The AP Top 25 rankings came out Monday for both men's and women's basketball. The Kansas State women's basketball team, after a forfeit from TCU and then beating their in-state rival Kansas, moved from No. 7 to No. 4 in the rankings. This is the highest ranking by a Kansas State men's or women's basketball since 2010.
📈#KStateWBB x @AP_Sports pic.twitter.com/Ey8I1e88D2
— K-State Women's Basketball (@KStateWBB) January 22, 2024
However, the women are going to have to play the next four weeks without their best player Ayoka Lee due to an ankle injury. Lee was bothered by the ankle in the Cats game against No. 10 Texas but played through it. As the ankle continued to bother her through the week she ended up getting a precautionary MRI which revealed a fracture. Lee went through a successful surgery on the injury and is set to be out for only four weeks.
Kansas State's men's basketball team is 14-4 on the season, 4-1 in the Big 12, and is tied for first in the conference. After beating No. 9 Baylor at home in overtime and then taking care of business against Oklahoma State, the Wildcats probably thought they did enough to crack the rankings. Well, if that's what they thought, they were let down come Monday afternoon. The Wildcats were left out of the rankings again, but they did receive votes.
Well, going forward, this is the week for Jerome Tang and the Wildcats to prove they belong in the rankings. They are set to take on No. 23 Iowa State on Wednesday in Ames and then travel to Houston on Saturday to take on No. 4 Houston. If K-State can come away with one win they can maybe crack the top 25, but if they can beat both teams on their home court, there is no way the rankings can ignore them anymore.
More Kansas State Wildcats news
Junior transfer Arthur Kaluma received his first award as a part of the Big 12 this week. After helping the Wildcats beat No. 9 Baylor and Oklahoma State this past week, he received Big 12 Newcomer of the Week. In the games against the Bears and the Cowboys, Kaluma averaged 17.5 points, 8.5 rebounds, 3.0 assists, and 1.0 blocks in 38.5 minutes. Kaluma has been a great addition to Tang's squad
The Kansas State women's tennis team beat Drake 6-1 in their opening weekend. After Drake captured the doubles points early in the match, the Wildcats came back to sweep in the singles points to get the victory.
K-State indoor track and field team went to Lubbock, Texas to compete in the Texas Tech Corky Classic on Saturday and Sunday. On day one of the classic, nine Wildcats competed in field events finishing with six top-five, one of them being junior Monique Hardy winning the women's weight throw. On day two, 11 Cats finished with personal bests with eight more top-five finishes.
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Star women's basketball player Caitlyn Clark is finding herself in the headlines once again, but not for what you think. After Ohio State took down the Hawkeyes in overtime Sunday, the fans rushed the court. As Clark was heading to the locker room, a fan who was running onto the court collided with her, knocking her to the ground.
Clark was helped up and walked back to the locker room. In her post-game press conference. Clark talked about how she got hammered as she was trying to exit the court quickly. As people helped Clark back to the locker room, she said it hurt, but she just got the wind knocked out of her. Court storming has been a problem for years in the NCAA.
And this is one of the major concerns with court storming.
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) January 21, 2024
Let’s hope Caitlin Clark is OK.
Clark had a season-high 45 points today in an overtime loss at Ohio State. https://t.co/jzbjEdudwu
On the men's side, more ranked teams were taken down this week. No. 3 Kansas was beaten by West Virginia which meant they fell to No. 7 in the AP rankings. No. 9 Baylor lost back-to-back games to unranked opponents sending them tumbling to No. 15 in the rankings. No. 1 ranked UConn did not move in the rankings for the second straight week. the Big 12 still leads conferences with seven ranked teams.