‘There’s Nothing Like Playing at Bramlage’
Mar 18, 2024 | Women's Basketball, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
The day began with Jeff Mittie drawing up a chart at around 6 a.m., of Selection Sunday. The Kansas State head coach wanted to compare resumes of those teams that could either be a No. 4 or No. 5 seed for the NCAA Tournament. He determined there were about five teams truly capable of filling three spots. "I knew it was going to be close," he says.
The day continued with a team shootaround in the Ice Family Basketball Center. Serena Sundell, the junior and All-Big 12 First Team point guard, believed the shootaround and ensuing practice just meant a little bit more. She reflected on summer strength and conditioning, and she reflected on those practices in October, when things really began, and when the Wildcats laid the groundwork on what could go down as one of the most successful campaigns in program history.
"This is fun basketball," Sundell says. "It's fun. This is exactly where we want to be."
As day turned into night, the coaches and team joined a roomful of about 300 close K-State supporters for a NCAA Tournament watch party inside the Shamrock Zone at Bramlage Coliseum. Fans cheered and applauded their heroes, who wore white long-sleeved t-shirts that read "K-STATE ENERGY" across the chest.
Nerves? You bet.
Prayers? Indeed.
Mission?
Accomplished.
For about a week, there was speculation about whether the Wildcats would earn a No. 4 seed and host the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament at Bramlage Coliseum. Had K-State achieved enough to earn such a designation?
Then the team, sitting together in front of a wall-sized video screen, saw it all unveiled at 7:11 p.m. That's when ESPN revealed that the Wildcats, 25-7, earned a No. 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament and will face 13th-seed Portland, 21-12, in the first round on Friday (time still to be announced) at Bramlage Coliseum in Manhattan. The players leaped from their chairs for a lengthy embrace.
The long wait was finally over.
"Look, it's huge," Mittie says. "It's a huge thing for your program to be one of the top-16 in an AP Poll or Coaches' Poll, but to go through the entire season and for people to say, 'You earned a top-16,' is a big deal. Certainly, having it at home, we play really well here, and we're going to have to play good basketball."
The K-State/Portland winner will face the winner between No. 5 Colorado and No. 12 Drake in the second round on Sunday, March 24, in Manhattan. The Albany 2 Regional is stacked with No. 1 Iowa (29-4), No. 2 UCLA (25-6), No. 3 LSU (28-5) and even Big 12 foe and eighth-seeded West Virginia. K-State faced both Iowa and West Virginia in the regular season — their biting familiarity a striking abnormality for brackets albeit a welcome possibility for the Wildcats, who appear eager for any challenge.
"It's a tough region," Sundell says. "When Iowa popped up, we were hopeful we were in that region just to get another shot at them. We match up well against them, so that's exciting. LSU is a great team, and they have a lot of publicity, so it'd be super fun to play them. West Virginia has given us two close games now, so I'll be excited to see them play Iowa if they both win. We have a big region. Anybody can take it. That's exciting."
This marks the second NCAA Tournament appearance in three seasons for Mittie, who took the Wildcats to the second round of the 2022 NCAA Tournament before the Wildcats went to the WNIT last year while playing the entire season without All-American center Ayoka Lee.
Lee, who missed several Big 12 games this year due to lower-body injuries, earned Second Team All-America honors this season and is joined by Sundell and All-Big 12 Honorable Mention guard Gabby Gregory in leading the Wildcats within one victory from reaching their highest win total since 2002-03 — a feat that can still be accomplished, as evidenced by their Elite Eight-type of performance in a 71-64 loss to No. 6 Texas in the Big 12 Tournament quarterfinals last Monday.
"The Big 12 has had a strong year and our schedule early in the Big 12 was a lot of the newcomers and late we got a lot of Texas and Iowa State and West Virginia," Mittie says. "Certainly, as we talked about the unbalanced schedule of the Big 12. We played maybe the toughest schedule in the Big 12, if not, we're in the top two or three. We're prepared."
This marks the highest seed by the Wildcats since they were also a No. 4 seed in the 2005 NCAA Tournament. K-State last made a Sweet Sixteen appearance in 2002 and last advanced to the Elite Eight in 1982.
K-State finished this regular season ranked 15th in NET, the second-highest NET ranking in the Big 12 Conference (Texas ranked sixth). The Wildcats went 13-2 in the non-conference, and they went 13-5 in the Big 12 and 5-5 in their last 10 games. The Wildcats went 5-3 against top-25 opponents in the NET and played the 16th hardest schedule in Division I.
Now the fun begins.
"Shout out to our coaches because they're hard at work right now," Gregory says. "We have the day off (Monday). This is the fun time of the year for the coaching staff. That's what you want to do as a coach. I want to be a coach one day ,and I look forward to doing stuff like this. We'll get into practice on Tuesday, and we'll know a bunch about the team we're going to play."
Mittie couldn't wait to get this process started.
"One of my favorite days of the year," he says. "I love the grind. We'll leave (the watch party) and go right into meetings, and we'll stay late, and we'll start the coffee and all that stuff. I love it. I love every bit of it."
Standing in front of a purple backdrop following the NCAA Tournament seeding announcement, Gregory held a cherished stuffed animal, the "Gap Goat" mascot, whose popularity has swept across Wildcat Nation.
Gregory issued a challenge.
"I'm hoping we can sellout Bramlage," she says. "Obviously, we haven't done that yet this season for the women's team, but this is the time to do it. I'd love to see a sold-out Bramlage. It'd be electric."
Mittie says this is one of his favorite teams. Fifth-year senior Gregory is one of the reasons why.
"Coming here last year was the greatest decision I've ever made, coming to K-State, and one of the easiest decisions I've ever made was to come back," says Gregory, who transferred from Oklahoma prior to last season. "I've had an absolute blast last season and this year and just to see the support of the community and everyone coming together to really support us, it's really awesome to see, even just the growth of the game all over the country for the women, but especially in Manhattan.
"You can feel that people really, really love women's basketball here. It's awesome."
K-State has been pretty awesome this season, as well.
"I was just really, really hopeful," Gregory says. "Everybody who's been asking me — fingers crossed, say a prayer — we felt that we deserved it. We had the little bit of a rough patch during the season, but our resume ended up being good enough to deserve a four seed. I think we're just super excited. There's nothing like playing at Bramlage. Very excited to take advantage of that."
It's been an awesome season for players like Lee, as well, who soaked in the moment of discovering the Wildcats would remain in Manhattan for the first two rounds of the tournament.
"You don't get moments like this very often," she says, "so just getting to celebrate with my teammates and with the fans here is fun."
"Fun" is the word everybody uses when describing this bunch. There are reasons why.
"We have some veterans who've been around long enough to know that when I'm ranting and raving that I'm still going to be joking with them afterward," Mittie says, "and even the newcomers have picked up on that. Zyanna Walker today, I said, 'I think you guys thought this was over after the shooting drill today.' Zy goes, 'It's not.' I said, 'You're right, it's not.'
"They just have a good fun nature about them, and I love coaching them."
And he'll have the opportunity to coach this year's squad at least a little bit longer — fourth seed, and all.
The day began with Jeff Mittie drawing up a chart at around 6 a.m., of Selection Sunday. The Kansas State head coach wanted to compare resumes of those teams that could either be a No. 4 or No. 5 seed for the NCAA Tournament. He determined there were about five teams truly capable of filling three spots. "I knew it was going to be close," he says.
The day continued with a team shootaround in the Ice Family Basketball Center. Serena Sundell, the junior and All-Big 12 First Team point guard, believed the shootaround and ensuing practice just meant a little bit more. She reflected on summer strength and conditioning, and she reflected on those practices in October, when things really began, and when the Wildcats laid the groundwork on what could go down as one of the most successful campaigns in program history.
"This is fun basketball," Sundell says. "It's fun. This is exactly where we want to be."
As day turned into night, the coaches and team joined a roomful of about 300 close K-State supporters for a NCAA Tournament watch party inside the Shamrock Zone at Bramlage Coliseum. Fans cheered and applauded their heroes, who wore white long-sleeved t-shirts that read "K-STATE ENERGY" across the chest.
Nerves? You bet.
Prayers? Indeed.
Mission?
Accomplished.
For about a week, there was speculation about whether the Wildcats would earn a No. 4 seed and host the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament at Bramlage Coliseum. Had K-State achieved enough to earn such a designation?
Then the team, sitting together in front of a wall-sized video screen, saw it all unveiled at 7:11 p.m. That's when ESPN revealed that the Wildcats, 25-7, earned a No. 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament and will face 13th-seed Portland, 21-12, in the first round on Friday (time still to be announced) at Bramlage Coliseum in Manhattan. The players leaped from their chairs for a lengthy embrace.
The long wait was finally over.
"Look, it's huge," Mittie says. "It's a huge thing for your program to be one of the top-16 in an AP Poll or Coaches' Poll, but to go through the entire season and for people to say, 'You earned a top-16,' is a big deal. Certainly, having it at home, we play really well here, and we're going to have to play good basketball."
The K-State/Portland winner will face the winner between No. 5 Colorado and No. 12 Drake in the second round on Sunday, March 24, in Manhattan. The Albany 2 Regional is stacked with No. 1 Iowa (29-4), No. 2 UCLA (25-6), No. 3 LSU (28-5) and even Big 12 foe and eighth-seeded West Virginia. K-State faced both Iowa and West Virginia in the regular season — their biting familiarity a striking abnormality for brackets albeit a welcome possibility for the Wildcats, who appear eager for any challenge.
"It's a tough region," Sundell says. "When Iowa popped up, we were hopeful we were in that region just to get another shot at them. We match up well against them, so that's exciting. LSU is a great team, and they have a lot of publicity, so it'd be super fun to play them. West Virginia has given us two close games now, so I'll be excited to see them play Iowa if they both win. We have a big region. Anybody can take it. That's exciting."
This marks the second NCAA Tournament appearance in three seasons for Mittie, who took the Wildcats to the second round of the 2022 NCAA Tournament before the Wildcats went to the WNIT last year while playing the entire season without All-American center Ayoka Lee.
Lee, who missed several Big 12 games this year due to lower-body injuries, earned Second Team All-America honors this season and is joined by Sundell and All-Big 12 Honorable Mention guard Gabby Gregory in leading the Wildcats within one victory from reaching their highest win total since 2002-03 — a feat that can still be accomplished, as evidenced by their Elite Eight-type of performance in a 71-64 loss to No. 6 Texas in the Big 12 Tournament quarterfinals last Monday.
"The Big 12 has had a strong year and our schedule early in the Big 12 was a lot of the newcomers and late we got a lot of Texas and Iowa State and West Virginia," Mittie says. "Certainly, as we talked about the unbalanced schedule of the Big 12. We played maybe the toughest schedule in the Big 12, if not, we're in the top two or three. We're prepared."
This marks the highest seed by the Wildcats since they were also a No. 4 seed in the 2005 NCAA Tournament. K-State last made a Sweet Sixteen appearance in 2002 and last advanced to the Elite Eight in 1982.
K-State finished this regular season ranked 15th in NET, the second-highest NET ranking in the Big 12 Conference (Texas ranked sixth). The Wildcats went 13-2 in the non-conference, and they went 13-5 in the Big 12 and 5-5 in their last 10 games. The Wildcats went 5-3 against top-25 opponents in the NET and played the 16th hardest schedule in Division I.
Now the fun begins.
"Shout out to our coaches because they're hard at work right now," Gregory says. "We have the day off (Monday). This is the fun time of the year for the coaching staff. That's what you want to do as a coach. I want to be a coach one day ,and I look forward to doing stuff like this. We'll get into practice on Tuesday, and we'll know a bunch about the team we're going to play."
Mittie couldn't wait to get this process started.
"One of my favorite days of the year," he says. "I love the grind. We'll leave (the watch party) and go right into meetings, and we'll stay late, and we'll start the coffee and all that stuff. I love it. I love every bit of it."
Standing in front of a purple backdrop following the NCAA Tournament seeding announcement, Gregory held a cherished stuffed animal, the "Gap Goat" mascot, whose popularity has swept across Wildcat Nation.
Gregory issued a challenge.
"I'm hoping we can sellout Bramlage," she says. "Obviously, we haven't done that yet this season for the women's team, but this is the time to do it. I'd love to see a sold-out Bramlage. It'd be electric."
Mittie says this is one of his favorite teams. Fifth-year senior Gregory is one of the reasons why.
"Coming here last year was the greatest decision I've ever made, coming to K-State, and one of the easiest decisions I've ever made was to come back," says Gregory, who transferred from Oklahoma prior to last season. "I've had an absolute blast last season and this year and just to see the support of the community and everyone coming together to really support us, it's really awesome to see, even just the growth of the game all over the country for the women, but especially in Manhattan.
"You can feel that people really, really love women's basketball here. It's awesome."
K-State has been pretty awesome this season, as well.
"I was just really, really hopeful," Gregory says. "Everybody who's been asking me — fingers crossed, say a prayer — we felt that we deserved it. We had the little bit of a rough patch during the season, but our resume ended up being good enough to deserve a four seed. I think we're just super excited. There's nothing like playing at Bramlage. Very excited to take advantage of that."
It's been an awesome season for players like Lee, as well, who soaked in the moment of discovering the Wildcats would remain in Manhattan for the first two rounds of the tournament.
"You don't get moments like this very often," she says, "so just getting to celebrate with my teammates and with the fans here is fun."
"Fun" is the word everybody uses when describing this bunch. There are reasons why.
"We have some veterans who've been around long enough to know that when I'm ranting and raving that I'm still going to be joking with them afterward," Mittie says, "and even the newcomers have picked up on that. Zyanna Walker today, I said, 'I think you guys thought this was over after the shooting drill today.' Zy goes, 'It's not.' I said, 'You're right, it's not.'
"They just have a good fun nature about them, and I love coaching them."
And he'll have the opportunity to coach this year's squad at least a little bit longer — fourth seed, and all.
Players Mentioned
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