Enjoy.

This is essentially word association, and the subject – this week, it’s Griffin, the 6-foot-10 man-child whom many believe will be the No. 1 pick in the upcoming NBA Draft – has the option of explaining his rapid-fire response.

K-STATED: Kansas State?

BG: Consistent.

K-STATED: Manhattan?

BG: I’ve never been there. (Griffin is an Oklahoma City native)

K-STATED: Thunder?

BG: (Pause) Ummm… (Laughter, followed by another pause) Let’s say young.

K-STATED: Norman?

BG: Football.

K-STATED: Best player in the country?

BG: Stephen Curry. No disrespect to Tyler Hansbrough, but look at what Steph is doing without as many good players around. No knock on Davidson, but it’s pretty well known North Carolina has great players.

K-STATED: What about you?

BG: I’m not trying to worry about that. I’m not thinking about that at all.

For the second year in a row, a Kansas State wide receiver/kick returner was named Offensive Newcomer of the Year. Last year, it was Deon Murphy. This year, it’s Brandon Banks.

Seems fair to me, but what about the rest? Were any of the other Wildcats – Brandon Harold? Josh Moore? – deserving of more than honorable mention?

Kansas State quarterback Josh Freeman has been named the Big 12 Conference Co-Offensive Player of the Week after his performance against North Texas on Saturday, the league office has announced.

The award is Freeman’s third during his Wildcat career as he also garnered the league’s weekly honor after the 2006 Colorado and Texas games, while he becomes the first K-State offensive player to be honored since Jordy Nelson last season (October 1).

Freeman was joined by Texas quarterback Colt McCoy as the league’s offensive players of the week, while Missouri’s Stryker Sulak (defense) and Jeremy Maclin (special teams) were also honored.

A junior from Grandview, Mo., Freeman showed why he is considered among the nation’s top signal callers against North Texas as he accounted for five total touchdowns, including three through the air, and 232 passing yards on 18-of-24 aim (75-percent).

The five total touchdowns tied a career high for the quarterback, who became the first Wildcat since Michael Bishop in 1997 to account for five touchdowns in a season opener, and also accumulated a Big 12-best 197.5 quarterback rating for games played this past week.

His three touchdown passes were one shy of the school single-game record and also upped his current streak of consecutive games with a touchdown pass to 12. He also has thrown two more touchdown passes in his last four games.

In the contest, Freeman also moved up to No. 2 on K-State’s career passing yards chart as he passed both Carl Straw and Chad May and currently sits at 5,365 yards. The career record is 6,208, held by Lynn Dickey.

Kansas State returns to action on Saturday as the Wildcats host Montana State in a game televised by Fox College Sports. Kickoff is set for 6:05 p.m. at Bill Snyder Family Stadium.

Does the Big 12 have the best collection of experienced quarterbacks among the BCS conferences?

The criteria, it was reasoned, would be how many veteran quarterbacks returned in each league that accounted for 2,000 total yards of offense, which kept West Virginia’s Pat White in the conversation as the Mountaineer lefty threw for 1,724 and ran for 1,335.

Anyway, the statistics supported the theory:

The returning Big 12 quarterbacks light it up through the air, more so than any other conference.

Ten quarterbacks threw for more than 2,000 yards last year, and they’re all back for another season. An 11th, Nebraska’s Joe Ganz, threw for 1,399 in three starts a year ago.

Perhaps most amazing is that seven of the signal callers passed the 3,000-yard plateau — and that’s a number only the Big Ten (7) could match… in 2,000-yarders.

The members of the 3,000-yard club were, in order of the most yardage, Texas Tech’s Graham Harrrell (5,705), Missouri’s Chase Daniel (4,306), Kansas’ Todd Reesing (3,486), Freeman (3,353), Texas’ Colt McCoy (3,303) and Oklahoma’s Sam Bradford (3,121).

But did you realize Colorado’s Cody Hawkins tossed it around for 3,015 yards?

And in the “just falling short” category, how about the season turned in by Oklahoma State’s Zac Robinson? His 2,824 yards in the air and 847 yards on the ground mean he must be considered one of the nation’s top dual-threat quarterbacks. If the Cowboys live up to their potential this season, Robinson might be a dark horse candidate for the Heisman.

And really, how many Heisman candidates are there just from the above list alone? Daniel was a finalist last year. Reesing probably should have been. How Harrell’s nearly 6,000 yards were overlooked is, while obviously a knock on the alleged system Tech runs (has anyone noticed that EVERYONE, not just Mike Leach, is spreading people out and forsaking the run?), is a crime. If OU is in national title, and the Sooners should be, Bradford will be mentioned.

Elsewhere, the Pac-10 returns four experienced quarterbacks who threw for 2,000 yards last year.

The vaunted SEC checks in with the least with three. The ACC has six, while the Big East has five.

And by the way, the other 2,000-yard quarterbacks back for another season are Texas A&M’s Stephen McGee (2,311) and Baylor’s Blake Szymanski (2,844). With Szymanski, though, it’s unclear whether he’s the returning starter.

The Big 12 has sent out a blank ballot asking members of the media for their thoughts on how the conference will play out. Specifically, the Big 12 is looking for predicted order of finish in the North and South, an All-Big 12 Conference Team, and Offensive Player, Defensive Player and Newcomer of the Year.

Since most of you insist you know more about sports than I do anyway (and truth is, you might be right), let me hear your thoughts.

Here’s what I need:

1. North and South standings

2. Any Kansas State players you feel might be worthy of All-Big 12 consideration

3. Players of the year (Offensive, Defensive and Newcomer)

My ballot has to be turned in by July 11. And yes, I will consider each comment.

YOU have to appreciate Bill Self’s candor. He’s honest. He said, even though his Kansas Jayhawks are playing well right now, his team has a tendency to lay an egg. He was asked about Bradley, and he said he had a young team against a team with a fifth-year senior and a lottery pick. And finally, he was happy for Nebraska coach Doc Sadler, whose Cornhuskers pushed KU in the Big 12 Tournament quarterfinals. NU will play Charlotte in the NIT. “I think they can make a run,” Self said. “Can’t say enough about the job Doc and his staff have done… I think he’s one of the premier coaches out there.”

TEXAS A&M is playing better right now, and Mark Turgeon said the Aggies are playing with a sense of urgency. In fact, he used the expression at least three times. Then he was asked about the importance of guard play in March, specifically in reference to Baylor, and he said, “Not taking anything away from Purdue, and Matt Painter’s a great coach, but Baylor got a great draw… They should be happy about their opportunity this week.”

STAY classy, Sean Sutton. Seriously. Nice touch by the Oklahoma State in his intro when he congratulated all eight teams playing in the post-season; the Cowboys and Nebraska are in the NIT. He believes this NIT run – OSU opens tomorrow night against Southern Illinois – will benefit his club in the coming years.

MY bad – I missed a bunch of coaches. Jeff Capel is next, followed by Frank Martin.

CAPEL laughed as there were no questions for him immediately. But then someone asked the Oklahoma coach about St. Joseph’s, the Sooner’s first-round opponent. “We know they’re very good,” Capel said, adding that St. Joe’s beat Xavier two out of three times this season.

ON the topic of youth vs. youth in 6-11 match-up with Southern California, Martin said, “We’re led by freshmen, and they’re led by freshmen… We’ll see which group of freshmen is more prepared to take on this challenge.” The preparations lasted into the early morning. “For a chance to play in the NCAA Tournament, I go six days without sleeping.” He wasn’t sure if Kansas fans would root for K-State in Omaha, “but we need them… Nothing would make me happier than to have the KU faithful in my corner.” He also said it hurt the Wildcats immensely not having David Hoskins in uniform this year. He said the surgery on Hoskins’ knee was performed with the hopes that he could play again.

RICK Barnes was asked about his star, Texas’ D.J. Augustin: “D.J. is the kind of guy you’d like to have as the face (of your program). Everything that is good about college basketball is D.J. Augustin.” Barnes said his sophomore point guard wanted to be an Academic All-American this year, and he was. Barnes describes Augustin as an Eddie Haskell-type, a prankster.

OK, that’s all of the information I’ve got.

A.J. Abrams reminds Kansas coach Bill Self – from a size standpoint and probably because of that ridiculous compression arm sleeve – of Allen Iverson. “He’s going to get looks,” Self said of the Texas guard. “You hope he doesn’t shoot a high percentage.”

MORE coaching philosophy: “It’s a fine line between winning and losing,” Texas A&M coach Mark Turgeon said. His point was, his team isn’t so much better or worse than the rest of the Big 12, so it’s the little things that will define the Aggies. After a recent skid, A&M has gotten hot. “We kind of came together,” Turgeon said. “We have gotten a lot better. More confidence, more poise…”

FRESH off Saturday’s spanking at Bramlage Coliseum, Oklahoma State coach Sean Sutton insisted his kids were fine. “We didn’t play well Saturday night, and K-State had a lot to do with it,” he said. “K-State is a very good basketball team. They dominated us in the second half… Our guys didn’t fight.”

THE one area Baylor coach Scott Drew wants to improve as soon as possible? “Transition defense,” said the perpetually gleeful Drew. He was pleased with scoring 90 points against KU – Sutton, whose team faces the Bears next, said putting up 90 in Allen Fieldhouse “doesn’t happen a lot” – but dismayed that his team gave up 100. But… “Kansas does a lot of things right, and that’s why they’re so good.”

MORE on the Wildcats: Expect something soon in the Dallas Morning News on Frank Martin. Also, Missouri coach Mike Anderson was complimentary of K-State, saying, “They have some nice pieces… Frank has done a nice job of bringing that team along… He has them playing hard and together.”

PAT Knight began his head coaching career at Texas Tech with a pair of games on the road – both losses. Now he’s back at home, at the United Spirit Arena, but it’s against Kansas State. “I got baptized by fire,” Knight said. “We came off the road, but now we have to face Michael Beasley, so it doesn’t get any easier.”

JEFF Bzdelik wasn’t available, but Colorado assistant Steve McClain took his place Monday. One of his first orders of business was fawning over the Jayhawks, whom the Buffs meet Feb. 16. “It’s one of the best Kansas teams I’ve seen on TV, that I’ve watched on tape,” McClain said. “When you have that many players, to keep them as grounded and focused as Bill (Self) has done is an enormous task in itself… That’s what makes Kansas a great team. They have a lot of great players that on any given night, one can explode.”

HARP on his substitution patterns – and you will – but Frank Martin was consciously building depth, which is why nobody plays more than 31 minutes per game. “I believe in depth,” Martin said. “I believe in preparing guys for the moment they get on the court and play… It’s what I believe in.” Also, the K-State coach said there was nothing new to report on Dominique Sutton, other than the freshman was sore Sunday. Martin said he’d know more before today’s practice.

LOVE Doc Sadler – and he’s doing a nice job in Lincoln, too. The Nebraska coach said he didn’t believe Frank Martin was getting the respect he deserves, and then I asked him how to stop Michael Beasley – especially after all of the junk defenses the Huskers tried Wednesday didn’t work. “You hope he misses shots,” he said. That’s awesome on several levels…

FROM the “Just Sayin’” Department: Texas coach Rick Barnes was asked about the difficulty in winning back-to-back NCAA titles – why he was asked, I’m not certain – and he said it was hard enough just winning one. Elaborating on that point, Barnes said, “The teams that win have two or three pros on it.” Hmmm….

This week’s Big 12 Showcase originates from K-State, and will feature one of its most compelling student-athletes of the 2007-08 Big 12 athletics calendar.

Freshman Michael Beasley is leading the Wildcats to a share of the lead in the Big 12 standings. Currently, he’s the Big 12’s leading scorer and the nation’s leading rebounder. Showcase host Emily Jones visits one-on-one with the Wildcat phenom, getting his thoughts on the season and even his fascination with SpongeBob SquarePants. Beasley’s little sister, Tiffany, even makes an appearance in between her own autograph session with Wildcat fans.

Big 12 Showcase airs Friday at 2:30 p.m. on FSN Midwest.