Selection Sunday is a few days away and all Power 5 conferences have finished their tournaments for women’s basketball. All top 25 teams except No. 21 UNLV and No. 25 Fairfield have completed their resumes and await the committee decisions.
For the Kansas State Wildcats, the main hope is that Sunday ends and a top 4 seed gives it hosting rights to the first and second round. According to ESPN’s Bracketology, K-State remains a projected No. 5 seed. With nearly everything set and done, the resumes are all out to compare.
Why K-State?
Viewing the differences in the eight resumes, the Wildcats have multiple positive standouts.
- Best top 25 winning percentage and tied most top 25 wins
- Third highest NET Rating
- Syracuse only other team without a loss against projected non at-large bid in ESPN’s bracketology
- Second most total wins
Besides the bullet-point resume viewpoint. The Wildcats have other components in its favor. This includes being out their best player center Ayoka Lee, for seven games — including a victory against projected No. 6 seed Baylor.
Gonzaga and Virginia Tech are the only teams who have played without their lead scorer, each at two games, with Gonzaga playing those against teams with a combined 16 wins and Virginia Tech missing center Elizabeth Kitley for the conference tournament, and possibly longer.
On top of that, the Wildcats have played five games against projected No. 1/2 seeds (two vs. Iowa, three vs. Texas). K-State went 2-3 in those games, once against Texas without Lee, while never losing by double-digits. In fact, of the eight teams, the Wildcats are the only team to not possess a double-digit loss on the season.
Final analysis
Taking everything into consideration, the Wildcats, while not currently thought by the experts, have a resume comparable or better than all the seven other teams. The Wildcats have faced top-level talent consistently while losing their best player to injury in the middle of conference play in one of the best conferences in college basketball. K-State has clearly earned the right to host tournament play in Bramlage Coliseum.
My 4 seeds: K-State, Virginia Tech, Utah and Colorado
