Kansas State Basketball Dancing Again
By Stan Unruh
Kansas State is heading to the NCAA tournament for the first time in three years. The Wildcats and Wake Forrest will battle on Tuesday in Dayton.
This is the first time since Bruce Weber’s second year in Manhattan the Wildcats get to dance.
They will have their hands full with Danny Manning’s Demon Deacons. Tip off is set for just after 8p.m.
Wake Forrest finished the season with a 19-13 record and 9-9 mark in the tough Atlantic Coast Conference. I can’t believe a record number of 9 ACC teams are in this year’s field.
I saw them play on television a couple of times this season and am not surprised they are in the tournament field.
Of course, Deacons’ head coach Danny Manning will be on the phone to his Big 12 buddies in Douglas County to get all the details on Kansas State Basketball.
TICKET PUNCHED!
— Big 12 Conference (@Big12Conference) March 12, 2017
No. 11 @KStateMBB faces Wake Forest in the NCAA First Four in Sacramento. 🏀 pic.twitter.com/MPDFb1AJGe
First and foremost, the Demon Deacons didn’t have many remarkable wins on their resume.
However on March 1, they did beat Louisville by 7. The Cards are a #2 seed in this year’s tourney.
On the other hand, they did have some tough losses to some very good team.
In November, the Deacons lost to Villanova. The defending National Champion and this year’s overall number one seed beat Wake by 19.
In ACC conference play, Duke beat Wake Forrest twice and both games were close. The Blue Devils won their first matchup by 2 and only won by five points in the rematch.
Virginia Tech beat Wake in the second round of the ACC tournament.
What is interesting, the Deacons lost this last game after beating the Hokies four days earlier.
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One thing to consider, the Deacons will be well rested.
They won their opener in the ACC Tourney on Tuesday 92- 78 over Boston College and were knocked out of the tourney Wednesday night.
Wake Forrest doesn’t shoot a lot of 3s and averaged .38 percent from beyond the arc this season.
They average 82 points a game and give up 77 points.
No doubt, the Kansas State defense will be a tough match up for them.
All things considered, the Wildcats have a great chance to win this game.