you're talking about that we're
13:11
not seeing right now. It emphasizes some of those
13:13
little things on defense maybe that this team just is totally
13:16
lackadaisical with across the board.
13:19
But yeah, I mean, it was a it was a total beat down on
13:22
Saturday. It was really disappointing to
13:23
see those final 7-8 minutes of the game after being, you know,
13:28
within arm's reach for a majority of that game,
13:30
especially at home. And into your point, that would
13:33
have been the fourth year in a row that we would have had an
13:35
opportunity to beat KU at home. So really, really frustrating to
13:39
see that that game play out. I think bigger picture, looking
13:43
at Coach Tang, obviously the buyout situation is ridiculously
13:48
high. Jean Taylor.
13:49
Jean Taylor put himself into that position.
13:51
Maybe the big money donors put themselves into that position by
13:55
advocating for Tang to get extended, which at the time, you
13:58
know, we were on this podcast saying, yeah, probably made
14:00
sense to do that. But also at the time we were
14:03
saying we were worried Jerome might be a roll the ball out
14:06
there head coach and that he doesn't necessarily understand
14:09
the XS and OS or emphasize those in a way that we'd seen with
14:13
previous coaches. But I want your thoughts on the
14:16
buyout because I know you've said multiple Times Now there's
14:19
we're going to be sticking around like there's no way we're
14:21
going to be going after him with or firing him.
14:25
But I feel like if you keep reaching these low lows that
14:29
that we continue to reach with seemingly every single game in
14:33
in quick succession. It feels more to me like a sunk
14:36
cost fallacy of you've got the 18 and a half million dollar
14:40
buyout that you pay upfront. But if you continue to waste
14:43
resources and funding beyond revenue sharing of anywhere from
14:47
8 to $10 million a year to fund the roster and some of the other
14:51
things that go into this men's basketball team, that adds up
14:54
pretty quickly to where if you're sticking around with them
14:57
for another year, two years, that difference isn't all that
15:01
that different. At the end of the day, between
15:03
the buyout cost and and what you're wasting, what we've
15:06
already wasted to this point with, with the talent and
15:09
resources that this coaching staff, to their credit, is able
15:12
to go out and get with guys like PJ Haggerty, Andre Kostich had a
15:15
buyout. They had to go after, repeat, a
15:17
kind of buyout that they have to go after to get those guys onto
15:20
the team. But where?
15:22
Where do you stand with the Tang situation writ large?
15:30
Well, it, I, I think this team could go 3 and 13 and Big 12
15:35
play. And then it's I, I, I almost
15:40
feel at this point, it's like we're halfway through the
15:46
football season this past year where this team had a terrible
15:51
start and people are wanting Colin Klein when we're two and
15:59
four, you know, he's having a big start at A&M.
16:04
And, but, and then we kind of go on a run with BKU like in
16:13
football and, you know, jeans like, Oh yeah, you know,
16:15
everybody's staying this and that.
16:17
Like I kind of feel we're at the we're kind of in this little
16:22
point where OK, people evidently want Jerome Tang gone.
16:29
His buyout's too high. So there's like the brick wall
16:34
that's right in front of us. Like the buyout's too high.
16:38
Not going to happen. I think if we go 3 and 13 for
16:42
Big 12 play there, there are people that donate a lot of
16:49
money to K State basketball and that's their thing.
16:51
Like they donate and I think they're going to be people that
16:55
agree with you. Like I'm putting this money into
16:58
this and we're not seeing results.
17:01
And at the end of the day, I want to see results.
17:04
And it means me and this person, whatever we're putting it up,
17:09
we're getting them out of here. And I do wonder if we, as we
17:14
trend towards the end of the year and a lot of people, I
17:17
mean, the buyout number is very high.
17:19
And that's the brick wall that I look at.
17:23
And I'm like, man, yeah, that's that is a lot of money to pay
17:27
him and, and get him, you know, out.
17:32
I have a feeling that it'll get figured out.
17:36
And he's he's not going to be here at the end of the year.
17:42
This this program has had such, you know, this is an excellent
17:47
basketball program in general and that has had success.
17:51
If you think about the coaching Staffs, the last three coach
17:54
head coaches have gotten their team to the Elite 8.
18:01
And the expectation if people are donating money to K State
18:07
basketball is that we're we're competitive, we're making the
18:09
NCAA tournament, we're continuing to be a name.
18:12
And this is year 4 and each year has trended downward.
18:20
And so I, I do think that if this team really keeps on this
18:30
trajectory, I think he's gone. I think people will figure it
18:33
out. The back door conversations that
18:36
occurred kind of similar way to the end of football season.
18:40
I think some some conversations occur and that just puts you in
18:45
a position where you got to find somebody else.
18:48
And I think this is a job that if you find somebody else,
18:52
there's going to be some names, some some names that you expect
18:57
are going to be Power 5 coaches that are going to be very
19:01
interested in this job because of the amount of money that has
19:06
been allocated, or I say allocated, but the amount of
19:10
money that has been spent on the roster the past handful of
19:13
seasons. If you have that expectation
19:16
that that's going to go in there next year and you get somebody
19:19
who is a little bit better with talent evaluation and what you
19:23
need to do to construct a team that's going to be successful in
19:25
the Big 12, I think you're going to see some people that would be
19:28
very interested in it. What better way to showcase a
19:32
brand new head coach than entering the players 0
19:34
tournament, which will be in next year?
19:36
Chefs chefs preseason preseason tournament for for seeding.
19:42
And here's another question. This was brought up by my my
19:45
buddy Jake. If you if you do fire Tang and
19:51
Jean Taylor. Still the AD.
19:53
How do you feel about Jean Taylor being the one to make the
19:56
call on the next basketball hire?
20:02
I here's my opinion. I think recently Jean's gotten a
20:10
little bit of a bad rap. And I also think with how how
20:20
college sports has changed since he started here, that having
20:27
somebody with a little bit more experience working with the NIL
20:33
portion that's very new kind of revamping and almost it, this is
20:39
almost like kind of running a business now.
20:42
And I, I, well, I'd be disappointed if Jean Taylor has
20:49
to go through and hire. No, I won't be.
20:51
I know a lot of people will be because I think they're based
20:57
off of how things went with Chris Kleiman's retirement.
21:01
There are a lot of inner workings people that are going
21:05
to be working with Jean and figuring out who the next coach
21:09
is. I don't think it's necessarily
21:11
going to be on him, but I, I don't think Jean Taylor's going
21:16
to be with Kansas State Athletics 2 years from now.
21:21
I think it's going to be a situation where he's retiring,
21:25
you know, relatively soon. I, I, I don't know anything but
21:31
I, I just have a feeling that in the next couple years he's not
21:35
going to be. And if he's anticipating
21:38
retiring or something like that, I wonder if instead of dealing
21:42
with a new basketball coach and doing the search, he's like, you
21:47
know, I think this is my time. But I, yeah, I, I don't
21:53
necessarily have a problem with it because I don't believe Jean
21:57
Taylor is going to do 100% of the search for a new coach.
22:01
I think our donors have shown through conversations, through,
22:06
you know, things outside of what any one of us knows, that if
22:13
they have a guy that they think is going to be successful here,
22:18
they're going to push it up the chain to make sure he hears
22:20
about it. Yeah, I, I, I commiserate
22:27
because of my I I feel like Gene has been a pretty good AD across
22:31
the board from from really from the beginning.
22:34
But I, I liked the point that that the guys on three Ma made
22:39
about you look back at the last seven years, K State's had one
22:45
Big 12 championship, 2 elite eight runs, but they've also had
22:49
six years of missing the tournament, assuming we missed
22:51
this year. So you've or I guess in the in
22:54
the past eight years. So that's six out of eight years
22:58
where you know, you're hitting 3/4 of the time, but for you're
23:02
missing 3/4 of the time, you're only making having a good run,
23:06
having a good season 25% of the time.
23:08
That's not a very good hit rate, especially when you look at the
23:10
success of a program like the football team or, or like the
23:13
women's basketball team. So it's it's not not ideal, but
23:19
you know, we'll see what happens.
23:20
There are a lot of names floating around right now.
23:22
Shirts is probably the most most prominent name I'm seeing
23:26
floated around right now, at least in K state circles.
23:30
Current head coach at University of Saint Louis, the Billikens
23:34
former Rick Majerus is filling filling in for that guy.
23:37
May he rest in peace. But yeah, it's going to be
23:41
interesting to see how this all shakes out.
23:43
I'm, I'm not confident that we're going to fire him just
23:46
based on how some of the sentiment around climbing was
23:49
towards the end of the of the season for football.
23:51
But it could, it could surprise me.
23:54
It could surprise me. Before we move on to women's
23:57
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there's your there's your QR code perfect all right women's
26:15
basketball not in much of A better spot.
26:18
They are slightly above 500. The men's team is at at 500 at
26:22
10 and 10 the women's team 11 and 10 overall.
26:25
Also coming off of a 20 plus point loss to the Kansas
26:29
Jayhawks this time at Allenfield house 83 to 61.
26:33
The women dropped to four and four in Big 12 play, which is
26:37
definitely better than the men. And that's entering this week's
26:40
match up with the Colorado Buffaloes at home, which has
26:43
been a fun little rivalry to see develop over the last couple of
26:47
years between those two teams. But Tess Heal currently is being
26:52
held out by the NCAA for signing with a team in Australia that
26:56
won't start their season until March.
27:01
Very strange considering we have former G Leaguers that signed
27:04
two way contracts in the NBA that are that are currently
27:07
eligible to play on the men's side.
27:09
Vote for Charles Bidiako for G League All Star game everybody.
27:18
Let's do the funniest thing ever.
27:21
Let's do it. Let's do that would be too
27:23
funny. This is this is kind of hard for
27:27
me because the women's team, you know, it's not been as exciting,
27:30
it's not been as fun as it has been the last two to three years
27:34
with Yoki and and you know, Serena, Sundell, Gabby Gregory,
27:38
some of the players that we had previously, But we coming into
27:41
this season knew it would be more hit or miss.
27:43
We knew that we did have some fun new players coming into the
27:47
program. Obviously one of one of the best
27:50
recruits that that K State women's basketball has ever had.
27:53
And Jordan Spicer, there have been more bright spots in
27:57
general when you compare this to the men's team, but you had in
28:01
that game against KU, 4 starters that combined for 13 points with
28:05
Terrence Sides getting 26 on her own.
28:08
So she doubled what every other starter combined had in that
28:12
match up against KU, which credit to her, but we need to
28:16
see some more production from Gina Garcia and Costa Clausen's
28:20
Jordan Spicer coming off the bench with 10 of her own.
28:23
What for you, Matt? What is your assessment on the
28:26
Lady Cats through 21 games in what's been a very bizarre
28:31
season? I mean, I this is a young team.
28:34
Like I'm not surprised that they're 11 and 10.
28:43
They're young team, they're growing.
28:46
You know, this is a program that I think, or I think this season
28:50
was going to be a rebuild no matter what for Jeff MIDI.
28:53
And I think Jordan Spicer, you know, as a freshman is still
29:00
figuring out the speed of women's college basketball.
29:05
I think she's going to be an excellent player, you know, for
29:08
the amount of time that she's getting.
29:11
I think she's going to be an excellent player as she grows.
29:14
And hopefully it's here at K State.
29:16
Gina Garcia is a freshman. That's another really, you know,
29:20
big young piece that I, I would have to say for people who
29:25
watched, watched K State women's basketball, when they saw that
29:29
she was recruited and committed here, they weren't necessarily
29:33
going to be expecting that you were going to get this type of
29:36
player as a freshman early on. I think she's going to be a
29:38
really good point guard again as hopefully she develops in the
29:43
program. It was going to be a rebuilding
29:46
year. I think if you can keep this
29:51
core for next season, that's huge for Jeff Mitty and trying
29:55
to get back into the NCAA tournament.
29:57
You know, ultimately in the Big 12, you think like it was last
30:01
week, I think it was a week and a half ago, the Texas Tech game.
30:04
I mean, this team shows flashes. You go on the road to Lubbock
30:08
against the team that was undefeated and you beat them.
30:10
Like it's just they're young, they're inconsistent.
30:15
That's what you're going to get from this team through the
30:17
season. And you just kind of have to
30:21
understand that last year season where you had so many good
30:24
players. When you lose that type of core
30:29
and you're replacing that core with, you know, some transfers
30:32
that have shown some some promise and some good stuff and
30:36
freshmen, you're going to have the speed bumps and and just the
30:40
inconsistency overall. So I'm like when I watch this
30:44
team, they have madding errors, but they go on flashes, tearing
30:51
sides, you know, especially at the beginning of the KU game.
30:54
You know, I think she scored the first like 12 points or she had,
30:58
she had made, you know, a bunch of threes in the beginning, in
31:01
the first quarter. So, yeah, I, this is a team that
31:05
is going to get better over time, I think.
31:11
And whether that's this season, I that's a little bit tougher to
31:14
say. But I think as long as these
31:16
core ladies stay with the program, you go into next
31:20
season, I really think that's where K State, you know, has the
31:24
ability to get back into the NCAA tournament.
31:28
That's a good segue because with with the current landscape, with
31:31
the portal and, and how all of this stuff works now, it's not
31:35
often that you have this core group of players to build around
31:39
and develop. I guess how, how much are you
31:42
hedging your bets that we'll be able to keep Jordan Spicer and
31:46
some of these other pieces together for the next year, 2-3
31:50
years? Again, just with the current
31:54
landscape, it's kind of hard to do that.
31:55
How much do you trust Mitty's ability to do that in 2026 and
31:59
and beyond? I mean, I think it's a crapshoot
32:02
no matter what. Like every offseason I feel like
32:05
has gotten more crazy across the different landscapes of sports
32:12
that have a transfer portal and the like.
32:17
So I think it's very up in the air.
32:20
You have to. I think the biggest thing for
32:23
Jeff MIDI is showing that, hey, this core, I have high
32:28
expectations with what we're going to do for next season.
32:31
And then I think you're a huge part of that and that's going to
32:33
be a conversation that you have with these individual players.
32:37
But ultimately, especially in women's college basketball, it
32:41
is a sport that you have high visibility programs.
32:47
And so if you're really good and you potentially could get
32:51
recruited to, you know, one of those high programs, we've been
32:55
very fortunate that again, with that core that we had last
32:58
season of really talented players, that they're committed
33:04
to the program, even in a situation where NIL was kind of
33:08
ramping up on the women's side. So I I just think especially
33:12
when you get past March and into the transfer portal time frame,
33:19
it's just really hard to tell because I feel like every
33:22
transfer portal time frame for all of these sports has just
33:26
gotten completely crazy. And you I mean, you saw it in
33:32
football with players that you wouldn't have expected we're
33:35
going to leave. You saw players that already
33:38
signed A2 year deal that have decided to leave.
33:41
I think some of that's going to hit a little bit more in
33:43
basketball. Yeah, from what we saw in
33:46
football this year when we get into March.
33:49
So I I think it's very hard to say because you can believe and
33:57
the young talent and some of the transfers, an international
34:00
player, I mean, Nasia Klassen's has been good this season.
34:06
It's just trying to, you know, keep some momentum and convince
34:10
players that this is the right place for them.
34:12
And so Jeff Mitty historically has been good with that
34:16
conversation. So let's hope that he can do
34:19
that and keep this young core. Fingers crossed, fingers crossed
34:23
while looking at the football side.
34:25
We're going to move over to football to cap things off here.
34:29
The portal edition since we last, since we last recorded,
34:32
which was two weeks ago, very next day after we recorded our
34:35
last episode. I think Elijah Hill from
34:38
Kennesaw State edge rusher was a same day do not contact portal
34:44
entry label and within a couple of hours was was declaring
34:48
himself as a cat, which was great to see.
34:51
You've got wide receiver Brandon White from Hawaii, not the most
34:54
productive wide receiver on the planet, but I think a good
34:57
option and and maybe a higher ceiling guy considering he
35:00
started his career in the SEC and had a little bit more of
35:03
that that high school pedigree, which fits with a lot of the
35:06
guys that that coach Klein is brought into the fold here.
35:09
And then the last guy, offensive Simon Tyler Johnson.
35:12
I'm just going to share a snippet from my buddy who lives
35:15
down the street who's an Auburn alum.
35:17
He said he started on and off for us.
35:19
Our online has been SUS for the last seven years, so pretty sure
35:22
he was going to lose his position with the guys Gulash
35:25
brought in. No bad words though.
35:27
Anytime he was ever mentioned, they always said great
35:30
potential. So who knows?
35:35
There's the analysis. No bad, no bad words.
35:39
No bad words though. Oh.
35:41
Man, that's funny to me. Where would you rate now that
35:46
we've kind of mostly rounded out where the portal?
35:49
I mean, we, we don't have anybody who can enter at this
35:51
point unless they just choose to unenroll from the school.
35:55
Yeah. Where do you rate the portal now
35:57
that we have pretty much an idea of what this is going to look
36:00
like heading in the spring ball? Classes have already started.
36:03
Dudes are enrolled, They're on campus.
36:05
They're they're in veneer as we speak.
36:09
Yeah, I, I would say I am more and more excited about the
36:15
Portal class as I've gone on since guys have signed.
36:22
I, you said a really interesting word just a minute ago and its
36:28
potential and I, I think this is a really potentially good, it's
36:37
a great portal class for Colin Klein this first year.
36:40
You have really it, it seems like specifically gone for guys
36:46
that are early on in their college careers, that have
36:49
multiple years of eligibility left and to build a program and
36:54
try and maintain some semblance of continuity in this landscape
36:59
in college football. I think it's important for Colin
37:03
Klein to start building a culture that keeps guys in the
37:07
program, which for K State, again, that's been something
37:12
that was I think a positive for Chris Kleiman during this
37:17
period, this NIL period, because you really haven't had a ton of
37:21
guys transfer out. You've built guys from the
37:25
bottom up, bringing them in as high school kid, high school
37:28
kids, getting them prepared, ready to go to play college
37:32
football. My other piece of the puzzle
37:36
that that potential is in my excitement, it really stems from
37:43
just having a fundamental difference of what the offense
37:47
is going to look like and what the defense is going to look
37:49
like compared to 2025. I think the guys that have been
37:54
brought in on the offensive side are going to fit well with
37:59
Avery. And then also sticking with a,
38:03
you know, some of the guys that have stayed like Joe Jackson, I
38:06
think the running backs that have been brought in are going
38:09
to be really healthy competition for that group from a wide
38:12
receiver position. Obviously Jace Brown, you know,
38:14
leaves, but I think Josh Manning is a really big pick up,
38:19
especially a guy who, you know, seemed that really vibe with
38:23
Avery Johnson before he committed to Mizzou.
38:27
I I think Isaiah Williams will be a really good fit from Texas
38:31
A&M just providing a little bit of just some differences in on
38:36
the wide receiver skill sets, which I think this team is kind
38:40
of lacked. You have a guy who potentially
38:43
deep threat with Brandon, Brandon White and you have some
38:47
possession receivers that I think you're going to make some
38:49
good plays. And then on the defensive side,
38:52
I think there's just a huge unknown there, but it's an
38:54
exciting unknown because some of the players that have signed, I,
39:03
I, I'm just extremely excited about like, I feel like the
39:06
defensive line, you know, despite the fact that we did
39:08
lose a couple guys in Indiana who I've said on the show
39:12
before, if Indiana is scouting 2 of your players, recent history
39:17
has shown that those two players are pretty talented and they're
39:20
going to make something happen with them.
39:23
But I think they've really revamped that defensive line.
39:27
I like the secondary and some of the guys they brought in, like I
39:31
am just, I am more excited than maybe I would have anticipated
39:36
for the 2026 season because I do think there are guys that
39:38
they've brought in that can really make an impact with a
39:42
schedule that does fit a rebuild.
39:47
If you think about it, it does fit a rebuild.
39:51
I'm not saying that we're going to be good because I have said
39:55
in the past that I still think they could go 6:00 and 6:00, but
40:02
the schedule potentially works for a rebuilding program to have
40:06
a good season. And so, yeah, I, I, I've just
40:13
been very impressed with what the staff has done.
40:16
Here in the past month. You mentioned the schedule, so
40:21
we've got the schedule pulled up here.
40:23
At least I do on, on my screen. So well, I, I, you know what?
40:27
I can share this, I can share this so we're the correct thing.
40:31
Yeah, might as well. Yeah, how about that?
40:35
All right, there's there's Coach Klein.
40:37
Look at that. Look at that face.
40:39
All right, first game September 5th, Nichols versus Nichols at
40:44
home September 12th versus Washington State, September 19th
40:49
versus Tulane. First Rd. game at Cincinnati
40:52
September 26th. I believe there's a buy in there
40:57
versus Houston at home October 10th versus KU October 17th.
41:01
Then your go on the road back-to-back October 24th and
41:05
31st going out West Arizona State in Colorado back-to-back,
41:10
then home thankfully against Oklahoma State, Drew Mestemaker
41:14
than making Eric Morris higher. That's going to be an
41:16
interesting early November game there.
41:19
November 14th, my birthday at TCU unfortunately, and then
41:24
November 21st versus Arizona. Back at home for your laughter
41:28
senior night and then back on the road at Iowa State playing
41:32
in Ames. November. 28th but the.
41:36
And Willie birthday tailgate for the TCU game that.
41:41
I mean that would require me to go to to Fort Worth, but we'll
41:44
see we'll see. Got to convince got to convince
41:48
the the wife on that the the first five of the five of the
41:54
first six games are at home. Interesting.
41:58
Four of the last six games are on the road also interesting.
42:01
What what stands out to you about the schedule?
42:04
I, I know it sets up pretty well based on what everybody has said
42:07
so far, but just what's your, what's your gut reaction?
42:11
I mean, I think the first six games are the best outcome of
42:19
games, especially early on, five of your six at home as you're
42:26
getting game ready and kind of knocking the kinks out of how
42:33
the you know, how you're wanting to run your program on game day
42:38
and all that type of stuff. I think it's extremely
42:40
important, not just for your three, you know, your first
42:43
three non conference games to be at home.
42:45
I do think obviously that's great, but you know, to have
42:48
five of your six. So you have two Big 12 games in
42:51
a row that are going to be at home, The Houston game early on.
42:57
I think also being at home is great.
43:01
I think that's going to be a really big indicator of what is
43:04
this potential season going to be like for K State because you
43:09
have the three non conference games, you think about
43:11
Washington State, they're rebuilding that program after
43:15
everybody went to Iowa State. Tulane rebuilding that program a
43:19
little bit after John Summerall left.
43:21
So it's potential that in Cincinnati, on the road at
43:25
Cincinnati, but they're rebuilding a little bit too.
43:28
They have a new starting quarterback.
43:31
There's potential that this team could be 4 and O with Houston at
43:36
home and Houston probably at least for right now, a top
43:41
three, top four team in the conference with who they're
43:43
bringing back. So that's a really good like
43:47
barometer game to have early on to really see what your team's
43:52
AT And then, you know, just to kind of looking at yes, you
43:55
know, the last what it was a what 4 out of the six or on the
43:59
road to kind of back-to-back weeks of going to the mountain
44:06
time zone is a little bit not concerning.
44:12
But that's a little bit of a tough one because you're going
44:16
to go to Arizona and then if that's a Saturday night, late
44:19
night game, you're going to come back and then you're making the
44:21
trip out to Colorado the next week.
44:25
But it's, it's an it's an attainable schedule.
44:29
It's an accessible schedule. Like, I, I, I think if you
44:33
really believe in the portal talent and you believe in the
44:37
coaching staff and getting guys ready, I mean, we're going to
44:41
see early on in the first couple games what things are going to
44:44
be like. And I think probably the biggest
44:47
maybe deficiency is going to be the defense just because of how
44:50
much they have had to rebuild on the defensive side.
44:53
But I mean, chef's going to be like, oh, 12 and oh, 12 and oh,
45:02
I don't think we're going. We're not going 12 enough.
45:05
Don't do 2. Overhyped.
45:06
Yeah, I'm not. I I am not getting 2 overhyped
45:09
until you see what the products going to look like on the field.
45:13
And I think that's a key, key piece.
45:15
But for how the how the conference schedules lined up
45:19
for K State, I think it's been really good for 2026 and having
45:24
this coaching change occur this year because you have the three
45:30
non conference games at home. If this team is good, I'll be
45:35
interested to see how the Washington State game is going
45:37
to be taken by people. I almost was wondering, you
45:42
know, is that a game you try and replace?
45:46
You obviously aren't going to do that now, but kind of thinking,
45:49
you know, in the past year knowing this is going to be on
45:52
the schedule. But man, it's an attainable
45:55
schedule for this group if they kind of start off strong, you
45:59
get to be 3 and O I mean, you can go on the road and
46:03
potentially win at Cincinnati. I think all bets are off.
46:07
Like this team could could be pretty decent.
46:11
The the ASU game is so daylight savings will end November 1st,
46:15
so that'll be Pacific Time even. When we play at Arizona.
46:19
State, yeah, but OK, just looking at looking at the first
46:23
few games, you've got FCS, new coach, new coach, bad coach,
46:28
good coach, mediocre coach, then rebuild with Arizona State.
46:35
Who the fuck knows? Colorado changes every year.
46:38
New coach Sunny Dykes, whatever you want to qualify him as.
46:44
Bad coach Brent Brennan and then new coach at Iowa State.
46:47
Matt Well, yeah, bad coach Brent Brennan.
46:49
I don't know. I mean, I think that's they had
46:54
a great season last year. Schedule layout for them the two
46:59
toughest. Games are obviously Houston and
47:01
Arizona, and you get those both at home.
47:04
A lot of people are talking about Oklahoma State.
47:08
Is bringing a bunch of players from North Texas to the Big 12
47:13
going to instantly make Oklahoma State competitive?
47:16
I don't know. They probably have a top Mesta
47:22
makers, probably the third best quarterback.
47:29
In the Big 12, next year in the Big 12.
47:32
I mean, Sorsby's a tech. Sorsby.
47:35
And is he? Is he even tough?
47:37
Is is Sorsby even tough? Wow, that's.
47:39
No, yeah, that's my thing. I just think Sorsby's way over
47:42
hyped. They keep investing in these
47:44
average ass quarterbacks. I don't.
47:46
Know, I'll just say I think Mesta makers probably a top five
47:50
quarterback in the Big 12. I won't say probably I think
47:53
he's a top five quarterback in the Big 12.
47:56
Oklahoma State, I think is a team that could end up being
47:59
pretty good next season and you're going to really see early
48:02
on because they host Oregon like I think the second week of the
48:05
year. If Oklahoma State is competitive
48:08
in that game, I think they're going to potentially be pretty
48:12
good in the conference. But yeah, the the 2026 schedule,
48:16
like for a new coach, you're doing all this rebuilding.
48:19
I mean, you're playing a lot of teams that are going to be
48:22
replacing a coach, replacing a starting quarterback.
48:27
But again, and I've said it on the show other stupid podcast,
48:33
people are looking at their schedule and they're seeing K
48:36
State and it's new coach Avery Johnson, you know, like
48:43
rebuilding the defense out, like rebuilding everything else.
48:47
Like so we're not the only people that are looking at the
48:50
schedule and doing the same thing.
48:52
But as AK State fan and kind of looking at the teams that we're
48:58
playing against in the Big 12 and you look at your non
49:00
conference schedule, if you can again, start off strong, you
49:03
start off positively and you just get a little bit of
49:06
momentum. I think you want your first true
49:09
Rd. game to be against a team that you believe is going to be
49:13
maybe in the same the same kind of level as you.
49:17
So you're not necessarily going on the road to a extremely tough
49:21
environment to play like I would say Colorado or Arizona State
49:27
who have had very good, I mean fan bases.
49:34
So yeah, I don't know. I'm excited.
49:38
Yeah. And and I think the best news is
49:39
you dodged the three teams that finished in the top three in the
49:42
Big 12 in 2025. I think that's that's the
49:45
biggest take away for me with, you know, talking about the ease
49:48
of the schedule, if you will. I think to your point, everybody
49:52
else is looking at this, probably saying the same thing
49:54
about us, but we know what we got and we feel probably a lot
49:59
more confident about that. The same way that Oklahoma State
50:01
fans are pretty confident in Drew Mess to Maker right now and
50:05
Eric Morris and their ability to do with whatever they did with
50:09
whatever they got out of the portal this year.
50:10
So yeah, I am, I'm excited. I think the schedule sets up
50:14
fairly nicely. I love getting the Dylan Edwards
50:16
return game, not in like a Thanksgiving situation, but
50:20
potentially like a homecoming situation.
50:23
That could be a homecoming crowd for K State.
50:26
And just looking, just looking at the dates, I mean, I feel
50:28
like typically homecoming is after going on the road, which
50:33
that wouldn't be the case for the KU game, but that would make
50:36
it either the Houston game or the November 7th game against
50:39
Oklahoma State. Those are really the only,
50:42
there's like three options there.
50:44
I think it wouldn't be. It wouldn't be homecoming.
50:46
I think it'll be October. I they don't really like doing
50:49
homecoming. I don't think we've had a
50:51
homecoming in, I'm not going to say in November because it could
50:56
have been like November 1st or something like that.
50:58
But November 7th is pretty late I would imagine.
51:04
So Houston's the 14th and KU's the 20.
51:07
Houston's the 10th, KU's the 17th.
51:10
Yeah, I'm going to say it's the 17th.
51:12
I'm going to. I'm going to say it's probably
51:14
that. Timing wise, that makes the most
51:16
sense, but it it wouldn't truly be a homecoming, which is funny,
51:20
but homecoming for Dylan Edwards?
51:22
Yeah. Buckle up everyone.
51:24
'S favorite. Talk about belt to ass.
51:28
I hope the the K State locker room has a belt ready for for
51:31
that one for 1818 straight 18 straight.
51:37
Let's see if let's see if yeah, let's see if the streak goes to
51:41
college. Can buy a pack of pack of darts
51:46
A. Lottery Lottery ticket Power
51:48
Powerball. Any anything else before we get
51:52
out of here, Matt? Anything else, you know, being a
51:58
case a fan is is just really tough sometimes.
52:02
But we have each other and we have K state track and field #3.
52:08
Yes we do indoor. Indoor if K state K, this could
52:14
be a team that could win a national championship.
52:19
It could be. Could be like.
52:21
We could be doing our show and K State could finally be a
52:27
national champion something. Something other than crops,
52:32
judging or. Something other than crops or me
52:35
judging. An actual NCAA sanctioned.
52:38
Yeah. I mean, I will say this though.
52:41
So there I saw the ranking that came out for track and field and
52:45
like I believe the indoor team has only had like one meet and
52:49
they had it last week, last weekend.
52:51
I think after one meet, a pretty reputable track and field body
52:57
is putting your team as third in the country without even hitting
53:00
some of like the major indoor meets.
53:03
That's exciting. That has to be exciting.
53:05
Even though track and field from a watchability perspective is
53:08
not a super accessible sport to watch as a fan.
53:13
Track meets are amazing to go to in person, but I'm excited for
53:19
them because if for the things they've done, bringing in really
53:23
great recruits from high school, international transfer, this
53:27
coaching staff seems like totally within or, you know, in
53:31
the times of what this is going to be, you know, to try and
53:34
build a program, man, it would be really exciting to see this
53:40
team be competitive and in from a national perspective as a
53:44
team, not just with individual athletes.
53:47
So I'm excited we got one thing going for us right now.
53:52
That, that we do. That we do.
53:55
And hey, the Olympics are right around the corner. 1010 days, 11
53:58
days, something like that. Can't wait for that.
54:00
We get to cheer for the same hockey team for once.
54:02
Matt, your guy Charlie McAvoy, Boston Bruin.
54:07
I I got my guy Brock Nelson. Boston Bruin.
54:10
Looking forward to that. It's going to be fun.
54:12
Brock Nelson, currently the leading scorer in the NHL since
54:15
November 16. Cares.
54:18
Except for ABS fans. Yeah, go ABS.
54:21
All right. Between.
54:23
That's yeah, few and far between my ass.
54:26
That's going to do it for us today.
54:27
Once again, we want to shout out to Auntie Maze Parlor QR code in
54:32
the top left of your screen. Check it out.
54:35
That'll take you directly to their website.
54:37
You can see a full list of their upcoming events.
54:39
And if you're stopping by Auntie Maze this weekend, next weekend,
54:43
or at any time, be sure to tell them cocaine will be sent you.
54:47
Additionally, Heartland beef.net we're sponsored by Heartland
54:51
Beef Connection. The current promo code, well the
54:54
QR code in now in the top left of your screen is for
54:58
heartlandbeef.net. Use promo code CW25CW25 for
55:04
those who are hard of hearing, maybe for $25 off your match fee
55:09
at Heartland Beef Connection. We also have our merch store up
55:13
at cocainewillie.com. You can buy Wildcat Country
55:15
Let's Ride merch, so be sure to check that out as well.
55:19
And additionally, we are the K state representative on the
55:22
College Huddle, which is the largest community of fan driven
55:25
content in the nation. Check them out at the College
55:28
huddle.com and follow them on social media at College Huddle.
55:32
Last but not least, you can follow our show at Cocaine
55:34
Willie on social media or follow us individually.
55:38
I'm at Bob Trollsby. The chef is trudging through the
55:41
snow and fireball. Matt is at Matt Marchisini.
55:44
Matt. Cocaine's a hell of a drug,
55:47
baby. We are all coke and no joke
55:51
Wildcat country. Let's run answer that.