"We just gotta get a little bit better, and I’m confident that they will. Hopefully, we’ll come back and be ready to play." An ASU 4–1 home lead in the sixth inning evaporates quickly in a heartbreaking 6-5 loss to Houston

Never thought I would be saying it but will root for the Giants over the Cardinals.

This one kind of flew under the radar and shade to me via email, but here are the key points of this new state law, which some of it is in line with a proposed settlement between the NCAA and student-athletes that’s pending before a federal judge.


Under the original law, universities and colleges were simply directed to allow student-athletes to earn NIL compensation. The new law, which went into effect immediately on May 7, now explicitly allows universities and colleges to directly pay student-athletes. It also allows the schools to work with third-party organizations to work out deals with student-athletes. But the law also is designed to prevent student-athletes from signing contracts with places like a marijuana dispensary or alcoholic beverage companies.

Interesting segment of the law allows universities to conduct so-called “50/50 raffles" to raise money to pay their athletes. Those raffles, in which half of the funds raised through raffle ticket sales are paid to a winner selected at random and the other half is paid to a pre-selected beneficiary, were already legal in Arizona. There is no cap to the amount schools can play student-athletes directly. Furthermore, the FOIA does not apply to the contracts between student-athletes and the school, so the books are still closed in that regard. And student-athletes are still not considered employees under this law.

Bottom line this new law is creating a level playing field with other states so student-athletes attending colleges in the state are not at a disadvantage.

ASU is in good shape with four star WR Mason James and LB Mason Marden

"We're going to row. I'm going to get a staff here, and we're going to hit the ground running.” An energetic Molly Miller eager to make her impact in short order as ASU's new Women's Basketball head coach

interesting chart showing the average Big10 schools are paying for their 2026 recruits

With the change to JC years not counting towards eligibility and if it continues for next year, is there any chance of either of these guys having additional eligibility after the upcoming season?

getting a well deserved extension..........when he first started recruiting the 4 Pac teams i felt like he was a bit of a flashy blowhard, but has done a great job and certainly better than the last couple Pac commissioners

Specifically, Zac Swanson? Wasn't there a foot issue?

Players lost to the transfer portal:

I know some folks are cynical about stuff like this, but this does deserve a big tip of the cap for everyone involved

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As Always don't shoot the messenger if the heights/weights are inaccurate. Those usually get updated later.

Another massive weekend! Lets get the thread started!

Mornin Mates...

Today's Topic = How far will the Top 4 fall ?

Last football season, ASU, Iowa St, BYU and Colorado all had 7-2 conference records and ASU, Iowa St and BYU all had 11 win seasons, while Colorado had a nine win season...

Prime Time will now be the highest paid head coach in the Big-12 but the Buffs, without Travis Hunter and Shedeur Sanders, may struggle to reach a bowl game this year, IMHO...

So, I'm picking them as the team that will most probably slip the most out of the teams mentioned...

ASU, BYU and Iowa State all have their QBs returning and also appear to have a good nucleus of players returning so, for me, it will be hard to pick who slides the most out of the remaining three...

Of the three, I have to think that the loss of Skattebo may be the most damaging to the Sun Devils in terms of getting another 11 wins, but we do have one of the best QBs in the land returning and plenty of other returning starters to be optimistic that the fall-off may not be too bad this next football season...

We miss playing BYU next year but have to play both Iowa St and Colorado on the road but do get five conference home games that is a plus...

Meanwhile, Iowa St kicks off the season with a conference game against K-State in Dublin, Ireland on Aug 23 but gets both BYU and ASU at home later in the season...

BYU has only four home conference games and has to play both Iowa St and Colorado on the road...

On the other hand, Colorado starts the season at home against Georgia Tech and also gets BYU, Iowa St and ASU at home but also has five conference road games...

So, again, who slides the most out of these four Big-12 teams..??

And, on the other hand, who of the remaining conference teams improves the most and may challenge the past top four teams for conference honors this next football season..??

I'm pretty confident that the team I picked to win the conference last season, Oklahoma St, won't finish last in the Big-12 again this season but I don't think anyone will pick them as a dark horse to win the conference this season, either...

My dark horse candidate would be West Virginia, who has a new coach in Rich Rod, who plays a hurry-up offense that is usually fun to watch and WVU seems to want to excel in all that they do there, from the top on down in administration...

So, once again, of the four top teams last season who is going to slide the most and why..??

Who will come closest to winning another 11 games this next season...ASU, Iowa St or BYU..??

Of the other 12 teams in the Big-12, who will make a run for the Big-12 championship, if any, besides the top 4 from last season..??

And, finally, who would be your dark horse candidate to win the conference this next season, taken from the idea that the Devils were picked last in 2024, coming off a 3-9 season to win the championship..??

I mean that has to be one of the "darkest horses" ever to do something like that in college football history, right..??

Football season is only four months away and Camp T is only about three months away...

Ain't nobody going to be picking us last in the Big-12 this year...

G'day Mates and Go Devils!!!

The latest on a lot of top names:

ASU travels to Baylor for a much needed road series against a decent opponent.

Both programs fighting for their post season lives with the Devils currently projected to make the field while Baylor is on the outside looking in as the season nears an end.

A few weeks into the season I questioned if the ASU middle infield was Big 12 quality. Transfers Matt King and Kyle Walker were struggling at the plate but coming down the stretch, both are likely top 10 candidates for Big 12 POY with King possibly a leading candidate leading the league in hitting at .410. It can be easy to overlook their contribution to the defense as well. King (.983) and Walker (.982) have been rock solid defensively. Compare that to Odina (.942) and Mendoza (.945) last year and it is very clear that Bloomquist has upgraded the positions both defensively and offensively. The duo has just 5 errors compared to 20 last season.

Another story in the ASU lineup has been freshman Landon Hairston. He started the season on the bench and was there until Vu's injury gave him an opportunity to play. He's done nothing but hit .362 and be flawless in all 58 chances defensively making Bloomquist find a spot for him even with a healthy Vu.

It's becoming clear why some fans say this team has so much "potential". If Tobias and Compton can just hit like they did last season this lineup is lethal.

Pitching wise, the numbers have slipped a little bit. Carlon is our most trusted arm without a question. Jacobs and Martinez are both work horses but will give up runs and are inefficient. Both are strike out pitchers so they seem to have high pitch counts. Jacobs having thrown 100+ in 6 straight starts.

2-1 needs to be the goal this weekend.

What are you looking for from the Devils in Baylor?

Pretty good read on S Frost returning to C Florida

ASU continues to hit its stride at just the right time, as a series win at Baylor and a favorable Big 12 schedule the rest of the month has the Sun Devils poised to lock into the conference’s second place when the regular season ends

I will try to Lighten Snake River's load on B12 Baseball updates moving forward ......... as of last Sunday, March 2, ncaa rankings only had 1 B12 team ranked - Okie St @ #25......and as Snake R pointed out, they lost 2 games this wk to what look to be pretty average group of 5 schools, so does NOT look like they will be standing come tomorrow's new ncaa poll....they actually sit @ #13 in B12 non conf record, just ahead of tx tech

Link below to B12 standings 1 wk prior to conference play starting - Devils open up @ tcu Friday night
* https://big12sports.com/standings.aspx?path=baseball

Couple brief highlights.......W Virginia sitting @ top @ 13-0; Kansas 12-1; Baylor 10-3, C Florida, Utah @ 10-3.....Devils 10-4, tucson tech @ 9-4, which is not bad knowing they have played some decent nationally ranked teams..........now the current rankings which are based solely on Non Conf games are haphazard @ best, not knowing how tough their schedules have been.......outside of Minnesota (who i think will finish in top half of B10) and ucla (who i know has talent), do not think we have played above avg compeition either .....but starting friday things will start to settle into place

Other thoughts would be surprised @ Tx Tech being 3-9, as they usually have decent teams.......

Conf Stats
* Team batting - Devils @ #7 @ .285......leaders include C Florida, W Virginia, Kansas, utah, baylor all @ .310+....so room for improvement here
Other - lead B12 in St Bases @ 39 .........5th in on base %...........10th in # strikeouts, so bad........and 4th in walks, good........3rd in H Runs, 3rd in Doubles

* TEam Pitching - Devils #9 @ 4.71 ERA.......leaders include C florida, W Virg, baylor all @ sub 3 ERA..........kansas, utah, tcu @ sub 4 ERA......so gain room for improvement
*** Pitching stats other - Walks given up we are 8th, so bel avg..........Batting Avg against #7 @ .237, so right in middle........Strikeouts #1, so more K's by our pitchers than any team

* Def - - Devils tops in DEF based on # errors per chances, so we do have that going for us


More coming prior to TCU series