Focusing on the Present

By: D. Scott Fritchen

Kansas State women's basketball head coach Jeff Mittie didn't open practice with a catchy slogan or tossing out team t-shirts. He wants the Wildcats to earn their t-shirts at the end of the 2023-24 season.

This is Mittie's most talented team since he took over at K-State a decade ago.

And the excitement comes through in his voice.

"I want us to focus on the present," Mittie said following the first practice. "We're just trying to be the best we can be. Do I think this can be our best team (at K-State)? I do. But I want their focus to be on just getting better every day and competing like crazy."

K-State comes off a 19-17 record and a third-round appearance in the WNIT. The usual cast of standouts all return —All-Big 12 First Team guard Gabby Gregory, All-Big 12 Honorable Mention point guard Serena Sundell, Jaelyn Glenn and Brylee Glenn — while the return of All-American senior center Ayoka Lee from injury ranks among the top storylines heading toward the women's college basketball season.

"It's really exciting," Lee said. "Last year, obviously, wasn't what everyone wanted, but we made the most of it. They did a great job, and I think a lot of people grew from that. I think it'll be really exciting. For me, I don't really think too much about it. It's not too hard of a transition back, I don't think."

The big adjustment for this team during the early stages of practice is learning and adapting to the variety of weapons at the Wildcats' disposal this year.

Mittie said that this could be his deepest squad.

"We've got more depth than we've had," he said. "That's going to allow us to play around with some lineups and see who plays well together. It's going to be great competition. This is the deepest team I've had at Kansas State, which is going to make for an interesting 29 days of practice, because it's going to be great competition."

The Wildcats brought in 5-foot-8 redshirt freshman Zyanna Walker and 6-4 redshirt freshman Imani Lester from Louisville. Redshirt sophomore forward Gisela Sanchez is back after missing last season due to injury. True freshman Alexis Hess and Taryn Sides are weapons, and Sides might be one of the team's strongest shooters. Forwards Eliza Maupin and Heavenly Greer came on toward the end of last season.

"I don't think there's anybody who's not a potential in the rotation," Mittie said.

That's exciting for the Wildcats.

"We have so much experience with my teammates," Sundell said. "It's going to be a huge advantage. There's still stuff we have to figure out and our style of play from last year is different because we have more presence in the post this year, but just being able to have that experience is going to help us."

Sundell averaged 13.9 points and 5.1 assists last season and was the first player at K-State with 850 points and 350 assists by the end of her sophomore season.

Gregory led K-State with 18.5 points and 5.3 rebounds. She was one of four players in the nation with 625 points, 160 free throws and 80 3-pointers last season.

"Our team is so deep, and we can put so many different lineups out there. I wouldn't want to guard it," Gregory said. "It's going to be difficult for people to figure out what to do when Yokie is on the court. She can get subbed and it's a completely different team on the court. That makes matchups difficult.

"I'm excited to get after it and have Yokie out there with us."

Lee's presence will be an adjustment for Gregory, the Oklahoma transfer who starred for the Wildcats last season but has never played with a true center. Gregory said that she returned for her fifth year in part to have a chance to play with arguably the most dominant post player in the nation.

"It'll be different for me, but we'll have plenty of time to work it out. I'm excited," Gregory said. "I want to be able to throw it to the big girl inside."

Mittie said that the team had a 30-minute stretch during its first practice where "it was what we wanted."

"It was noisy, it was people flying around, bodies were everywhere," Mittie said. "We weren't playing great, but we were competing like crazy. That's the 30 minutes we have to take to 45 to take to an hour and a half. I'm excited about this team because I see glimpses of really good stuff."

Mittie said that he would like to have the "problem" of having too many scorers on the basketball court.

"I've coached teams where we didn't have enough scoring and struggled to score," he said.

Early indications suggest that shouldn't be a problem for the Wildcats.

Kansas State University Athletics

Players Mentioned

Brylee Glenn

Jaelyn Glenn

Heavenly Greer

Gabby Gregory

Alexis Hess

Ayoka Lee

Imani Lester

Eliza Maupin

Gisela Sanchez

Taryn Sides

Serena Sundell

Zyanna Walker

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