MANHATTAN, Kan. – For the second time in the last four years, Kansas State was ranked in the Preseason Associated Press Top 25 as the Wildcats are 20th in the preseason survey released Monday.

 

K-State, which was also ranked 20th in the 2014 Preseason AP Top 25, was placed 19th in the 2017 Preseason Amway Coaches Poll released on August 3.

 

Other Big 12 programs joining the Wildcats in the 2017 Preseason AP Top 25 were Oklahoma (7th), Oklahoma State (10th), West Virginia (22nd) and Texas (23rd).

 

K-State returns 44 letterwinners – including 18 starters – from last year’s squad that earned a 9-4 record and capped its season with a 33-28 victory over Texas A&M in the Texas Bowl. The Wildcats, who were predicted to finish third in the Big 12 by the league’s media, placed four players on the Preseason All-Big 12 team in fullback Winston Dimel, offensive lineman Dalton Risner, defensive back D.J. Reed, and defensive end Reggie Walker.

 

All contiguous seats for the season-opener against Central Arkansas on September 2 are sold out and standing-room only tickets are now available. Scattered singles and SRO tickets for the Central Arkansas game can be purchased through the K-State Athletics Ticket office online at www.k-statesports.com/tickets, by phone at 1-800-221-CATS or at the main ticket office inside Bramlage Coliseum.

 

Fans looking for additional reserved tickets for the season opener can do so though Vivid Seats, the official secondary ticket partner of K-State Athletics, by clicking here.

 

Following the Wildcats’ 6:10 p.m., contest against Central Arkansas on September 2, K-State hosts Charlotte on September 9, in an 11 a.m., game that will be shown nationally on FSN. The Wildcats travel to Nashville, Tennessee, on September 16, to face Vanderbilt at 6:30 p.m., on ESPNU.

The Junction City Blue Jay football put their talents on display during the first public scrimmage of the season Saturday.

Coach Randall Zimmerman pointed to the energy level and work ethic as strong points for the football team. “Just competitiveness. We’ve got a really good group of kids. It’s been fun. They care about each. We’ve just got to continue with that, continue moving forward. ”

Zimmerman said the scrimmage was basically a practice with situations in it such as third and long period, fourth and short period, ten coming out and ten going in. There was one period where they worked on moving the football. A trio of running backs were mentioned by the coach in response to the question of who ran the ball well. “Freshman Russell Wilkey ran it really, really well, Joe Vallery ran it well, Aaron Hamilton looks really good and coming on strong, had some wideouts really caught the ball well, Rooster ( John Adams ) is coming into his own, really coming around.”

Some of the players the coach mentioned that are showing leadership on the team included Rooster Adams, Russell Wilkey, Jacob Smith, Xavier Cason, Devante King, Tez Brime and Joe Vallery. “We have a lot of guys that are really stepping up and doing good things.”

On the offensive line Zimmerman noted that Jacob Smith is “really coming on, very, very consistent and doing good things.” Smith mainly plays at right tackle, and can also play at left guard.

The team was a bit nervous at the beginning of the scrimmage. “We were very, very nervous, forgot how to practice early, but they got it figured out as we went along. That’s part of the reason we’ve got two days here that we try to get some people and get them comfortable with Friday nights, and that’s been good.”

The annual team picnic was held in the JCHS cafeteria following the scrimmage.

The first game of the season for the varsity is Friday September 1st against Emporia at Al Simpler Stadium.

 

 

MANHATTAN, Kan. – Former Kansas State standout Justin Edwards was among 18 athletes selected to attend the Canadian Senior Men’s National Team training and selection camp, which will be held from Saturday, August 19 to Thursday, August 24, at the BioSteel Centre in Toronto, Ontario.

 

The 12 selected athletes from the camp will compete for Canada at the FIBA AmeriCup 2017, which runs from Friday, August 25 to Sunday, September 3 in Medellin, Colombia, Montevideo, Uruguay and Bahia Blanca and Cordoba, Argentina. The tournament brings together the Americas’ best 12 men’s national teams.

 

Canada will be part of Group B in Bahia Blanca, Argentina, and will open the tournament with the U.S. Virgin Islands on Sunday, August 27 before games against Argentina on Monday, August 28 and Venezuela on Tuesday, August 29. The top team in the group will advance to the Final Four, September 2-3, in Cordoba, Argentina.

 

Canada’s men are currently ranked eighth in the Americas and 24^th globally.

 

Edwards will be joined on the 18-man training team by former Big 12 players Brady Heslip (Baylor) and Naz Mitrou-Long(Iowa State) as well as current pros Jermaine Anderson, Joel Anthony, Richard Amardi, Ransford Brempong, Murphy Burnatowski, Junior Cadougan, Ammanuel Diressa, Joel Friesen, Grandy Glaze, Olivier Hanlan, Daniel Mullings, Andrew Nicholson, Dyshawn Pierre, Xavier Rathan-Mayes and Warren Ward.

 

The Canadian team will be led by head coach Roy Rana, who recently led the Canadian U-19 Men’s National Team to Canada Basketball’s first-ever gold medal at a World Cup FIBA competition.

 

Edwards, who won a championship with Alba Fehervar in the Hungarian A Division in June, has signed to play with Betaland Capo D’Orlando in the Italian A League this Fall. In his first pro season, he averaged 14.3 points on 53.7 percent shooting (130-of-242) for Alba Fehervar with 4.2 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.3 steals in 26.1 minutes per game. He ranked first on the team in steals and second in both scoring and assists and fifth in rebounding.

 

Edwards spent three seasons at K-State from 2013-16 after transferring from Maine, scoring more than 1,500 points in his college career. He averaged 9.6 points on 42.2 percent shooting with 4.6 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.5 steals in 65 career games as a Wildcat.

 

For more information on the Canadian Senior National Team can be found at https://www.basketball.ca.

 

– www.k-statesports.com —

 

TOM GILBERT
Associate Director for Athletics Communications | K-State Athletics

Fort Riley reported Wednesday via social media ( Facebook )  that the  first day of sporting events for #VictoryWeek2017 is complete! 1st Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment, Iron Rangers, are currently in first place in the Commander’s Cup competition, followed by 1st Battalion, 63rd Armor Regiment in second place and 3-1 Assault Helicopter Battalion in third place.