All three major K-State sports teams are making news, which means it’s time for another version of Rapid Fire. Let’s GO!

-The K-State baseball team earned an at-large selection to the NCAA field of 64 baseball tournament. They are in the Fayetteville Regional with host Arkansas, Southeast Missouri State, and Louisiana Tech. The Wildcats play Louisiana Tech at 7:00 PM central time on Friday, May 31st. The regional is double elimination. The winner of each of the 16 regionals advances to the super-regional. Arkansas, ranked number five in the country, is the heavy favorite to win the regional, but is coming off two straight losses in the SEC post-season tournament. They’ve lost seven of their last ten games overall. Can K-State win this regional and advance to the super-regional? It looks like the Bat Cats have a shot.

-K-State’s three major men’s sports programs made the post-season this school year. Let’s hope K-State basketball can make the big dance next year instead of the NIT. Speaking of basketball…

-Former K-State forward Arthur Kaluma has withdrawn his name from the NBA draft and is a free agent in the transfer portal. Could he come back to play for K-State? It’s a possibility.

-While Kaluma coming back would be nice, I wish I cared as much about college basketball as I used to. K-State has an annual list of mercenaries from the transfer portal that Jerome Tang will try to mesh into a competitive team. Last season, it was mostly a discombobulated mess. I don’t see that changing much this season. Hope I’m wrong.

-Jerome Tang said something interesting a couple of weeks ago about the transfer portal… “It’s hard on the fans because they want to get to know kids and watch them grow. But we have got impatient parents and an impatient administration. It is what it is. Coaches are out here getting fired after two years, even when they win. That’s tough. We are all on year-to-year contracts.” What stuck out to me is that he mentioned the administration. Is the K-State administration impatient with Tang after just two years?

-I’ve been more critical of Tang than most, but a lot of that is because of the transfer portal and how he is managing it. I don’t like where college basketball is trending overall. I don’t think you can build a successful program by overhauling most of your roster year after year.

-Trying to follow the transfer portal and all of the roster losses and additions every off-season is an exercise in futility. Show me the roster before the first game this fall and I guess I’ll try to follow along. I am like any other fan, however. Much of the joy of watching your favorite college basketball team is watching players for multiple years grow and develop and come together as a team. We are seeing that less and less in college basketball.

-The K-State/Arizona football game on Friday, September 13th makes a bit more sense now that the game will be televised nationally on Fox. I’m still not a fan of Friday college football, but the world of college sports is changing. Will this game in Manhattan be a sellout? Or maybe a late-arriving crowd? At the very least, there won’t be much tailgating by the out-of-towners that make a long trek to Manhattan for every home game. Many people come from the Kansas City area, Wichita area, and western Kansas towns for games. Friday evening is not a very fan-friendly day and time to attend a college football game.

-K-State tight end recruit Linkon Cure from Goodland, Kansas was recently designated a five-star player and is currently rated as the number 26 overall prospect in the class of 2025 according to 247Sports. Should he commit to K-State, it would be the Wildcats’ top football recruit since Bryce Brown. Kansas, Oregon, and Texas A&M are also in the mix to land Cure. I like K-State’s chances of getting him.

-K-State and Utah still have the best betting odds for winning the Big 12 conference this fall, but if you ask any Utah fan, they are a shoo-in to win the title their first year in the league. Adding Utah and Colorado, two of the cockiest fanbases around, will make for some lively trash talk on social media channels this fall. I’m keeping my mouth (mostly) shut for now. How does that “bookmark” feature on X work again?