A New Experience
Mar 08, 2024 | Women's Basketball, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
This is new territory for Kansas State.
Never before have the Wildcats received a double bye for the Big 12 Tournament. That's because the league tournament has never had 14 teams.
So, No. 3-seed K-State has focused on itself while doing a little bit of scouting for No. 11 Cincinnati, No. 14 UCF and No. 6 West Virginia. They're the three possible opponents that K-State could face when the Wildcats begin their quest for the program's first-ever Big 12 Tournament title.
K-State will face Cincinnati, UCF or West Virginia at 8 p.m., Saturday at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri.
"I hope we have a good crowd," K-State head coach Jeff Mittie said. "We've had good crowds all year. I'm excited that the tournament is at T-Mobile. It'll be interesting to see what the tournament does with the addition of the four teams. Everything will be a new experience this year, but certainly playing in front of a good Kansas State contingent would be awesome."
K-State finished its regular season at 24-6 overall and 13-5 in the Big 12. It comes off a 73-49 win at Texas Tech, which was crucial after suffering back-to-back losses at Kansas (58-55) and against Iowa State (82-76), the latter being on Senior Night in Manhattan.
Once ranked No. 2 in the AP Top 25, the Wildcats are currently a bubble team to host the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament at Bramlage Coliseum — a luxury bestowed upon the nation's top 16 seeds, which will be announced during Selection Sunday on March 17.
"The part we control is this: We know with a certainty that if we win the Big 12 Tournament we'll host," Mittie said. "I think one win puts us right back in there, and I think then it depends on the eye test, quite honestly. Having said all that, our focus is 100% on this chance to win a Big 12 Championship. That's our focus going in and our mentality going in, taking it one game at a time. We're fortunate only to have to play three (games in the Big 12 Tournament) to do that."
K-State had success in the regular season against its three possible foes for Saturday's game. It beat Cincinnati, 66-41, in Cincinnati, Ohio, on December 30. It beat UCF, 72-56, in Orlando, Florida, on January 6, and again, 60-58, in Manhattan on February 17. It beat West Virginia, 73-64 in overtime, on February 21 in Manhattan.
"We've done a good job setting ourselves up in a good position with a double bye," All-Big 12 First Team point guard Serena Sundell said. "It's where we want to be, but we don't want to settle. We want a chance to host, and we've never won a Big 12 Tournament Championship, so it'd be sweet to do that.
"We're not settling. We have high goals even though we know we're in the tournament."
The biggest key cog for the Wildcats remains senior center Ayoka Lee, who was mired in injury during the Big 12 season — first with a small fracture in her ankle that required a surgical procedure in late January and caused her to miss roughly four weeks, and then with a minor sprained ankle injury.
The 6-6 Lee, who was named a Second Team All-American by The Athletic on Thursday, averages 19.8 points, 8.3 rebounds and 2.8 blocked shots.
Playing limited minutes in recent games, she had 11 points and six rebounds in 23 minutes in the final regular-season game against the Lady Raiders, allowing her time to rest her feet. Having the double bye in the Big 12 Tournament will give her extra recovery time as well.
"It's really helpful," said Lee, who ranks fourth in school history in points (2,116), second in rebounds (1,077) and first in blocks (300). "You have to rest to give your body time to recover. Playing as long as I've played and having as many injuries as I've had, it's important.
"I'm excited just because this is different with it being the postseason. I'm excited for us to get out and play and see what we can do."
Mittie indicated that the team has performed well in practice.
"Gabby Gregory has had a good stretch of practices making her shots, and Eliza Maupin has been pretty engaged and I've been pleased with her," Mittie said. "We had a great practice on Monday. It looked like they'd slept about 15 hours on Sunday, and they came in and had a great practice. We had a productive practice (on Wednesday).
"The main thing for us right now is being as healthy as we can be going into the postseason. Right now, I feel like we're as healthy as we've been in a long time."
This is new territory for Kansas State.
Never before have the Wildcats received a double bye for the Big 12 Tournament. That's because the league tournament has never had 14 teams.
So, No. 3-seed K-State has focused on itself while doing a little bit of scouting for No. 11 Cincinnati, No. 14 UCF and No. 6 West Virginia. They're the three possible opponents that K-State could face when the Wildcats begin their quest for the program's first-ever Big 12 Tournament title.
K-State will face Cincinnati, UCF or West Virginia at 8 p.m., Saturday at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri.
"I hope we have a good crowd," K-State head coach Jeff Mittie said. "We've had good crowds all year. I'm excited that the tournament is at T-Mobile. It'll be interesting to see what the tournament does with the addition of the four teams. Everything will be a new experience this year, but certainly playing in front of a good Kansas State contingent would be awesome."
K-State finished its regular season at 24-6 overall and 13-5 in the Big 12. It comes off a 73-49 win at Texas Tech, which was crucial after suffering back-to-back losses at Kansas (58-55) and against Iowa State (82-76), the latter being on Senior Night in Manhattan.
Once ranked No. 2 in the AP Top 25, the Wildcats are currently a bubble team to host the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament at Bramlage Coliseum — a luxury bestowed upon the nation's top 16 seeds, which will be announced during Selection Sunday on March 17.
"The part we control is this: We know with a certainty that if we win the Big 12 Tournament we'll host," Mittie said. "I think one win puts us right back in there, and I think then it depends on the eye test, quite honestly. Having said all that, our focus is 100% on this chance to win a Big 12 Championship. That's our focus going in and our mentality going in, taking it one game at a time. We're fortunate only to have to play three (games in the Big 12 Tournament) to do that."
K-State had success in the regular season against its three possible foes for Saturday's game. It beat Cincinnati, 66-41, in Cincinnati, Ohio, on December 30. It beat UCF, 72-56, in Orlando, Florida, on January 6, and again, 60-58, in Manhattan on February 17. It beat West Virginia, 73-64 in overtime, on February 21 in Manhattan.
"We've done a good job setting ourselves up in a good position with a double bye," All-Big 12 First Team point guard Serena Sundell said. "It's where we want to be, but we don't want to settle. We want a chance to host, and we've never won a Big 12 Tournament Championship, so it'd be sweet to do that.
"We're not settling. We have high goals even though we know we're in the tournament."
The biggest key cog for the Wildcats remains senior center Ayoka Lee, who was mired in injury during the Big 12 season — first with a small fracture in her ankle that required a surgical procedure in late January and caused her to miss roughly four weeks, and then with a minor sprained ankle injury.
The 6-6 Lee, who was named a Second Team All-American by The Athletic on Thursday, averages 19.8 points, 8.3 rebounds and 2.8 blocked shots.
Playing limited minutes in recent games, she had 11 points and six rebounds in 23 minutes in the final regular-season game against the Lady Raiders, allowing her time to rest her feet. Having the double bye in the Big 12 Tournament will give her extra recovery time as well.
"It's really helpful," said Lee, who ranks fourth in school history in points (2,116), second in rebounds (1,077) and first in blocks (300). "You have to rest to give your body time to recover. Playing as long as I've played and having as many injuries as I've had, it's important.
"I'm excited just because this is different with it being the postseason. I'm excited for us to get out and play and see what we can do."
Mittie indicated that the team has performed well in practice.
"Gabby Gregory has had a good stretch of practices making her shots, and Eliza Maupin has been pretty engaged and I've been pleased with her," Mittie said. "We had a great practice on Monday. It looked like they'd slept about 15 hours on Sunday, and they came in and had a great practice. We had a productive practice (on Wednesday).
"The main thing for us right now is being as healthy as we can be going into the postseason. Right now, I feel like we're as healthy as we've been in a long time."
Players Mentioned
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