Who? The Wildcats of Kansas State.
What? For a brief, brief time, they were Farmers, but their "fighting spirit" prevailed. Their mascot's name is Willie. Yes, I giggled, because I'm a seven-year-old boy.
Where? Manhattan, Kansas; they call it the Little Apple.
When? March 17th, in Bridgeport, Connecticut.
How? They were an at-large selection.
Partner: Princeton, of the Ivy League.
Surprise? The record says yes. The TLAs say no.
RPI: 17
SOS: 4
Record: 19-13 (9-9 Big XII)
Good wins: At Marist?
Bad losses: Hofstra in Cancun.
Who's running this show? Deb Patterson, since 1996, originally from the state of Illinois.
Extra, Extra! The Manhattan Mercury. The Kansas City Star seems to have forgotten about women's basketball now that they've let Mechelle Voepel go. I am sad.
You can't say Kansas State doesn't like consistency. They've run the same starting lineup out for every game this season. Senior forward Jalana Childs leads the team in scoring with 14.5 points, but she's only six total points ahead of junior guard Brittany Chambers (14.3 ppg). Childs is much more of a post, while Chambers is the outside threat that K-State has always valued. (See: Koehn, Laurie.) Chambers also leads the team in rebounding with 6.3. Senior guard Tasha Dickey has been a third option at 10.1 ppg. Junior Mariah White runs the offense well, with 4.9 assists against 2.5 turnovers per game.