With KJAN News Director Ric Hanson….

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NEW YORK (AP) – The Kansas City Chiefs own the No. 1 pick in next April’s draft, with the rest of the order set for non-playoff teams.  Kansas City and Jacksonville finished 2-14 each, but the Chiefs had the weaker schedule, earning them the top selection.

Oakland is third, followed by Philadelphia, Detroit, Cleveland, Arizona, Buffalo, the New York Jets and Tennessee.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) – Cody Zeller had 15 of his 19 points in the second half and fifth-ranked Indiana opened Big Ten play by holding off Iowa 69-65 on Monday night.  Victor Oladipo scored 14 points for the Hoosiers (13-1, 1-0 Big Ten), who snapped a four-game losing streak in Iowa City and have now won four straight since losing to Butler two weeks ago.

Oladipo beat the shot clock with a putback with 1:04 left to put the Hoosiers ahead 65-60. He also made two key free throws with 26 seconds to go to make it a two-possession game.  Aaron White had 15 points to lead Iowa (11-3, 0-1), which might have pulled off the upset had it shot better than 3 of 17 from 3-point range.

With KJAN Sports Director Jim Field…..

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – The Kansas City Chiefs have fired coach Romeo Crennel after a 2-14 season marked by blowout losses, fan rebellion and a murder-suicide involving one of his players.  No decision has been made about the future of general manager Scott Pioli.  Crennel was fired Monday after one full season as coach, and one day after Kansas City lost 38-3 to the Denver Broncos to match the fewest wins in franchise history.

The Chiefs’ only victories came against New Orleans and Carolina, the latter coming one day after linebacker Jovan Belcher shot his girlfriend to death and then drove to the team’s practice facility and turned the gun on himself as Crennel and Pioli looked on.

Crennel’s career record is 28-55 in five-plus seasons as a head coach.

Freshman quarterback Sam Richardson hopes to lead the Cyclones to a win in the Liberty Bowl after taking over the controls of the offense late in the season. I-S-U offensive coordinator, Courtney Messingham, says Richardson has improved with actual game experience. Messingham says the biggest thing that has improved is Richardson’s pocket presence, as he says even as a freshman he has always had a handle on the offense and in working with other players. “Before he had those live reps, he still had a tendencies in a two minute situation to take a sack,” Messingham says.

He says Richardson now has that internal clock that tells him when to run and get some yards. One person that won’t be in the backfield is top rusher Shontrelle Johnson, who hurt his knee in practice. Messingham says Johnson’s absence won’t alter what they can do on offense.  “We don’t worry about it, you go and play with guys you’ve got. And we are very, very happy with James White and Devondrick Nealy, and it’s just now Deveondrick’s going to have to carry a lit bit more of the load than he has been, and we feel confident that he can,” Messingham says. And he says senior Jeff Woody also has role in the offense.

This game is a rematch from the season opener where the Cyclones beat Tulsa. That means some adjustments as the Golden Hurricanes have seen what Iowa State wants to do. Messingham says you go through and see what Tulsa does, but understand that they have had an opportunity to see what type of adjustments are made on offense and you have to be ready for that. Messingham says the Tulsa defense has evolved as the season progressed and they need to be ready for that. “You have to look at what are the things that we were taken advantage of and how will they quote fix that,” Messingham says. He says they will not be the same defense they saw the first time around.

The Liberty Bowl kicks off at 2:30 today (Monday).

(Radio Iowa Sports)

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Cleanthony Early scored 16 points to lead Wichita State to a 66-41 win over Northern Iowa on Sunday in the Missouri Valley Conference opener for both teams. Early was 6 of 11 from the field. Malcolm Armstead had 14 points, and Demetric Williams and Tekele Cotton had 12 points apiece. Jake White had eight rebounds for the Shockers (12-1) in Wichita, Kansas.

Wichita State led 30-18 at halftime. Wichita State shot 46 percent from the field for the game, while Northern Iowa shot 32.6 percent. Wichita State also led Northern Iowa in rebounds 40-22. Jake Koch led the Panthers (7-6) with seven points. Austin Pehl had four rebounds.

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — 5th ranked Indiana will have freshman forward Jeremy Hollowell back Monday, at Iowa. Hoosiers athletic director Fred Glass issued a statement Sunday saying the NCAA has cleared Hollowell of any potential infractions. On Friday, Glass said Hollowell and his family notified the school of a potential “compliance issue.” Glass says those details will be released later.

Glass thanked the NCAA for making a quick ruling and accepting Indiana’s self-reported secondary violation, which led to the immediate reinstatement of Hollowell. Indiana can use another body in the line-up after losing sophomore forward Austin Etherington for the season to a fractured left kneecap. Backup guard Maurice Creek also is out indefinitely with a right foot injury.