Episode 15: Joel Jellison of the Manhattan Mercury

The last time men's basketball beat writer Joel Jellison of The Manhttan Mercury joined Derek and Ahearn Alley on the podcast was early November, when he proved a little too prescient by suggesting Kansas State could lose to Northern Colorado without Thomas Gipson. That ability to see the future could be good news, since he provided us with a lot more optimism this time around as we talked briefly about Saturday's game at West Virginia before evaluating Kansas State's key games and the outlook for the rest of the season. Even beyond that, Joel likes what he's seen from the Wildcat recruits, including 6-11 Georgetown transfer Brandon Bolden, who is already practicing with the team.

We also got Joel's thoughts on where Marcus Foster fits into the highly competitive battle for All-Conference spots, though you can't help but wonder how much of a blow the freshman guard's stock took with last night's miserable 2-point performance against Texas Tech.

Episode 14: cylentbutdeadly of Wide Right Natty Lite

This week's podcast guest is Gabe, better known as the excellent cylentbutdeadly on beloved Iowa State blog Wide Right Natty Lite. He was kind enough to commiserate a bit with Derek and I on the all-too-fresh last-second loss at Texas before sharing some of his own thoughts and concerns on Iowa State's 3-game losing streak.

Gabe tells us that just like everyone else (except maybe Kansas lately) the Cyclones have some noticeable weaknesses — including one that might surprise you — and matchup problems, but they've also got some serious strengths, most notably Marshall transfer DeAndre Kane. We also touched on Hilton Magic and learned what Gabe thinks about ISU football bringing on Mark Mangino.

Episode 13: David Smith of the Smoking Musket

West Virginia may not have a senior or a quality win this season, but that doesn't mean the Mountaineers don't have some dangerous young talent capable of pulling off an upset this Saturday at Kansas State. At least, that's what this week's podcast guest, David Smith of The Smoking Musket, would have you believe. Don't worry, though, just because he thinks it could happen, doesn't mean he'e expecting it.

Times are hard for West Virginia basketball in a rebuilding year for Bob Huggins, so maybe it's no surprise this podcast strayed into some off-topic conversation about football, the Mountaineers' potential Big 12 rivals, and finally, the abomination that is Clark the Cub. Yeah, we don't really know, either, but we think you'll enjoy it.

Episode 12: Sam Mellinger of the Kansas City Star

Kansas State and Kansas are going at it again Saturday in Lawrence, so we brought on someone who writes about both of them to talk about it in this week's podcast. KC Star columnist Sam Mellinger has been just as impressed as we have with K-State's improvement and the big win over OSU, but he also reminds us why the 'Cats will face a monumental challenge against the young talent Bill Self has assembled this season. Stick around to the end and you'll be rewarded with a little football talk.