Wildcats Host Harvard In First Round Of The NCAA Tournament
Mar 17, 2003 | Women's Basketball
March 17, 2003
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Game #33
No. 8/7 Kansas State Wildcats (28-4) vs.
Harvard Crimson (22-4)
Date:Sun., March 23, 2003-8:30 p.m. CT
Site:Bramlage Coliseum (13,340) -Manhattan, Kan.
Television: ESPN2 -
Dave O'Brien (play-by-play) and Nancy Lieberman (color)
Radio:Mid America Sports Network -
Steve Webster (play-by-play) and Missy Heidrick (color)
Internet: Audio broadcast on www.kstatesports.com
Gametracker: TBA
Records:Kansas State is 28-4. Harvard is 22-4.
Coaches: Kansas State coach Deb Patterson (Rockford (Ill.) College '79) is 125-87 (.589) in her seventh season at K-State. Harvard is coached by Kathy Delaney-Smith (Bridgewater State '71), who is 319-228 (.583) in her 21st season at Harvard.
Series: Kansas State leads the series, 1-0.
MANHATTAN, Kan. - The No. 8/7 Kansas State Wildcats (28-4) make their second-straight appearance and seventh overall in the NCAA Tournament when they host the NCAA East first and second rounds in Bramlage Coliseum Sunday.
K-State, which earned a No. 3 seed with its 28-4 record, plays the No. 14 seed Harvard (22-4) 30 minutes following the No. 6 seed Arizona and No. 11 seed Notre Dame game that tips at 6:06 p.m. The winners of Sunday's games will play Tuesday. All three games will be broadcast on ESPN2. Dave O'Brien will call the play-by-play and Nancy Lieberman will provide the color commentary.
Sunday's game can be heard on KMAN (1350 AM), KBLS (102.5), KNDY (1570 AM), KTPK (106.9 FM), KXKU (106.1 FM), KINZ (95.3 FM) KVSA (1190 AM), KREP (92.1 FM), KYBD (98.1 FM), KKCI (102.5 FM), KALN (1370 AM), KJCK (1420 AM), KGTR (96.7 FM), KKAN (1490 AM), KQMA (92.5 FM), KSAL (1150 AM) and KNSS (1240 AM). Steve Webster will call the play-by-play and Missy Heidrick the color.
Harvard received an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament by winning the Ivy League with a perfect 14-0 record. The Crimson will be making their fifth NCAA Tournament appearance in school history.
Sixth-seeded Arizona reached the finals of the Pac-10 Tournament, losing to Stanford, 59-49. Going into NCAA action, the 22nd-ranked Wildcats have won six of their last seven games.
Notre Dame will make its 10th appearance and eighth straight in the NCAA Tournament after reaching the semifinals of the Big East Tournament. The Fighting Irish enter the tournament having won four of their last five games.
The winner of the East subregional will advance to the East Regional in Dayton, Ohio, at the University of Dayton Arena.
Setting The Scene
For the second-straight year, the Kansas State Wildcats heard their name announced as part of the 64-team NCAA Tournament field and, just like last year, they were excited.
Now that the seedings are handed out and the teams are preparing for the first round, it's time to find out what is a stake for K-State Sunday.
Returning to Bramlage Coliseum for their first game since beating Kansas Feb. 26, the Wildcats will be protecting a 21-game home winning streak, which is the fifth-longest in the NCAA as of March 17. The streak dates to Kansas State's 74-55 win over Missouri Feb. 27, 2002. K-State has an 18-0 record in the Purple Palace this season.
For just the fourth time this season, Kansas State will be looking to rebound from a loss. After a loss, the Wildcats have won their next game by an average of 41.3 points. Also, after two of the three losses, the 'Cats have gone on winning streaks of 13 games (Dec. 2-Jan. 25) and nine games (Feb. 5-March 1).
Kansas State will be looking for its 29th win of the season, the most in school history, when it plays Harvard. Also, head coach Deb Patterson is one victory shy of taking over sole possession of second place on the coaches career wins chart.
The Wildcats will also be looking to advance to the next round for the fourth time in their tourney history. The 1981-82 and 1982-83 teams went from the first round to the Sweet Sixteen and last year's squad advanced to the second round before reaching the Sweet Sixteen.
Harvard is also making its second-straight appearance in the tournament. The Crimson are protecting a 16-game winning streak that dates to Dec. 30.
The Crimson are 1-4 in the NCAA Tournament with their lone win coming in 1998 over No. 1 seed Stanford.
A Look At The Bracket
Kansas State is the No. 3 seed in the East Regional behind No. 1 seed Connecticut and No. 2 Purdue.
One of K-State's regular-season opponents is also in the East bracket - No. 10 Georgia Tech. Also in the bracket is No. 12 Old Dominion. The Monarchs ended the Wildcats' Cinderella season last year in the Sweet Sixteen in Milwaukee, Wis.
The Big 12 Conference received a total of five NCAA Tournament bids - Texas, Texas Tech, Colorado and Oklahoma.
A Glance at Kansas State
One of the nation's younger starting lineups suits up for Kansas State. In her seventh season, Patterson starts a junior and four sophomores. The starters make up 85 percent of the team scoring, 71.6 percent of the rebounding and 87.6 percent of the assists.
Kansas State has been one of the hottest teams in the country, winning 23 of its last 26 games. In the last 12 games, the Wildcats have posted double-digit victories in nine games and won those nine games by an average of 20.1 points per game.
K-State ranks first in field goal percentage at 48.5 percent and second in three-point field goal percentage at 38.6 percent in the overall Big 12 stats.
Defensively, the Wildcats have held their last 12 foes to a combined 33.9 percent from the floor and 23.9 percent from beyond the three-point arc. For the season, opponents are connecting on 35.4 percent of their shots from the field and 28.9 percent from three-point range, and scoring only 57.1 points an outing.
All-American candidate and first-team All-Big 12 selection Kendra Wecker averages 19.2 points, 8.3 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game and is one of the premier players in college basketball. The 5-foot-11 sophomore forward ranks among the top 10 in the Big 12 Conference in six of 12 statistical league categories, including first in scoring. She is also 26th in scoring in the NCAA.
Big 12 Player of the Year and All-American candidate Nicole Ohlde provides consistent play in the paint despite seeing double and triple teams. The 6-foot-4 junior center is in the top 10 in six of 12 categories in the Big 12 overall stats, including third in scoring and rebounding. She is averaging 18.4 points, 9.0 rebounds and 3.1 assists a contest. Additionally, Ohlde changes an opponent's offense with her blocking ability. She is rejecting 1.9 shots per game, the third-most in the Big 12.
Big 12 first-team all-conference selection Megan Mahoney is the Wildcats' top playmaker, dishing out 4.7 assists per game, and has had 16 five-assist games this season. The sophomore is seventh in the Big 12 in assists and in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.49). The guard/forward is scoring 14.3 points and grabbing 6.4 caroms an outing and is 13th in the league in scoring, fourth in three-point field goal percentage (45.1) and fifth in three's made per game (1.72).
Sophomore Chelsea Domenico is averaging 3.5 points, 3.1 rebounds and 3.2 assists over 30 games (23 starts), and has a 1.8 assist-to-turnover ratio. She is fourth in assists-to-turnover ratio and 14th in assists.
The nation's leading three-point shooter last year, Laurie Koehn, returned to the floor Feb. 28 after sitting out seven straight games and 10 overall this season with a sore right foot. Since then, the sophomore has averaged 9.6 points, 3.2 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 2.4 three-pointers in the last five games. On the season, she averages 12.6 points and 3.4 rebounds and 2.7 three-pointers an outing.
Off the bench, junior Amy Dutmer and sophomore Brie Madden have been consistent contributors.
Dutmer, who started 14 games in place of Koehn, is averaging 4.0 points and 2.5 rebounds. She has been effective from beyond the three-point arc, hitting 24 of 63 (38.1 percent) of her attempts after sinking her first career trey on Dec. 20.Madden is tallying 4.8 points and 4.2 rebounds in 32 games (10 starts). She is also the team's second-leading shot blocker (44). The sophomore ranks eighth in the league in blocks.
A Glance At Harvard
Harvard enters the NCAA Tournament at 22-4 overall and with a school-record 16-game winning streak.
This is the Crimson's fifth overall trip to the NCAAs and its second straight. Last year, Harvard was a No. 13 seed when it fell to fourth-seeded North Carolina, 85-58, in Chapel Hill.
Yet, Harvard also owns a priceless piece of Tournament history. In 1998, the Crimson became the first No. 16 seed in the history of either the men's or women's NCAA basketball championships to defeat a top seed. Harvard beat Stanford, 71-67, at Maples Pavilion, a win that also snapped the Cardinal's 59-game home court win streak. Allison Feaster, 1998 graduate who now stars for the WNBA's Charlotte Sting, scored 35 points in the win over Stanford, the lone tournament win ever recorded by an Ivy school. The Crimson then fell to Arkansas, 82-64, in the second round
Harvard made its first NCAA appearance in 1996 (100-83 first-round loss at Vanderbilt, after leading, 41-40, at halftime) and also made the Tournament in 1997 (78-53 first-round loss at North Carolina).
This year's squad has defeated two NCAA qualifiers - Manhattan and Boston University, and all four of Harvard's losses on the year have come against schools ranked in the top-25 and who are part of this year's Tournament field. The Crimson's setbacks have been to Vanderbilt, Minnesota, Boston College and Rutgers.
The Crimson finished 14-0 in Ivy League play, the second time in history it has gone through the league undefeated (1996-97 was the other), and became the first team in the nation to clinch a bid to this year's NCAAs when it defeated Cornell, 61-47, Feb. 28. The Ivy League does not hold a postseason tournament, instead sending its regular-season champion onto the NCAA Championships.
Harvard is led by 6-foot-2 junior forward Hana Peljto, the two-time Ivy League Player of the Year who led the League in both scoring (21.5) and rebounding (9.8) this season. Peljto ranks 10th in the nation in points per game and is 27th nationally in rebounds per game.
Sophomore Reka Cserny, a 6-foot-3 center, was a first team all-league choice after averaging 16.0 points and 6.2 rebounds per game.
Junior forward Trisha Tubridy was a second team all-Ivy choice and became the first player in school history to post a triple-double when she had 12 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists in a 72-61 win over Brown Feb. 7.
Kathy Delaney-Smith is in her 21st season as Harvard's coach and has guided the Crimson to all eight of its Ivy titles and all five NCAA appearances. She has a 319-228 coaching record. Harvard has posted a .500 or better record in 16 of the last 17 years under Delaney-Smith and her 1997-98 team won a school-record 23 contests.
The Crimson are shooting 42.5 percent from the field, 32.9 percent from three-point range and 76.5 percent from the free-throw line. Additionally, Harvard is averaging 70.3 points per game and giving up 65.1. They are also grabbing 37 rebounds per contest and outrebounding opponents by 2.0 caroms a game.
Series History
*Kansas State leads the all-time series, 1-0.
*The Wildcats and the Crimson's only meeting was last season in the finals of the Commerce Bank Wildcat Classic on Dec. 1, 2001.
Four Wildcats scored in double figures and then-freshman Kendra Wecker recorded a double-double with 17 points and tied the school record with 20 rebounds. Nicole Ohlde had 16 points, Megan Mahoney 11 points and Laurie Koehn 10 points.
*K-State has a 3-1 record vs. teams from the Ivy League. The Wildcats beat Harvard, Princeton and Yale, but lost to Pennsylvania in 1991.
*Kansas State has played two teams from Massachusetts - Boston University (1-1) and Harvard (1-0), and have a 2-1 record.
