Scott Fritchen

A purple hue might settle over the Valley of the Sun on December 26 and Kansas State hopes purple will be the color of the day on the football field as well as the Wildcats meet Rutgers at Chase Field for the Rate Bowl in Phoenix, Arizona.

The announcement came with 1 minute, 48 seconds remaining in a game that had long become merely an exhibition, a showcase of the depth of talent and execution unleashed by Serena Sundell, a Kansas State senior, and perhaps the least talked-about dominant point guard in women's college basketball. Sundell high-fived head coach

Cheers bounced off cream-colored walls adorned in purple and white balloons as Noah King sat at a table covered in a purple cloth and before a white name card that bore his name and a Powercat. King, one of the nation's top defensive backs in the Class of 2025, wore a purple long-sleeved t-shirt and purple ballcap. There were no games. There were no ballcaps on the table. This occasion on December 4, drenched in formality, was about business, as King opted to sign with Kansas State in the early 2025 signing period.

It isn't that Kansas State running backs coach Brian Anderson is having flashbacks. But the size is there. And so are the feet. And the vision. If there's on...

"I want to be where my feet are," Dillon Duff says into his phone during a late-night chat from his parents' home in St. Louis, Missouri. And who could blame him? Why, six days ago, the star quarterback sat with seven of his buddies, each signing to play college football with half of De Smet Jesuit (Mo.) High School cheering on their gridiron heroes. Then three days later, Duff threw for 121 yards and one touchdown and rushed eight times for 69 yards, including a 38-yard touchdown run, in leading the Spartans to a 35-20 win over previously unbeaten Nixa at Faurot Field to capture the Missouri Class 6 state championship.

Rick Insell has coached at Middle Tennessee for 20 years. This year, he has visited Tennessee, he has battled Iowa State in Fort Myers, Florida, and he has seen South Carolina play in person. Well, Insell sat in his sky-blue suit after No. 13 Kansas State ran away in the third quarter for a 74-48 victory in the Bill Snyder Basketball Classic at Civic Arena in St. Joseph, Missouri. Insell had an announcement to make.

Kansas State's Wildcat NIL collective has experienced a prosperous year. Now its contracted student-athletes are helping spread some holiday cheer.

Although Kansas State head coach Chris Klieman says that he knew Linkon Cure was going to be a Wildcat when the nation's No. 1-rated high school tight end took his official visit to Manhattan in June, Cure endured a sleepless night as hours dwindled toward his signing-day decision on December 4.

Hawkins' directive came after his all-around performance helped Kansas State albeit in a heartbreaking 73-70 overtime loss to Drake in the Wildcat Classic in front of 9,210 at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri.

Temira Poindexter made an impressive statement in her first Big 12 Conference game. The Tulsa senior transfer poured in a season high-tying 23 points, including 4-for-7 shooting from beyond the arc, to lead No. 13 Kansas State to a 76-59 win over Cincinnati in front of a near-capacity crowd at Bramlage Coliseum.