Kansas State Basketball: Tough slate in South region in NCAA Tournament

For the third straight year, Kansas State basketball is going dancing! That’s right, the Wildcats are in the NCAA Tournament, and are a four-seed in the South region.

After a regular season to remember, the Kansas State Wildcats now head to the most meaningful games of the season. K-State overcame a lot of odds this season, winning their first Big 12 conference title since 2013 and having one of their best teams in a long time.

Some bad regular season losses and bowing out of the Big 12 Tournament early likely cost Kansas State a higher seed, but a four-seed is nothing to scoff at. They’ll play on Friday night in San Jose against the 13-seeded UC Irvine Anteaters.

The analysts on the Selection Sunday special were all about picking against the Wildcats, making UC Irvine their “upset pick” of the South region. At first glance, it’s not hard to see why, as the Anteaters lost just five games in 2018-2019 going 30-5 on the season.

JT VanGilder of Bring On The Cats said it best regarding UC Irvine’s impressive season,

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"The Anteaters picked up a 74-73 victory over Texas A&M back in early November, and also beat NCAA Tournament regular Saint Mary’s 80-75 in late November, but those two wins are the only real highlights on the schedule. Two of their five losses have come at home, and one loss came at Butler in late December.UC Irvine will actually get a significant benefit from this draw, needing only to make the 6-hour car ride down I-5 to get to San Jose, while the Wildcats must travel two timezones west."

Let’s not take anything away from UC Irvine because they had a hell of a campaign. Going 30-5 is impressive no matter how you spin it, but K-State is the more talented team for sure. Even with a 16-game win streak, Kansas State should be too much for the Anteaters to handle.

The second portion of that quote is worth noting for sure, as Kansas State, despite being the higher seed, will have to travel further. That could play a factor, as they’ll basically have a road game in the first round of the tournament.

The big storyline to watch this week will be the health of Dean Wade, who missed the Big 12 Tournament due to injury. The Wildcats are no stranger to Wade missing time, as he sat out a good chunk of last year’s NCAA Tournament after being injured. They made it to the Elite Eight with him on the bench, so why can’t that happen again in 2019?

If the Kansas State Wildcats play to their seed and take down the Anteaters, they’ll face either five-seeded Wisconsin or 12-seeded Oregon. Both of those teams are tough draws for KSU, but obviously playing the lower seed is always preferred.

If Kansas State basketball gets to the Sweet Sixteen, they’ll more than likely have a date against the number one seeded Virginia Cavaliers. It is worth noting, however, that this was said last year as well and Virginia ended up being the first ever one-seed to fall to a 16-seed. Somehow I don’t see that happening again in 2019.

Let’s play optimist and say Kansas State reaches the Elite Eight for the second straight year. Assuming the rest of the conference played to their seed, it’d be Tennessee (two-seed) or Purdue (three-seed) that’d stand in the Wildcats’ way.

Having Dean Wade could very well be the difference between this team being an Elite Eight squad or having an early exit in the tournament. Hopefully Wade is good to go and the Wildcats can make another deep run this year!