Kansas State Basketball: Still Alive For NCAA Tourney
By Stan Unruh
Kansas State Basketball had one of their worst games of the season on Saturday. They have to put the loss behind them and finish the regular season strong.
I’m not sure what happened to Bruce Weber’s Wildcats in the second half in Norman. At one point following a D.J. Johnson basket in the paint to pull the ‘Cats to within 12,, I thought they’d respond. It didn’t happen.
The first half was even more difficult to watch. The ‘Cats simply couldn’t score. In addition to just 20 points, Kansas State was also beaten on the glass. The Sooners had 10 more rebounds at halftime.
In their February 1 game against TCU, the Frogs also controlled the boards and forced 20 Wildcat turnovers.
These should be easy things for Weber to fix.
Kansas State must be aggressive in Wednesday’s rematch with TCU. It would also be nice to see them play the tough defense we’ve seen in big wins this season.
Despite the way they’ve played recently, the Wildcats still have a chance to make the NCAA tournament field.
In last week’s bracket prediction, CBS had Kansas State as a bubble team sitting as a number 10 seed in the west regional. After their loss at OU, they are now on the list of first four out.
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ESPN’s Bracket guru Joe Lunardi now thinks five, not seven Big 12 teams will earn a trip to the tournament. He had the ‘Cats as an 11-seed last week and now also lists them as among the first four out.
On Monday night’s ESPN broadcast, Lunardi said the winner of the Kansas State- TCU game had a good chance of earning a tournament bid.
Fox Sports believes six Big 12 teams will get bids to the tournament. They weren’t sold on Kansas State last week and as expected, they still list Bruce Weber’s team as among the first 4 out along with Texas Tech and Tennessee- a team that beat the ‘Cats earlier last month.
The Wildcats missed opportunities at home and now must make the most of what’s left including the game in Fort Worth. They will probably need a strong Big 12 tournament showing to get in the tournament.