The Moments of March
Mar 21, 2024 | Women's Basketball, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
Here we are in the Kansas State postgame interview room. Except we aren't here after a game. We are here before an 11:30 a.m. practice at Bramlage Coliseum. It's Thursday and in nearly 24 hours the Wildcats will face Portland in the opening round of the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament. We're in this interview room that we've been in hundreds of times before — black stage, black table cloth, black curtains — but there is a blue backdrop that reads "MARCH MADNESS" and there are three microphones that read "MARCH MADNESS" and there are nameplates that read "Ayoka Lee" and "Gabby Gregory" and "Serena Sundell" and, you guessed it — each nameplate is accompanied by a March Madness logo.
And don't get us started talking about the inside of Bramlage Coliseum. It's beautiful. Simply beautiful. There's a NCAA Tournament bracket affixed to one wall, there are "MARCH MADNESS" logos everywhere, and that is the beauty of March, and that is the beauty of hosting the First and Second Rounds of the NCAA Tournament at an arena you know full well.
"It's definitely different," K-State head coach Jeff Mittie says, "but different is good. Different is good. We've played in 30-plus games this year, and you play all those games so that it is different at the end of the year, and it's exciting, and it's different.
"We don't do a lot of press conferences before practices throughout the year. We don't have the attention on us, but you play all those games to get do different. We've earned it."
Yes, K-State has definitely earned it.
K-State, 25-7, is a No. 4 seed in the Albany 2 Region and it faces 13-seed Portland, 21-12, on Friday at 3:30 p.m. at an arena where the Wildcats have won 15 of 16 games this season. The Wildcats put together a 15-game home winning streak, their best since 2002-03, and they've done so while playing in front of one of the top home crowds in America.
The buzz this week, aside from K-State hosting this NCAA Tournament, has been the popular question: Will Bramlage Coliseum be a sellout? Gregory issued a challenge of sorts at the team's Selection Sunday watch party, and it caught on quicker than a field burning along K-177. Last we knew, there were fewer than 1,200 tickets remaining, which means at least 9,500 fans are expected to be in attendance, which means mega homecourt advantage for the Wildcats.
"I've been saying all year that here in Bramlage Coliseum we have one of the best homecourt advantages in the country," Gregory says. "I've been tweeting and telling people, 'Get your tickets, we're close to a sellout!'
"Even just now seeing that the tickets are just flying off, it's just going to be a really, really awesome experience. More fans than we've played in front of all year. I just know it's going to be awesome.
"I'm very, very, very excited. Hopefully we can get the sellout before the game starts."
The players certainly did their part to help enhance ticket sales. They went on campus and spoke to students. They greeted 300-400 students who arrived early in the morning to pick up tickets. They even handed out mini-Gap Goats. They're K-State students themselves, having fun, basking in the celebration of March, excited for the journey to come.
Inside Bramlage, things are well, different. A good kind of different.
"It feels different," Gregory says. "We came in as a group and walked through the tunnel. I'm just grateful we're doing it here and not someplace else. I'm very thankful we're at Bramlage."
Added Sundell: "We practiced here yesterday and saw the first look of the banners and logos set up. It still feels like Bramlage to me. We're excited to have March Madness."
Added Lee: "It still feels like our homecourt."
There's no place like home. And this past Sunday, the Wildcats celebrated the announcement that they would stay home for the first and second rounds of the tournament.
How did they celebrate?
"Singing karaoke," Gabby says. "That was the favorite thing we did. That was a lot of fun. We went out and sang karaoke that night."
Sundell says: "I'll second that."
Gregory says: "Yokie, did you sing?"
Lee says, "I didn't sing. I was supporting."
They sang and they laughed, and it'll make for a great story to tell years from now. These are all moments to be cherished.
They're the moments of March Madness.
"You have to appreciate these moments," Mittie says.
The players rise from their familiar interview table adorned with new "MARCH MADNESS" logos and head out of the black-curtained room in their purple practice jerseys and disappear out the door and will walk to a basketball court with "MARCH MADNESS" everywhere — except for center court.
Center court is reserved for the same purple Powercat that we've seen hundreds of times before — a pleasant reminder that even in the midst of this magical time of the year, when logos and banners are all new, a familiarity still lingers.
And now we wait.
Will there be a sellout?
"I think it'll be exciting," Lee says. "I think we'll get the sellout."
Here we are in the Kansas State postgame interview room. Except we aren't here after a game. We are here before an 11:30 a.m. practice at Bramlage Coliseum. It's Thursday and in nearly 24 hours the Wildcats will face Portland in the opening round of the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament. We're in this interview room that we've been in hundreds of times before — black stage, black table cloth, black curtains — but there is a blue backdrop that reads "MARCH MADNESS" and there are three microphones that read "MARCH MADNESS" and there are nameplates that read "Ayoka Lee" and "Gabby Gregory" and "Serena Sundell" and, you guessed it — each nameplate is accompanied by a March Madness logo.
And don't get us started talking about the inside of Bramlage Coliseum. It's beautiful. Simply beautiful. There's a NCAA Tournament bracket affixed to one wall, there are "MARCH MADNESS" logos everywhere, and that is the beauty of March, and that is the beauty of hosting the First and Second Rounds of the NCAA Tournament at an arena you know full well.
"It's definitely different," K-State head coach Jeff Mittie says, "but different is good. Different is good. We've played in 30-plus games this year, and you play all those games so that it is different at the end of the year, and it's exciting, and it's different.
"We don't do a lot of press conferences before practices throughout the year. We don't have the attention on us, but you play all those games to get do different. We've earned it."
Yes, K-State has definitely earned it.
K-State, 25-7, is a No. 4 seed in the Albany 2 Region and it faces 13-seed Portland, 21-12, on Friday at 3:30 p.m. at an arena where the Wildcats have won 15 of 16 games this season. The Wildcats put together a 15-game home winning streak, their best since 2002-03, and they've done so while playing in front of one of the top home crowds in America.
The buzz this week, aside from K-State hosting this NCAA Tournament, has been the popular question: Will Bramlage Coliseum be a sellout? Gregory issued a challenge of sorts at the team's Selection Sunday watch party, and it caught on quicker than a field burning along K-177. Last we knew, there were fewer than 1,200 tickets remaining, which means at least 9,500 fans are expected to be in attendance, which means mega homecourt advantage for the Wildcats.
"I've been saying all year that here in Bramlage Coliseum we have one of the best homecourt advantages in the country," Gregory says. "I've been tweeting and telling people, 'Get your tickets, we're close to a sellout!'
"Even just now seeing that the tickets are just flying off, it's just going to be a really, really awesome experience. More fans than we've played in front of all year. I just know it's going to be awesome.
"I'm very, very, very excited. Hopefully we can get the sellout before the game starts."
The players certainly did their part to help enhance ticket sales. They went on campus and spoke to students. They greeted 300-400 students who arrived early in the morning to pick up tickets. They even handed out mini-Gap Goats. They're K-State students themselves, having fun, basking in the celebration of March, excited for the journey to come.
Inside Bramlage, things are well, different. A good kind of different.
"It feels different," Gregory says. "We came in as a group and walked through the tunnel. I'm just grateful we're doing it here and not someplace else. I'm very thankful we're at Bramlage."
Added Sundell: "We practiced here yesterday and saw the first look of the banners and logos set up. It still feels like Bramlage to me. We're excited to have March Madness."
Added Lee: "It still feels like our homecourt."
There's no place like home. And this past Sunday, the Wildcats celebrated the announcement that they would stay home for the first and second rounds of the tournament.
How did they celebrate?
"Singing karaoke," Gabby says. "That was the favorite thing we did. That was a lot of fun. We went out and sang karaoke that night."
Sundell says: "I'll second that."
Gregory says: "Yokie, did you sing?"
Lee says, "I didn't sing. I was supporting."
They sang and they laughed, and it'll make for a great story to tell years from now. These are all moments to be cherished.
They're the moments of March Madness.
"You have to appreciate these moments," Mittie says.
The players rise from their familiar interview table adorned with new "MARCH MADNESS" logos and head out of the black-curtained room in their purple practice jerseys and disappear out the door and will walk to a basketball court with "MARCH MADNESS" everywhere — except for center court.
Center court is reserved for the same purple Powercat that we've seen hundreds of times before — a pleasant reminder that even in the midst of this magical time of the year, when logos and banners are all new, a familiarity still lingers.
And now we wait.
Will there be a sellout?
"I think it'll be exciting," Lee says. "I think we'll get the sellout."
Players Mentioned
G
/ Women's Basketball
G
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