K-State needs a strong Big 12 basketball season to end NCAA Tournament drought
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- K-State must win Big 12 games to solidify its NCAA standing.
- Team needs about 11 more wins; a Big 12 title guarantees entry.
- Resume relies on aging wins over Cal, Creighton and Tulsa and strong conference results.
Kansas State doesn’t currently profile as an NCAA Tournament team, but that could change over the next few months.
The Wildcats (9-4) can play their way onto the bubble by proving themselves against Big 12 competition.
That is the beauty of playing in a strong conference. Even though the Wildcats didn’t secure any signature victories during their first 13 games, they still have plenty of time to do so.
Arizona, BYU, Iowa State, Kansas and Texas Tech are all ranked within the top 25. Other league opponents could join them as the season marches on. Every conference win should enhance their resume.
Right now, their resume is only good enough for the Wildcats to appear on one of the 46 March Madness projections (as a No. 10 seed) that are monitored by Bracket Matrix.
But hey ... one is better than zero, right?
K-State basketball NCAA Tournament resume
The best thing K-State has going for it at the moment is a trio of potentially underrated wins against California, Creighton and Tulsa. None of those teams were expected to be elite this season. But Cal (12-1) and Tulsa (12-1) have piled up wins against weak schedules. And Creighton (8-5) hasn’t lost since its matchup with K-State.
If those victories continue to age well for the Wildcats, their margin for error could expand in Big 12 play.
However, four straight losses against Nebraska, Indiana, Bowling Green and Seton Hall weakened K-State’s basketball outlook.
Here is how the Wildcats currently rank in the NET and several other ratings systems:
- NET: 60
- Evan Miya: 61
- Bart Torvik: 72
- Ken Pomeroy: 73
- Haslam: 82
Looking ahead to March
How many wins does K-State need to reach March Madness? There is no such thing as a magic number in college basketball. The only surefire for the Wildcats to make the bracket is to win the Big 12 Tournament. But K-State has gone dancing the last nine times it won 20 games. So that seems like a good target.
Jerome Tang’s team will need 11 victories between now and the end of the conference tournament to reach it.
ESPN bracket expert listed K-State as one of four teams on the periphery of consideration for his latest projection, which means he thinks the Wildcats are currently the 10th team out of the field.
Torvik has a tool that tracks every team’s NCAA Tournament candidacy. He currently ranks K-State as the No. 31 team out of the field, with a 7.6% chance of earning a berth into March Madness for the first time since 2023.
Bottom line: Anything seems possible. The Wildcats can play their way on or off the bubble during the Big 12 portion of their schedule, which begins against BYU on Saturday at Bramlage Coliseum.