A few links while wondering if there’s a better nickname out there for the Kansas-Kansas State rivalry than Sunflower Showdown, which doesn’t seem to capture the intensity of the contests (doesn’t a sunflower invoke warm, fuzzy images?). Maybe Clash on the Kaw? Any other good ones?

• I saw this was posted a few days ago on YouTube on the official YouTube station of K-State Athletics, so I can only assume this will be the pregame video before the KU-KSU game Tuesday night in Manhattan.

KSU’s video folks were able to put a lot of highlights against KU in there, including a Bill Walker swinging elbow that catches Mario Chalmers’ face at the 32-second mark (that may or may not be considered a highlight, depending on your affiliation).

The video follows the same basic theme as KU’s, highlighting with bold numbers some of the school’s best men’s basketball statistics.

To compare, here’s KU’s pregame video against Baylor (skip ahead to the 1:14 mark for the start).

• The Kansas City Star’s Blair Kerkhoff reported that following Kansas State’s 69-60 victory over Oklahoma on Saturday, KSU guard Rodney McGruder received some encouragement in the tunnel from an unlikely source.

“Good luck, keep it going, go get those ‘Hawks,” is what OU coach Lon Kruger — a former player and coach at KSU — told McGruder.

Kruger didn’t offer up his thoughts on the KU-KSU matchup after the game, according to Kerkhoff, as the Sooners have yet to play the Jayhawks this season.

• Kellis Robinett of the Wichita Eagle reports that KSU athletic director John Currie, when he was interviewing Bruce Weber for KSU’s coaching opening, asked Weber directly if he really wanted to come to Manhattan to have to go up against KU coach Bill Self — the man he replaced at Illinois.

• The Manhattan Mercury’s Joel Jellison talks more about KSU’s success running a hybrid-forward position, putting undersized Shane Southwell and Nino Williams at the 4 spot. This switch definitely has helped Southwell, whose offensive struggles last year allowed KU to run a Triangle-and-Two defense while leaving him unguarded. The junior Southwell has made 16 of 33 threes this year (49 percent).

• Earlier this week, KU was listed as one of five “Prime Time Contenders” to make the Final Four by SI.com’s Luke Winn. To come to this conclusion, Winn compared this year’s efficiency numbers with those of past teams that have made deep tournament runs. The fact that KU is balanced (top 20 in both offensive and defensive efficiency) makes it a team that is more likely to advance to later rounds.

• KU is a No. 1 seed in the latest bracketology from CBSsports.com’s Jerry Palm.

• Here’s a final look at video highlights from KU’s victory over Texas on Saturday from KU Athletics.

• KU signee Wayne Selden scored 24 points with six three-pointers and seven rebounds to help his Tilton School team to a 71-67 victory Sunday, according to Masslive.com.

• The Kansas City Star’s Rustin Dodd had a nice feature over the weekend on KU women’s basketball standout Angel Goodrich and her journey to KU from the state of Oklahoma and Sequoyah High School.

• Former KU guard Josh Selby was traded from the Memphis Grizzlies to the Cleveland Cavaliers.

• And finally, an insightful piece from the New York Times on former KU cornerback Aqib Talib. There are some great anecdotes from former KU coach Mark Mangino and current linebackers coach Clint Bowen about Talib, including this one from Judy Battista in the lede:

The Kansas football program had
something called Aqib Rules, and they
were simple: when Aqib Talib, their
highly regarded cornerback, did
something stupid — a not infrequent
occurrence early on in an all-American
career — his teammates could put a
free body shot on him.

I’m guessing those kinds of rules don’t fly in the NFL.