It’s too bad freshman forward Michael Beasley isn’t long for Manhattan, Kan.

The kid is one of a kind. He leads the nation in rebounding. He is the fourth-leading scorer. He promised Kansas State fans that the Wildcats would end their 24-year home-court losing streak to the hated Kansas Jayhawks – and they did, 84-75.

“We finally slayed the dragon,” said former Wildcat Ed Elder, a member of the last K-State team to beat KU in Manhattan. “No more questions about the streak. They took care of that tonight.”

As you know, KU was unbeaten coming into this game. So Beasley’s delivered promise was all the more exciting for the locals, who poured onto the court to celebrate after the game.

“I know it means a lot around the city, people at the school,” Beasley said. “But it’s just a game to me.”

“People act like there’s just one team in Kansas and we had a chance to show there isn’t,” said fellow Wildcat Bill Walker said. “It was a big win. I’m tired. I can’t think right now.”

Kansas City Star columnist Jason Whitlock heralded the breakthrough victory, but asked their fans needed to tone it down a notch.

“I understand the passion — the losing streak and KU’s sudden football ascension heightened the importance of this game — but a K-State alum, Bailey Maxwell, stood courtside, within a few feet of midcourt, wearing a vulgar T-shirt that accurately reflected the mood and the taunts of KSU’s student section,” Whitlock wrote. “It was a bit over the top and indicated an embarrassing level of insecurity. And I’m well aware that the majority of KSU fans have far more class than to don an obscene T-shirt while sitting on the court.”

Yeah, well, 24 years is a long time to go without beating your arch-rival on your home court.

MYSTERIES OF THE UNIVERSE

Questions to ponder while wondering if Al Saunders can revitalize the Rams offense:

• How can SLU expect to win road games while getting just eight points and six rebounds in 40 combined minutes from their three big men? And what happened to their free-throw shooting?
• Shouldn’t Wildcat fans send a big thank-you to Bob Huggins for bringing all these folks to central Kansas?
• Will Andy Pettitte and Roger Clemens still be buddies at the end of this Congressional investigation?
• Now that the Red Wings are taking a look at Darren McCarty, can Bob Probert be far behind?

OVER-THE-TOP COACH OF WEEK

This news story came over Associated Press wire, to Tipsheet’s considerable alarm:

“PITTSBURGH — A high school wrestling coach accused of biting a wrestler in the leg has agreed to resign rather than face possible criminal charges, police said.”

The coach was named Mike Marshall. His day job? Probation officer in the Cambria County Department of Juvenile Probation,

Here is how his attorney, John D. Messina, had to say about it: “The incident occurred while he was joking around with one of the wrestlers. Certainly it was poor judgment and it cost him his job.”

QUIPS ‘R US

Here is what some of America’s leading sports pundits have been writing:

Will Leitch, SportingNews.com, at the Super Bowl: “I understand that Media Day is supposed to be ridiculous; it’s pretty much tradition by now. But what’s most depressing is that Media Day is a logical extension of the way this has all been going. A team full of players walk into a big room, are asked repetitive questions for an hour, do their best to answer without saying anything controversial and then head back to the locker room so they can concentrate on the job of knocking other large men to the ground. How is this different than any other NFL press conference? The question is not why the puppets and wedding dresses were there; the question is why everybody else showed up. Ever been in front of Mann’s Chinese Theater in Los Angeles on a weekday afternoon? That’s what Media Day was like, with fewer drug dealers and people dressed up like Cher. (For now.)”

Norman Chad, syndicated columnist: “Tom Brady had a walking boot on his right leg last week. I don’t know how he injured his foot, but I guarantee you it didn’t happen on the field — he hasn’t been touched in a game by the other team since Oct. 18, 2002.”

Greg Cote, Miami Herald: “The Australian Open men’s and women’s finals were Novak Djokovic vs. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Maria Sharapova vs. Ana Ivanovic. Just curious: Do any Americans play tennis anymore?”

Dan Daly, Washington Times: “The Phoenix Suns plan to play a preseason game next year outdoors — an NBA first. The details are still being worked out, but the Suns already have announced that they’ll be Shirts and the other team will be Skins.”

Mark Kriegel, FoxSports.com: “Is this an alternate universe? I mean, what kind of Super Bowl is it when Tom Coughlin is the warm and fuzzy guy?”

Jay Mariotti, Chicago Sun-Times: “It was the French literature poet, Mike Ditka, who said, ‘If you think you can, you might. If you think you can’t, you’re right.’ But it’s one thing to spew philosophical b.s. in a locker room, quite another to forecast publicly that your team will puncture the perfection of the New England Patriots, which would send a seismic jolt through America and prompt Crazy Lady Inez to withdraw her Tuesday marriage proposal to Tom Brady. Such is the commotion Plaxico Burress has made this week, offering up perhaps the dumbest prediction/guarantee in the history of athletic competition. Not only did he say his New York Giants will win Sunday, he also named the final score.”

Jeff Schultz, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “The ‘Oxygen’ channel, which says it is ‘rewriting the rulebook for women’s television,’ is debuting a new reality series with Deion Sanders and his second wife, called, ‘Deion and Pilar: Prime Time Love.’ Just one question: Do the execs at Oxygen realize this is the same guy who, while dating his first wife, Carolyn, once said of his tastes in female company: ‘I can’t be seen with no seahag’?”

MEGAPHONE

“They’re just a great team. You’re going to have to play an extremely strong, efficient game, and hope they’re not playing at their highest level, to knock them off.”

Houston coach Tom Penders, on unbeaten Memphis.