Kansas State basketball excluded from March Madness, will miss 2024 NCAA Tournament
MANHATTAN — Kansas State basketball coach Jerome Tang's power of positive thinking, or crazy faith as he calls it, was no match for a crazy Saturday filled with conference tournament upsets.
Tang and the Wildcats, already longshots to make the 2024 NCAA Tournament field after losing to Iowa State in the Big 12 Tournament quarterfinals on Thursday, saw themselves slide right off the bubble two days later.
K-State, which made an NCAA run to the Elite Eight last year in its first season under Tang, will not be back for an encore. Conference championship upsets by Oregon, North Carolina State, New Mexico and Temple left K-State — and several other hopefuls — on the outside looking in when the NCAA field of 68 was announced Sunday.
The Wildcats (19-14) must now wait for the NIT to make its selections to see if their season continues.
K-State has made seven NIT appearances all time, most recently in 2009, when the Wildcats beat Illinois State in overtime at home in the first round but were eliminated by San Diego State on the road in the second round.
Related: Second-half meltdown sends Kansas State packing in Big 12 quarterfinal loss to Iowa State
Related: Kansas State basketball rallies, turns back Texas to advance to Big 12 quarterfinals
Arne Green is based in Salina and covers Kansas State University sports for the Gannett network. He can be reached at agreen@gannett.com or on Twitter at @arnegreen.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas State misses March Madness, excluded from 2024 NCAA Tournament
