Winners and losers: A promising tournament path in sight for Kansas State
WINNERS
1) JEROME TANG:Â Kansas State is back on their winning ways. After a stretch where they lost four of five, K-State has now won three in a row after defeating Oklahoma State on the road. And that also means dessert for the Wildcats. The win over the Cowboys was also the first road win since the Baylor contest on January 7. Jerome Tang has made a few adjustments to give his team fresh legs and it has paid off in the last couple weeks.
2) NOWELL: It probably isn’t a coincidence, that with fresher legs, Markquis Nowell is regaining the form from the first half of the year. In the two games this week, the Kansas State point guard averaged 18 points and nine assists. He is probably going to win Big 12 Player of the Week for a third time this season as well.
3.) TOURNAMENT PATH: For the folks that haven’t seen, Joe Lunardi of ESPN and Jerry Palm of CBS have K-State as a two seed currently in the NCAA Tournament. That is big for a number of reasons, but the most significant may be that Kansas State would likely be sent to Denver or Des Moines in the first round.
4) KANSAS:Â The Jayhawks benefited from Baylor and Texas both falling this week. Bill Self and Kansas could now claim an outright Big 12 championship. Of course, K-State helped when they completed the sweep of the Bears, too. With 14 quad one wins, it is going to be hard to keep the Jayhawks out of the No. 1 overall seed and be seated in the Midwest region. That would mean playing the first four tournament games in Des Moines and Kansas City. Houston and Alabama are providing resistance, though.
5) KENTUCKY: After a rough stretch where it didn’t look like Kentucky would make the NCAA Tournament, they’ve turned it around. The SEC Wildcats have won their last four games and are 7-3 in their last 10. John Calipari deserves some credit, even if the marriage between he and Lexington isn’t the strongest.
LOSERS
1) PAC-12: Brett McMurphy reported that Apple has not made an official offer for Pac 12 media rights. He did, however, say Ion Television has emerged as a potential partner. After the initial report, Stewart Mandel raced to Twitter to refute that report from the Action Network reporter. He did not dispute the part about negotiations with the tech giant, though. The league continues to have an uphill battle in its search for someone to broadcast their games after the 2024 season. A scenario of less money and less visibility now seems very realistic.
2) BIG 12 BUBBLE TEAMS: Oklahoma State, West Virginia and Texas Tech all had chances to make another statement to the selection committee on Saturday. Instead, the three teams lost by a combined total of eight points. The Cowboys lost at home to Kansas State, the Red Raiders already have a home victory over the Wildcats and K-State travels to Morgantown for their second bout with the Mountaineers next weekend.
3) IOWA STATE: Unfortunately for the Cyclones, the wheels have officially fallen off for Iowa State. They have lost three in a row and seven of their last 10 games. They also managed just 50 points in the loss to Oklahoma on Saturday. That reminds me of their slip at the end of last season when they scored 41 points or less three different times. Maybe that’s good news for the fans of the Cyclones since they still advanced to the Sweet 16 after a fortunate draw.
4)Â PLAYING ON THE ROAD: Jeff Mittie and Kansas State did defeat Kansas at home in the first contest of the week. However, they fell at West Virginia on Saturday. With the loss, K-State is 0-8 on the road this season and only two of those have been by single digits.
5.) WHINING COACHES: College basketball coaches have been whining all over the place. UCLA coach Mick Cronin blamed not having a good seed in the first bracket reveal on the school choosing to exit the Pac-12 for the Big Ten. Never mind that the committee loved Texas. Also, let’s not forget that the Bruins have only beat one KenPom top 25 team this season. Bob Huggins basically begged the selection committee for an invite to the NCAA Tournament after not winning versus Kansas. The Mountaineers’ coach said he’d blast them as far and as long as he can if they don’t let his team into the Big Dance. They are 5-11 in the conference and just 16-13 overall and have remaining games with Iowa State and Kansas State. Steve Forbes of Wake Forest has even criticized the quadrant system that the NCAA is using and was skeptical of the Big 12’s stature in comparison to the ACC.
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