FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) – TCU’s Gary Patterson is The Associated Press coach of the year in the Big 12 Conference.

The Horned Frogs (11-1) claimed a share of the Big 12 title in only their third season in the league. TCU and Baylor were co-champs.

Patterson got 17 of 20 votes in the balloting by media members who cover the Big 12 on a regular basis. The award was revealed Tuesday.

The other three votes went to Baylor’s Art Briles, who last season was the unanimous pick by AP voters as the league’s top coach.

Patterson ( a Kansas State University graduate ) is TCU’s winningest coach, with a 131-45 record in 14 seasons. The coach of the year honor comes a year after the defensive-minded Patterson hired co-offensive coordinators to install a more up-tempo, higher-scoring scheme.

The Saint Xavier Middle School basketball teams defeated Flint Hills Christian on Monday.

In the girls contest the Lady Rams won 30-7, and in the boys game Saint Xavier defeated Flint Hills Christian 35-21.

 

 

MANHATTAN, Kan. – Kansas State record-setting senior wide receiver Tyler Lockett will be one of 16 finalists among all NCAA divisions and the NAIA for the prestigious 2014 Campbell Trophy, which will be announced tomorrow at the 57th NFF Annual Awards Dinner in New York.

By being named a finalist and a National Scholar Athlete, Lockett will receive an $18,000 postgraduate scholarship at the awards dinner, held at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City. The announcement of the winner will be made Tuesday between 8:30 – 9:00 p.m. ET during the awards dinner. ESPN3 will carry the event live, and fans can also watch a live stream atwww.footballfoundation.org

Lockett, who has accumulated a 3.24 cumulative GPA in business management which was buoyed by a 3.43 GPA in the 2013-14 academic year, is an Academic All-Big 12 and Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll scholar. He is scheduled to graduate this December.

He is a member of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) through which he has visited retirement centers, participated in Cats in the Classroom reading to students or helping teachers with classroom activities, Adopt-a-Family during the holiday season and assisted with elementary school carnivals. He was also named to the AFCA Good Works team in 2013 and a 2014 candidate for the Senior CLASS Award.

On the field, Lockett will go down in the record book as arguably the best wide receiver in school history. The 2014 All-American candidate currently holds K-State career records for receptions, receiving yards, receiving touchdowns and 100-yard receiving games. He is already a three-time All-American and All-Big 12 performer who was also named the 2013 Big 12 Special Teams Player of the Year.

KENNY LANNOU, K-State Assistant A.D. for Communications | K-State Athletics

 

Kansas State men’s basketball head coach Bruce Weber met with the media on Monday in Manhattan.

 

Kansas State Head Coach Bruce Weber
On K-State still developing team chemistry…
“I do not think there is any doubt on that.  Right now that is one of the elements we need: just figuring out roles, understanding, and delivering each person’s role.  It is obvious by our numbers we need to get something out of Nigel (Johnson), Wesley (Iwundu), Justin (Edwards), and Tre (Harris).  That will help us out offensively.  Defensively, our guys thought we would be able to outscore guys mentally, obviously that has happened on half the games and not the other half.  I thought Saturdaywe played some really good possessions of defense.  We needed some stops in the second half and we had break downs.  We did not take care of our defensive responsibilities.  Three, four plays or three, four less turnovers could have made a world of difference Saturday against Tennessee.”

 

On bouncing back from the Tennessee loss…

“We need to improve and get practice time.  We need to get some continuity on offense and some toughness on defense.  We have to play the beginning, middle, and end of a game.  That is just that toughness to grind it out.  Hopefully we have a little hunger and drive to go after the season.  We have played five out of the eight games away from.  I would rather learn about our team now instead of later in the season when you cannot risk anything or not make progress.”

 

On developing as a team…

“We are not horrible but we are not good either.  We have to gain some stability, confidence, and toughness as we develop.”

 

On finding offensive production other than Marcus Foster or Thomas Gipson…

“The other guys have to make some plays.  In the zone Thomas (Gipson) and Marcus (Foster) are our go to guys.  When you have grind out games you have to be more efficient and we have not been doing that.  Hopefully the other guys can step up and make some plays.  Jevon (Thomas) has been a pleasant surprise and we hope that will continue.  He has made some nice strides for us.”

 

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Chiefs safety Eric Berry has been diagnosed with Hodgkin’s disease and will begin chemotherapy for what doctors called a “very treatable and potentially curable” form of cancer.

Hodgkin’s disease is a form of lymphoma originating in white blood cells.

Berry had been undergoing tests at Emory University in Atlanta since an MRI exam nearly two weeks ago showed a mass on the right side of his chest that was suspected to be lymphoma.

Berry said in a statement that he will “embrace this process and attack it the same way I do everything else in life. God has more than prepared me for it.”

The former All-Pro safety has already been ruled out for the remainder of the season.

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) – David Beaty was introduced as Kansas’s third coach in the past five years Monday, promising to rebuild the long-stagnant program through “hard work and earning everything.”

Beaty was hired Friday to replace Charlie Weis, who was fired four games into his third season on the job. Beaty wasted no time in announcing that Clint Bowen, who had been serving as interim coach, would remain on his staff as defensive coordinator.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Beaty said he would spend the next week working simultaneously on filling out his staff and hitting the recruiting trail. Coaches only have until Sunday before the NCAA begins a “dead period” in recruiting.

Beaty takes over a program that won just three games last season.

Led by first-team members B. J. Finney and Tyler Lockett, Kansas State placed six players on the Associated Press All-XBig 12 teams, the organization announced Monday.

In addition to Finney and Lockett, the Wildcats second-team members included offensive lineman Cody Whitehair, wide receiver Curry Sexton, defensive end Ryan Mueller and linebacker Jonathan Truman. Lockett was also named to the second team as an all-purpose player.

Finney, a finalist for the Rimington Trophy as the nation’s top center, earned first-team honors from the AP for the first time in his career, while Lockett picked up first-team honors for a second-straight season.

Lockett lead the Big 12 with 112.6 receiving yards per game and ranks second with 7.8 receptions per game.

The Saint Xavier High School basketball teams participated in a tournament over the weekend hosted by Flint Hills Christian.

In action on Saturday the Lady Rams fell to Flint Hills Christian 43-32, but defeated Chanute Christian Academy 37-32.

The Saint Xavier boys team lost to Chanute Christian Academy 53-29 and then fell to Tyro Christian School 65-29.

The Junction City Blue Jays finished 13th out of 16 teams in the Blazer Invitational at Gardner-Edgerton High School on Saturday.

This was a tough wrestling tournament. Blue Jay coach Bob Laster compared it to a big tournament at Basehor – Linwood that Junction City wrestles in every season.

On Saturday the Blue Jays were led by Aryus Jones, who finished third at 170 pounds. Other finishes included fifth place by Jeryl Denton at 160 poinds, sixth at 138 pounds for Downey Wood, seventh for Gabe Padilla at 126 and Max Bazan 106 pounds, eighth for Kamari Smith at 152, ninth for Malik White 285, and 11th for Anthony Garroway at 132 pounds.

Laster noted the team was shorthanded on Saturday. Five wrestlers were absent, one due to illness, one did not make weight, and three due to family emergencies.

The Blue Jays will wrestle next Saturday in a tournament in Clay Center.

Athletics Director John Currie

On K-State receiving an invitation to the Valero Alamo Bowl…
“I would like to congratulate Coach Snyder and our team on a tremendous year overall. There are 118 teams who would like to be where we are right now and I know our 12,400 alums in Texas are looking forward to having us head down that way with a team that boasts 29 academic all-conference players in our 18th bowl game.”

On K-State not being placed in a New Year’s Six bowl game…
“We were very close. Obviously we saw that the committee had us at No. 11. We were the next one out, essentially. It is what it is. I think our team has proven themselves with a lot of great victories this year. We played five road games in our league, which is something very few teams do nationally. I’m proud of our team and what they accomplished and I’m very grateful to our coach and his leadership and how hard everybody has worked. I’m also proud of our fans – we’ve had 20 consecutive sellouts and set an all-time average attendance record.”

On the progress of ticket sales for the Valero Alamo Bowl…
“Ticket sales are already very strong and I think it’s important to emphasize that we are on sale now and we are in a general sale. If you want tickets to the game in K-State’s allotment, you can call right now and see your location online. This is obviously a wonderful destination. As I mentioned earlier, we have 12,400 alums in the state of Texas and the state of Texas is our No. 1 source of out-of-state students to Kansas State University and our No. 1 destination for alumni after they graduate. Certainly we have a number of student-athletes in all of our programs from the state of Texas. I know we’ll have a really tremendous crowd. (President and CEO) Derrick Fox and the entire Valero Alamo Bowl crew are great folks and we’ve known them for a long time. I know they are very excited to have the K-State Nation come down there. This will be one of the top-ranked bowl matchups this year, including some of the CFP (College Football Playoff) bowls. So it will certainly be one that gives us an opportunity for our 10th victory and finish in the top 10, and that would be an extraordinary accomplishment for the program.”

On the Valero Alamo Bowl moving up in the Big 12 bowl selection order…
“It is the most prestigious bowl from the Big 12 perspective. We certainly have outstanding partners, whether it was the Alamo Bowl or the Russell Athletic Bowl it was going to be a significant reward for our student-athletes. This is a 65,000-seat climate controlled venue (Alamodome) that will have two very highly-ranked teams, both of whom were in the national spotlight this year and both of whom have tremendous players. We have one of the greatest players in our history playing in the game for the last time in a K-State uniform (Tyler Lockett). There is recent history between UCLA and K-State going back to 2010 and 2009 that adds to it a little bit. It’s a great opportunity for us and I’m looking forward to our program representing very well and enjoying those days in Texas.”

Head Coach Bill Snyder
On the invitation to the Valero Alamo Bowl…
“We were well received the previous time and I think they do a wonderful job down there. They really care for the young people in our program. There are a lot of opportunities for them to experience new things. The community was very receptive as well. Having the opportunity to play against UCLA and a Jim Mora coached football team is a great challenge for us – one that I’m sure our youngsters will be excited to get invested in.”

On the team’s mood last night and this morning after the Baylor loss…
“I think everybody was extremely disappointed in the outcome of the ballgame and our performance. That hasn’t changed. I think that’s an accurate assessment, you’d have to ask them, but that was an accurate assessment last night and I don’t think anything has changed today. We had a team meeting today and I think the players were very invested in it as well. I think they are tremendously disappointed and anxious to get on to the next step.”

On the team’s schedule this week…
“We met this afternoon. They will be off Monday, Tuesday andWednesday of this week and we will meet on Thursday and begin our practices on Friday.”

On the challenge of playing UCLA…
“It’s a very challenging preparation for us. I have great admiration for Jim (Mora) and what he’s done there. They’ve won, I think, 27 ballgames in the past three years. You look at the talent they have – (quarterback Brett) Hundley is a very efficient quarterback as he’s thrown for over 70 percent. He’s the leading passer, or close to it, in UCLA history. Their running back (Paul Perkins) is likewise, averaging 115 or 120 yards per ballgame and over his career has been very successful. It’s a program that is moving in an extremely positive direction. They only have six seniors that they will lose out of their two-deep, so they are certainly having the success they’re having right now and have a great future.”

On younger players benefitting from bowl practices…
“It’s always been my feeling. It’s a great opportunity to have those extra periods of practice that your young people can benefit from without it drawing back from the preparation of the young people playing in the game. Everybody gets the opportunity to improve themselves. We get 15 opportunities to do that and a lot of teams do, so it’s kind of staying up with the Jones’s, but there are a number of teams who don’t have those opportunities as well.”

Ryan Lackey

Assistant Director / Athletics Communications