Manhattan, Kan., is called "The Little Apple" for a reason. For one, it's called Manhattan. Also, it's little, at least comparatively speaking. Little towns are hard to get to, especially by air travel; unless you're the sort of person who flies private (you big baller, you), small plains states towns like Manhattan usually require a lengthy drive to a large metropolitan airport. Typically, these drives register somewhere south of "fun."

No more. In the past year, Manhattan Regional Airport has added direct flights from American Airlines. What does that have to do with basketball? It means recruiting players to the middle of Kansas -- and making recruiting trips to other, far-flung parts of the country -- just got a whole lot easier for Kansas State coach Frank Martin and his staff. From the Kansas City Star:

In years past, when the Wildcats brought a recruit to town for a visit, he or she often flew into Kansas City and had to wait another two hours to see K-State’s campus. The long drive created an impression that Manhattan was in the middle of nowhere. And it certainly didn’t help that they drove past Lawrence on Interstate 70 about 40 minutes into the trip. “Having to pass your archrival’s hometown on the way from the airport was a challenge,” [Kansas State assistant coach Brad] Underwood said. “It was something we had to deal with and work around.”

How awkward were those drives? "Oh, man, we're coming up on Lawrence. The kid's going to ask about it. I know he's going to ask about it. Come on, don't notice the signs. That's right, text message someone, dive into cell phone contacts, be oblivious to the outside world, don't see the -- oh, crap! He saw it!" As if driving through the middle of Kansas wasn't already painful enough.

Sure, accessibility probably isn't on any recruit's list of top concerns, but it certainly can't hurt to avoid a two-hour car ride on every official visit. It's the little things, you know?