The Mid-Morning Dump - 4/17/13

STANDING BEHIND LEFTY. Iowa State is not letting anyone put this entire NCAA incident on Lefty Moore.

MORE TRANSFER VISITS. I've heard that coaches weren't that high on Justin Edwards, so they're bringing in Abdel Nader from Northern Illinois for a visit.

EVERYBODY LOVES QUENTON. Quenton Bundrage has been impressing coaches so much, they're going out of their way to make him the #1 WR this spring.

EMBRACING LEADERSHIP ROLE. Sam Richardson is comfortable with leading the offense.

PAUL RHOADS ISN'T THAT HAPPY WITH THE KICKERS. He's calling the kicker race a dead heat, but that may not be a good thing.

HANGING WITH LEONARD. Cyclones.TV catches up with Leonard Johnson while he finishes his degree.

OH BILL SELF. He's making jokes about getting his ass kicked in Ames.

WEAK AND STRONG. Ubben is a little confused about who plays what on our line.

MARCUS SMART IS COMING BACK. The outstanding freshman is coming back to Stillwater, and he'll be flopping all the way to the podium. Andy Glockner applauds Smart, but wonders about the risk he's taking. This should make the Cowboys a legit top 5 team, but Travis Ford will probably find some way to screw it up.

IN HONOR OF MARCUS SMART... Here's the 10 best NBA flops this season.

QUITTING SPORTS. Here's a great longform read on how one college is quitting the NCAA and college athletics.

NCAA LOSING LIKENESS LAWSUIT? The NCAA looks poised to lose that Ed O'Bannon lawsuit, which may usher in the age of paying athletes.

UCLA IS WELCOMING THE GAYS. Jim Mora may be kind of a dick, but it's pretty cool he's totally in support of gay athletes.

BOSTON. We try to stick to mostly sports and humor here, but this picture of Martin Richard, the eight year old killed in the Marathon bombings, holding up a "No more hurting people, Peace" sign is truly heartbreaking.