Where Kansas State women’s basketball March Madness resume stands for 2024 NCAA Tournament
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The only question the K-State women's basketball team has heading into Selection Sunday — and it's an important one — is whether luggage will be involved.
The Wildcats have been a lock for the NCAA Tournament field from the start, especially after they knocked off then-No. 2 Iowa on the road in mid-November. What they must now wait to learn — ESPN will broadcast the bracket reveal live at 7 p.m. — is whether their resume is good enough for a top-16 overall seed in the eyes of the selection committee.
The top four seeds in each of the four regionals serve as hosts for the first two rounds before the survivors advance to either of two regionals in Albany, New York or Portland. The battle for the final spot appears to be down to Gonzaga and K-State.
The Wildcats (25-7) were comfortably inside the top 16 for much of the season, climbing as high as No. 2 in the national polls before All-America center Ayoka Lee suffered an ankle injury that forced her to miss seven games. Forced to play a different style without their 6-foot-6 center and then again while reintegrating her back into the lineup, they lost three of four games and two straight again before rebounding to beat Texas Tech by 24 on the road in their regular-season finale.
Related: How Kansas State women's basketball got its mojo back despite semifinal loss to Texas
K-State followed the Texas Tech win with a decent showing in the Big 12 Tournament, beating a strong West Virginia team in the quarterfinals and then taking No. 2 seed Texas to the wire before falling, 71-64, in the semifinals.
Meanwhile, Gonzaga lost in an upset to Portland in the West Coast Conference Tournament final after breezing through the regular season with a 16-0 league record. The Bulldogs are 30-3 but can't match K-State's strength of schedule.
The most up-to-date NET (NCAA Evaluation Tool) rankings have Gonzaga at No. 12 and K-State at No. 15. But three teams projected as No. 3 or 4 seeds by ESPN bracketology expert Charlie Creme have lower NET ratings.
Creme did not punish Gonzaga for its conference tournament loss in his latest bracket Saturday evening, leaving the Bulldogs on the No. 4 line along with Virginia Tech, Colorado and Indiana. To add insult to injury for No. 5 K-State, he had the Wildcats traveling to Spokane, Washington, for a potential second-round matchup at Gonzaga.
But two other bracketologists, Connor Groel of CBS and Herhoopstats' Megan Gauer, did drop Gonzaga from the 4 line in favor of K-State.
Related: Kansas State women's basketball battles back, but falls short to Texas in Big 12 semifinal
Given K-State's 15-1 home record, the prospect of playing two games at Bramlage Coliseum would be huge. With Lee as healthy as she has been in the past month, the Wildcats would love their chances in that scenario.
Lee, a four-time All-Big 12 first team pick and an All-American in 2022 before missing last season with a knee injury, leads K-State with 20.1 points, 8.4 rebounds and 2.7 blocked shots per game. All-conference point guard Serena Sundell adds 12 points and 5.4 assists.
Now it is up to the selection committee whether the Wildcats must get out their travel gear or look forward to sleeping in their own beds.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 women’s basketball March Madness, NCAA bracket resume
