Print edition: 
OKLAHOMA CITY — This week it's not a house divided, it's a house party. With Kansas and Kansas State competing in the NCAA Tournament at Oklahoma City's Ford Center beginning today, fans of the Jayhawks and Wildcats were taking over the arena and the city's Bricktown entertainment district Wednesday afternoon.
Haven native Zack Watson, who now lives in Edmond, Okla., had his family out for Wednesday's practice sessions. The group included the newest K-State fan in his family, 5-day-old Knox, who was sleeping in his mother Amanda's lap, swaddled in a white blanket with a Powercat logo as the Wildcats practiced just feet away.
"You have to get them started early," Zack Watson said, smiling. "I'm the only one that actually has tickets to the games so it's nice to get the whole family out for this. I'm just happy K-State ended up here and not somewhere else."
As of Wednesday, there were still a couple of thousand tickets available for the first- and second-round games.
Kansas State plays North Texas today at 1:50 p.m. and practiced early in the afternoon in front of a smattering of fans.
Kansas, the tournament's No. 1 overall seed, takes on Lehigh today at 8:30 p.m. and practiced Wednesday evening in front of by far the largest fan contingent, many of whom had on green "Rock Chalk Jayhawk" shirts in honor of St. Patrick's Day.
Kansas coach Bill Self cut short the team's practice by about 10 minutes and signed autographs for a large group of fans for the remainder of the time. One fan's copy of the latest issue of Sports Illustrated — featuring Jayhawks guard Sherron Collins on the cover — caught Self's eye.
"I hadn't seen that one yet," Self said, taking a second to look at the cover before signing it. "That's pretty cool."
Newton native Susan VanZante lives in Oklahoma City and was out for the Jayhawks' practice. She bought tickets about a month ago in anticipation of the Jayhawks coming to town and expected the city's downtown area to be overrun by fans from the Sunflower State this weekend.
"It's really going to be a lot of fun," VanZante said. "I've loved KU since I was just a little girl and used to go to games at Allen Fieldhouse with my father. For the next couple of days, this might as well be Kansas."
Both groups of fans had set up unofficial headquarters in Bricktown, with Jayhawks congregating at Bricktown Brewery and Wildcats headed to TapWerks Ale House & Cafe.
Kansas State fans Jim and Jaime Tyler brought their two young sons, Jack and Mitchell, down from Overland Park and were staying downtown for what they hoped would be the Wildcats' run to next week's Sweet 16.
"We're going to try and take all of this in, because it's pretty incredible to have both teams in the same place," Jim Tyler said. "Being down here is really a basketball immersion. You want to enjoy the games and take in everything that Bricktown has to offer. We'll do a little shopping and eating out, but when it comes down to it, it's about the basketball."
Some of the fans said they'd even root for their in-state rivals. Kansas has won all three meetings so far this season and the only way the two teams would meet again would be in the Final Four next month at Indianapolis.
"I'm into the whole karmic thing, so I don't want other teams to do bad because I think it might mess it up for my team," VanZante said. "Plus it's a Kansas thing, so I want Kansas State to do good, for the state."
Watson wasn't thinking about things in quite as big a scope, but did say he'd root for Kansas to do well.
"I'll root for them because they're not playing (K-State)," Watson said. "And I want both of them to make it to the Final Four so they can play again. Fourth time's a charm."
