I grew up on Big 10 football and always preferred the college game. I carried that with me when I came to D-II Far West Conference UC Davis. I deluded myself in to believing things like school spirit, beating your rival, winning homecoming, marching bands and cheerleaders...but things like the transfer portal, NIL, conference fluidity...it is rapidly losing what I enjoyed about it.

My two cents....

I think teams sometimes sign players just to have some competition in camp. Obviously they won't keep two punters. Whelan has at best three pre-season games to show teams what he can do.

Speaking of Spencer Lee: He's back!
https://www.flowrestling.org/articles/7910423-2022-23-ncaa-125-pound-preview-the-return-of-spencer-lee

And according to Wikipedia Hawkins played two pre-season games with the Miami Heat before being released.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corey_Hawkins_(basketball)

Moneke is not the first Aggie to sign with the Kings' franchise. The then Kansas City Kings drafted Preston Neumayr in the 8th round (176th pick overall) of the 1983 NBA draft. He didn't make it in the NBA, but went on to medical school at UCSD and UCSF and is still a practicing physician in the Bay Area.

"Have we ever had an Aggie play even in the summer league?"

If I read this right, (always a big IF,) Corey played in 4 Las Vegas summer league games for Golden State in 2026-17.
https://basketball.realgm.com/player/Corey-Hawkins/Summary/9308

As do most Big Ten schools. I meant lesser in the sense of overall sports on a national level. In the broader sense wrestling falls in the “Olympic” sports area like gymnastics, swimming, field hockey.

It’s a huge sport in the Midwest, not so much In other regions.

Growing up in Iowa a long time ago I could go to Iowa wrestling matches (or swimming, or gymnastics…) just showing my parents’ basketball season tickets. I believe wrestling at Iowa now has separate season tickets. (And the Hawkeyes have dropped mens swimming and gymnastics.)

This past season the Wildcats finished tied for sixth in the Big 10 regular season standings, fifth in the conference tournament, and sixth in the NCAA tournament. They were one of only three teams to send ten wrestlers to the NCAAs. This was their second top ten finish in a row. Their program is really taking off, as is Michigan’s, much to my Hawkeye loving dismay.

Particularly surprising in a lesser sport and at a school like Northwestern, known more for academics than for big-time athletics.

"Now, the WAC might have been a little bit too difficult for Lamar [men's basketball] — I’m not going to sugarcoat it. It beat their ass."
"Lamar went 0-18 in the program’s only season in the league. Only three results were within two possessions and 11 were by double digits."
https://www.midmajormadness.com/2022/7/11/23204187/a-wacky-monday-in-the-western-athletic-conference-ncaa-expansion-realignment-basketball

Conference moves dribble down.

Incarnate Word has announced it will back out of its agreement to move to the WAC and will remain in the Southland Conference. (Their swimming & diving teams will move to the MPSF where the women will compete against UCD.) Also Lamar will leave the WAC after one year and return to the Southland.

Whelan is one of two punters currently on the Saints' roster.

In other "footnotes" Colby Waldman was the punter for the USFL champion Birmingham Stallions.

The way things are going CBU and UALR might be in the same conference before you know it.

Joe Davidson of the Bee ran an article in this morning's paper about prospects of UCD and Slack State moving in the wake of the USC & UCLA moves. He spoke with both ADs and both said they had no plans to move anywhere. Both are content at FBS and the Big Sky.

One fact to keep in mind is that the NCAA has attendance requirements for FCS schools and neither UCD or CSUS come close to meeting those.

I'll add a link. (Cutting and pasting articles from the Bee is labor intensive. Not sure if the problem is on the Bee's end or mine...)
Here's the link: https://www.sacbee.com/sports/article263187653.html

Now I’m hungry.

I have heard or read that the Big 10 and Big 12 are interested in Washington, Oregon, Colorado, Utah, Stanford, and the Arizona schools. Little if any mention of Cal, Oregon State, or Washington State.

Not being asked to the senior prom has to sting a bit.

At this rate, there's a better chance of Cal joining the Big West than of Davis ever being considered for the Pac-12.

"Aggies may be playlng a big 10 team in 2027"

...or faced with difficulties scheduling among the 16 teams in the BIg "10" another LA school may back out and pay us to stay home.

Finally, just spoke with another neighbor whose child was in the Friday ceremony. Parent ended up in the way too small cooling tent....child did walk before the cancellation. Neighbor said the stories from people shceduled for Saturday were bad. School changed plans with less than half an hour to go and people who did not plan on attending rushed to throw on gowns and attend...though a lot simply skipped it altogether....but the school graciously is waiving the fee for the gowns. Good luck raising contributions from the class of 2022.

On the other end of the country and of the weather spectrum a neighbor’s child just graduated from the Naval Academy where commencement was shortened due to inclement weather and a tornado warning.

I remember having muddy, soggy, shredded turf issues at Toomey back in the D2 days. Someone commented it was a shame that a major agricultural university couldn’t come up with a better grass surface.

Someone in my neighborhood, probably thinking it’s a great water conservation idea, just put in an artificial turf front yard as part of a landscaping overhaul. Be interested in how it affects comfort and temperature around the home. Reportedly the whole project cost $9,000.00.

Coincidentally the artificial turf is being replaced.

https://ucdavisaggies.com/news/2022/6/15/athletics-uc-davis-health-stadium-set-for-new-fieldturf.aspx