Kansas State

COLLEGE PARK -- It wouldn't be a stretch of the imagination to say that Chic Downing, the father of Maryland reserve guard Matthew Downing, has a pretty fair sense of humor.How else to explain why a man who supposedly doesn't like cats gives his oldest son the nickname "Cougar"?"I have a younger brother, who is playing junior college ball, named Leopard," Matthew Downing said, laughing. "And my three younger sisters are named Jaguar, Puma and Bobcat."We don't call the girls that anymore. But my little brother is still called Leopard, which we've shortened down to 'Pard,' because it was hard to say when I was young.

Rank, team ... ..... Points (1st place) ... Prevrank1. Nebraska ... .... 3,058 (82) ... ... ..... 12. Penn State ...... 3,016 (44) ... ... ..... 23. Miami ... ....... 2,804 ... ... ... ...... 44. Colorado .. ..... 2,662 ... ... ... ...... 55. Florida ... ..... 2,638 ... ... ... ...... 66. Alabama ... ..... 2,452 ... ... ... ...... 37. Florida St. ..... 2,429 ... ... ... ...... 78. Texas A&M ... ... 2,162 ... ... ... ...... 89. Auburn ... ...... 2,118 ... ... ... ...... 910. Kansas State ... 2,019 ... ... ... .....

Here's an early look at next season's top 10 college basketball teams, with last season's record in parenthesis. 1. Michigan State (28-9) The Spartans only major loss is Raymar Morgan. They will go to their third straight Final Four with healthy point guard Kalin Lucas. 2. Butler (33-5) If F Gordon Hayward and coach Brad Stevens stay, the Bulldogs are golden. 3. Purdue (29-6) The Boilermakers' big three will be back - including a healed Robbie Hummel. 4. Georgetown (23-11)

No surprise: Duke, with returning starters Kyle Singler and Nolan Smith from last season's championship team, will start the season as the nation's top-ranked team, according to the Associated Press. The Blue Devils received 55 first-place votes and 1,613 points from a nationwide media panel, outdistancing Michigan State and Kansas State for the top spot. The Spartans and Wildcats also garnered first-place consideration. Kansas was the top-ranked team at the start of last season.

THURSDAY'S TELEVISION HIGHLIGHTS Winter X Europe Snowboard Superpipe ESPN21:30 MLB pre. Yankees@Washington MASN, MLB1 Cincinnati@Angels MLB4 San Francisco@Seattle MLB10 M. bask. NCAA: Colo. State vs. Murray State 13, 912:15 NCAA: S. Miss. vs. Kansas State TRUTV12:30 NCAA: Davidson vs. Louisville TBS1:30 NCAA: Montana vs. Wisconsin TNT2 NCAA: BYU vs. Marquette 13, 92:30 NCAA: UNC-Ashe.

Moves Baseball CARDINALS -- Placed P Chris Carpenter on 15-day DL. Called up P Randy Keisler from Triple-A Memphis. INDIANS -- Signed C Amid Haad to minor league contract and assigned him to Triple-A Buffalo. PHILLIES -- Optioned P Zack Segovia and P Joe Bisenius to Triple-A Ottawa. Activated P Jon Lieber from 15-day DL. Basketball HAWKS -- Suspended F Josh Smith two games for conduct detrimental to team. Colleges ARKANSAS -- Named John Pelphrey men's basketball coach. BRIGHAM YOUNG -- Suspended LB Terrance Hooks and TE Vic So'oto from spring drills after they were accused of breaking into two apartments.

ATLANTA -- Who said it was going to be easy?A regular season filled with controversy and confusion over the Bowl Championship Series came to a proper conclusion yesterday, with some controversy surrounding the outcome of at least two of yesterday's games involving unbeaten teams and plenty of confusion that finally seemed to be sorted out late last night.It began with second-ranked (in the BCS) UCLA's shocking 49-45 defeat to unranked Miami at the Orange Bowl and continued with third-ranked Kansas State's hard-to-believe 36-33 overtime loss to No. 8 Texas A&M in the Big 12 championship game at the TWA Dome in St. Louis.

American East: Boston University ACC: Duke , Florida State, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Maryland, Virginia Tech Atlantic Sun: Lipscomb Atlantic 10: Temple , Dayton, Richmond, Xavier Big East: Pittsburgh , Georgetown, Marquette, Notre Dame, Seton Hall, Syracuse, Villanova, West Virginia Big Sky: Weber State Big South: Coastal Carolina Big Ten: ...

Bill Snyder knows something about miracles. Since coming to Kansas State in 1989, Snyder has turned the losingest college football program in Division I-A history into one of the most consistent winners in the country the past five years. But a national championship at a school that averaged just over two wins a year in the '80s? Let's not get carried away.Snyder has taken the Wildcats to unimagined heights, including an 11-1 record last season, but that one loss was a 30-point thumping at Nebraska.