What’s going on in the Big 12 and beyond? I expand and explain every Sunday in Postscripts at Heartland College Sports, your home for independent Big 12 coverage.
This week, why Avery Johnson’s growth spurt at Kansas State isn’t fool’s gold, thoughts on the Big 12 women’s basketball preseason poll and teams and, once again, let’s remake college football.
AVERY JOHNSON’S PRIME POSITION
I’ve had a week to think about Kansas State quarterback Avery Johnson and his performance against Oklahoma State. I just happened to cover that game at Bill Snyder Family Stadium and I’ve felt all week like I witnessed a turning point.
He threw for 259 yards and three touchdowns. He rushed for two more scores. He overcame that first-half interception and didn’t let it drive him to force the issue. The narrative the week leading up to the game was how Johnson simply wasn’t up to the task against BYU in the Big 12 opener.
He was completely up for dismantling the Cowboys.
You don’t always see poise on television. But you know it when you see it in person. And Johnson had it last Saturday.
He spoke for several minutes after the win. He talked about the book one of his coaches gave him, “It Takes What it Takes” by Trevor Moawad, which helped him align his mindset for those moments when he makes mistakes. He talked about the offensive balance, running back D.J. Giddens’ huge game and the play of his offensive line, which was exceptional.
But this quote stood out to me.
“I’ve always been my biggest critic, and I always will be my biggest critic,” Johnson said. “But I think I let it get to the point where it was kind of holding me down a little bit, and I was being a little bit too hard on myself. Our coaches say it all the time, ‘You can’t put the weight of the world on your shoulders.’”
Every high-caliber athlete I’ve been around goes through this process. Undeniable talent and undeniable confidence leads to great play. Then it leads to a bump in the road. Inevitably, we find out that the player put too much pressure on themself and had to recalibrate. The trick is how long it takes to embrace the recalibration and take the next step.
Did Johnson do it in one game? I’m not sure. But what he did against a quality Oklahoma State defense was undeniably impressive. And, in the weeks ahead, if he truly has balanced the burden of his own expectations and the reality of what he can do, well, the Wildcats are going to be really hard to beat.
BIG 12 WOMEN’S BASKETBALL THOUGHTS
The Big 12 women’s preseason basketball rankings and team came out earlier this week. I’m plowing through team previews this month, but here are a few thoughts on what I saw in the poll and in the team.
I wasn’t surprised at how tight things were between Kansas State and Iowa State at the top. K-State is quite possibly the most experienced team in the league. Both have dynamic centers. ISU improved its perimeter shooting. The pair took 13 of the 16 first-place votes. If they’re 1-2 at season’s end it would make sense.
Utah (No. 6) and Arizona (No. 7) being the top two new teams makes sense, too. Utah gets their star guard, Gianna Kneepkens, back from injury. Arizona made the NCAA Tournament last year and seems to be building back up from its 2021 NCAA championship game appearance. Colorado is a couple of spots behind, and one of their best players from a year ago, Aaronette Vonleh, is now at Baylor.
Vonleh and TCU’s Hailey Van Lith were the co-newcomers. Vonleh had a great season for the Buffaloes. Van Lith’s star power is undeniable, but she’s poised for an even bigger season with a coach in Mark Campbell who, I think, gets what she does best. But, there are a wealth of great newcomers in this league.
Who is Tabitha Betson? The Big 12 preseason freshman of the year was a Top 50 recruit and hails from Australia. The forward also played in the U17 World Cup. By the way, the coaches nailed this pick last year — Texas freshman Madison Booker, who deservedly won the award after the season.
TCU was No. 4 in the poll. That was perhaps the biggest surprise to me. Yes, Campbell did great work in the portal (don’t forget he pulled guard Maddie Scherr, too). Sedona Prince is back. Valuable pieces of last year’s WBIT team are back, too. This is my fourth year covering the Big 12 women. The expectations have never been higher surrounding the Horned Frogs. How TCU handles it will be one of the most intriguing storylines of the season.
The 72-Team College Football League
The big news this week is that we learned more about College Sports Tomorrow and its proposal for a 72-team super league (or super FBS, if you prefer). One notable thing for Big 12 folks is that two high-level administrators were involved — West Virginia president Gordon Gee and Texas Tech athletic director Kirby Hocutt.
That’s a smart play to ensure you have a seat at the table — if this transpires.
One way or another, in some form, it will. We discussed this during our weekly roundtable and we all, to some degree, see it as a positive.
I’ve been saying for more than a decade that, at some point, the high-major programs will break away from the rest of FBS and create their own league. Once they do, the vast majority of the TV money will follow them, leaving the rest of the Division I teams scraping for whatever revenue they can find. That’s the downside. There will always be a downside to this.
I thought it would have already happened. Frankly, I think Texas and Oklahoma leaving for the SEC — and the radical realignment that followed — delayed it. Now, I think it happens by the team most of the conference television contracts come up in 2030, which makes the transition to a centralized TV contract seamless.
My biggest question is this — what happens with the other sports? This proposal is just for football. But is football going to continue to foot the bill for the rest of the sports? Will basketball try a similar model, killing the NCAA Tournament?
So many questions left to answer. Plenty of time to figure it out. And, plenty of time for everyone to screw it up.
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.
