2006 was decent. Nothing groundbreaking on this end. Ho-hum. You know, few good days, few bad days, couple nice memories. Anyways, to that we can all say ‘peace out.’At Kansas University, there’s probably a similar sense of sentiment as those expired calendars hit trash cans across America.A couple conference championships, a couple disappointments, a couple moments to gloat and, like anyone needs reminding, a few some want to bury deep down, never again to see the light of day.It’s all been covered over [the past few days][1]. So let us look ahead at what should be some of the biggest stories of 2007, according to rumblings in [The Greene Room][2]. **-The men’s basketball team will get out of the NCAA Tournament’s first round.**But what is that really saying? At a program with the talent and prestige KU carries on its belt every time it hits the floor, shouldn’t that be expected?This year, especially given what’s happened the past two, yes (who could ever forget the names [Bucknell][3] and [Bradley][4]?). The sad thing is that KU is going to have to overcome more than just an inferior opponent to make it a weekend stay wherever they go for the tournament. Everyone covering the game, talking about it on radio airwaves and doing television news reports from the sight will be using that angle. So there _will_ be a wee bit of pressure, no doubt.Instead, the more important thing to focus on is what this team is capable of doing after working out the kinks on a poor 14- or 15-seed.It’s really too early to talk about what kind of tournament team Bill Self has right now, because even he probably didn’t know last year until hitting a stride late in conference season. So we’ll put that talk off for awhile.**-Meanwhile, on the women’s hoops side,** the Jayhawks will beat someone who they’re not supposed to this winter in conference play.Right now, they’re 5-7 and have lost six of seven. But remember, it’s early and they’re still young (they can still play the youth card with four freshman starters, whereas the men cannot). Need proof? Ten players are averaging at least 9.4 minutes per game, only two are shooting over 40 percent and five are scoring between 7.6 and 10.7 points per game.That just sounds like a mish-mosh.Entering conference play, which begins [Wednesday night playing at 12-1 Iowa State][5], KU is the only Big 12 team with a record under .500. On top of that, nine of the other 11 league teams have made it through non-conference season with double-digit win totals. The lucky Jayhawks open with the two atop the standings (ISU and Baylor). KU’s first seven conference games are against those 10-plus win teams.OK, so do the odds look stacked enough against the Jayhawks’ favor yet?The thing is, this KU women’s basketball team does not resemble the 2001-02, 02-03 or 03-04 teams which won five conference games over the span of those three seasons. This one has much more promise, and someone’s going to find that out over the 16-game conference slate when they’re not paying close enough attention and KU’s mish-mosh solidifies a tad.**-The Jayhawks will be back in bowl play next holiday season.**Heck, if they don’t, major changes within the program might be in store.On a quick sidenote, can anyone believe former KU head coach Glen Mason getting shown the door at Minnesota? First off, Minnesota is a middle-of-the-pack program in a loaded conference, and he showed the Gophers off in seven bowl games in 10 years. When he took over in 1997, the school hadn’t seen a bowl game in 11 years and only five total in the previous 26 years.This year could have been a disaster when they were perched at 2-5, but instead, Mason got his team to 6-6 and to a bowl game. OK, so blowing the lead to Texas Tech was embarassing, but he did as good as anyone possibly could with that program. Anyways…It’s still a headscratcher to think about how KU didn’t do it this year. This was the Big 12 schedule Jayhawk Nation had waited three years for – No Texas and no Oklahoma.But that no longer guarantees success. Here’s a quick prediction for next season:**Sept. 1** – KU 35, Central Michigan 31 **Sept. 8** – KU 54, SE Louisiana 21 **Sept. 15** – KU 42, Toledo 27 **Sept. 22** – KU 33, Florida International 12 (And no brawl, either) **Oct. 6** – K-State 28, KU 17 **Oct. 13** – KU 38, Baylor 17 **Oct. 20** – Colorado 14, KU 10 **Oct. 27** – Texas A&M 36, KU 22 **Nov. 3** – Nebraska 38, KU 34 **Nov. 10** – Oklahoma State 27, KU 7 **Nov. 17** – KU 49, Iowa State 26 **Nov. 24** – KU 37, Missouri 97-5, not bad.**-The KU softball team** will have an easier time [repeating as Big 12 tournament champions][6] than their [neighbors at Hoglund Ballpark][7].**-KU’s men’s cross country team will win the Big 12 championship**, unseating Colorado from its run of a trillion straight titles. Why not? The Jayhawks bring just about everyone back, including [individual conference champ Colby Wissel][8]. **-Finishing up away from the KU scene, how could you not be talking about Boise State still?**First off, anyone calling this the greatest game ever needs some adjustment. Personally, though, I will say that the final five minutes of regulation and overtime were the 10 most exciting minutes of college football I’ve ever witnessed. But remember, up until that point, the game was a bit of a dud.Before reading, if you haven’t seen what transpired in those magical minutes with your own eyes just yet, [watch this first][9].Right before that stretch, my buddy phoned me and said that he wanted Oklahoma to win, because a Boise State victory might make the Big 12 look bad.Complete disagreement on the other end of the phone conversation.[Boise State’s win][10] was just what college football needed. By overcoming everything short of the bathtub being thrown in their face, the Broncos wiped a huge helping of blue mud right in the face of the BCS and every single one of its supporters. Plus, they asserted themselves on the national scene as more than just being weirdos in potato country who play on [turf known to confuse birds][11] so much that they dive into it at full speed thinking it’s a body of water.A hook-and-lateral to tie the game on 4th-and-18 right after seemingly blowing it on a pick-six. Answering Adrian Peterson’s touchdown run on the first play of overtime by letting a former walk-on, backup wide receiver throw a touchdown pass on fourth down while splitting your quarterback out wide as a decoy. And _then_, running a version of the Statue of Liberty play on a two-point conversion (Almost as amazing as Rick Moranis calling for the Annexation of Puerto Rico play at the end of _Little Giants_).To top it all off and create even more of a movie script to be used generations from now, Ian Johnson, a legitimate 2007 Heisman candidate and the guy who runs it in, proposes to his girlfriend on natiional television after telling FOX’s sideline reporter that Oklahoma had treated them “like their little brothers” all week long in a [more-than-memorable postgame interview][12].Two things.**1)** Why should this team not receive votes for a share of a national championship? For argument’s sake, lets say Ohio State beats Florida, because, well, they probably will.Ohio State, bowl opponents included, will have played eight teams in 13 games which competed in the postseason. Boise State played six, including a [42-14 win over Oregon State][13] (who beat [USC][14] and [Mizzou][15]), and beat four of those five bowl opponents outside of Oklahoma won their bowl games, with the only loser being Nevada, who [lost to Miami by one][16] on, get this, Boise State’s home field.Undefeated is undefeated, especially when you have some sort of a case to back it up. And at the end, the Broncos beat a team which probably would have been playing for the National Championship if it weren’t for a [hosing at Oregon][17].**2)** Gotta credit [6News sports director Kevin Romary][18] for this one, because the man made a fantastic point – Who doesn’t want to see this team play again? Aren’t you a bit disappointed that it’s all over for the Broncos? Though you have to give them credit. Ian Johnson made a great point during that postgame interview when asked whether they deserve a shot at Ohio State.He said he didn’t want to answer that because they got their bowl game, they took care of business and came to Glendale, Ariz., just wanting to win and get a little bit of respect. I think they got more of both than they bargained for.Getting a shot at the Buckeyes would certainly be likely if there was a playoff in place. And this system is a huge blow to the credibility of the BCS. Because you have to wonder, outside of Boise State this year and Utah in 2004, how many mid-majors over the past eight years could have competed and even beat with the teams that are supposedly the best the nation has to offer? Remember, mid-majors are now 2-0 in BCS play.With a playoff, you’d get the same intensity on both sides as you got Sunday night in each game, instead of just having it mean really not much outside of a trophy and money. You think the BCS powers that be wanted Boise State in one of its crowned jewel bowl games? Heck no. Not only did they beat one of the nation’s most tradition-rich programs and the country’s highest-paid coach (yes, Bob Stoops was taken to the cleaners on three striaght trick plays), but the theatrics of the successful gimmicks and the postgame proposal made it something anyone can love, sports fan or not.See you next week.**_KUSports.com editor Ryan Greene can be reached at rgreene@ljworld.com, or by phone at (785) 832-6357._** [1]: http://www2.kusports.com/news/2006/dec/31/top_10_local_sports_stories_2006/ [2]: http://www2.kusports.com/blogs/greene_room/ [3]: http://www2.kusports.com/news/2005/mar/19/one_and_done/ [4]: http://www2.kusports.com/news/2006/mar/18/sadly_bradley/ [5]: http://www2.kusports.com/news/2007/jan/03/ku_women_embark_brutal_big_12_slate/?womens_basketball [6]: http://www2.kusports.com/news/2006/may/14/tourney_tamers/?softball [7]: http://www2.kusports.com/news/2006/may/29/save_date/?baseball [8]: http://www2.kusports.com/news/2006/oct/28/wissels_smart_race_ends_winning_grade/?cross_country [9]: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENwDDB0dlRk [10]: http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaaf/recap?gid=200701010024 [11]: http://media.urbandictionary.com/image/large/smurfturf-8142.jpg [12]: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5uYDY1y5Qo [13]: http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaaf/recap?gid=200609070112 [14]: http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaaf/recap?gid=200610280061 [15]: http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaaf/recap?gid=200612290022 [16]: http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaaf/recap?gid=200612310039 [17]: http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaaf/recap?gid=200609160060 [18]: http://www.6newslawrence.com/staff/kevin_romary/
