ANGEL RODRIGUEZ (Photo by Jaime Green/The Wichita Eagle)
K-State’s win over Southern Mississippi yesterday wasn’t pretty, but it got the job done. We got to see two really physical teams slug it out and luckily for the Wildcats, they had the best player on the floor in Rodney McGruder, who went for 30 points and was nails on defense all day. Right after K-State’s win, the nation got to see one of the more controversial calls of the season when No. 1 seed Syracuse barely knocked off No. 16 UNC-Asheville. I had a great look at the play and I still can’t believe Ed Corbitt missed the call as bad as he did – I never think it’s OK for the press to go after refs, but in this case the national chief of officials said it was the wrong call. So there you go.
We’ve got media availability later this afternoon with Syracuse and K-State and the teams have closed practices at the CONSOL Energy Center here in Pittsburgh. Saturday’s game is an 11:15 a.m. start and will be televised on CBS.
Kellis Robinett, Jaime Green and myself were grinding again yesterday:
-Here’s Kellis’ gamer on K-State’s win, with McGruder leading the way.
-Jaime’s photo gallery out of the win – the shot with the lady holding her baby is classic.
-My story on K-State freshman Angel Rodriguez coming up big in his first NCAA game.
-K-State saved its fans from a couple of lonely days in the Steel City.
-Notes from Kellis and I, led with K-State forward Jamar Samuels going MIA in another NCAA Tournament game. His struggles in the postseason are becoming what defines his career, but the good news for him is he could turn it all around with a big game on Saturday.
Back to the grind. TA