K-State Q&A: NCAA Tournament outlook for Wildcats, Will Howard at Ohio State and more

It’s time for another K-State Q&A.

We have lots of great topics to cover this week, so let’s dive right in. Thanks, as always, for providing them.

The path for men’s basketball to make the dance is ... What? - @bfullingt1 via X

Start winning.

The only reason K-State is on the bubble for the NCAA Tournament is because it has lost five of its past six games. And its only victory came in overtime against a KU team that is unusually soft (to borrow a word from Bill Self) on the road. Turn that losing streak into a winning streak and the Wildcats will have a shot at the Big Dance.

Unfortunately, I think the road to March Madness is going to be more difficult than Jerome Tang expects it to be. All season, he has said that winning nine conference games will be enough to get K-State a spot on the bracket. But I’m not so sure.

K-State isn’t currently showing up on a single bracket projection anywhere on the internet, which suggests it has much work to do.

I think the magic number for the Wildcats is 20, as in 20 victories will be enough for them to play in the NCAA Tournament.

That means they need to win five more games, perhaps four in the regular season and one at the Big 12 Tournament. Do that, and they will have a shot.

Problem is, I don’t see five more wins on the schedule:

• TCU

• at Texas

• BYU

• West Virginia

• at Cincinnati

• at Kansas

• Iowa State

The Wildcats will only be the obvious favorite in one more game (West Virginia at home) and they will be obvious underdogs in five more games (at Texas, BYU, at Cincinnati, at Kansas, Iowa State). K-State absolutely has to beat TCU on Saturday. There will be some reason to hope if they can defeat the Horned Frogs.

But it won’t be an easy journey. K-State is currently trying to avoid playing on the opening night of the Big 12 Tournament as a bottom four team in the conference. It will have to end the season playing much better basketball than it has been playing lately.

What does the women’s basketball need to do down the stretch to host games in the NCAA Tournament? - Andrew B. via e-mail

The selection committee unveiled its top 16 teams (at the moment) earlier this week and K-State was ranked at No. 13.

That means that if the women’s NCAA Tournament started right now then the Wildcats would host games as a No. 4 seed in the Portland region.

If K-State can simply maintain its current position then we will see postseason basketball at Bramlage Coliseum next month.

The Wildcats close out the regular season with games against UCF, West Virginia, Kansas, Iowa State and Texas Tech. Not exactly a murderer’s row. K-State could easily win all five of those games and get back in the mix for a Big 12 championship.

Star center Ayoka Lee returned from injury and scored 20 points in a double overtime loss at Iowa State this week. As long as she stays healthy, I think the Wildcats will remain in good shape to host.

I can’t recall a season with so many HC ejections. (Self, Sampson, Drew) Are the other conferences seeing this as well? - @BusMedicMike via X

Three ejections in a season is very rare for a conference.

Most years, you don’t see it happen at all. If it does happen, it’s only once. Twice tops. Three times is unheard of. The weird thing is that it has happened to the kingping coaches of the conference. Bill Self and Scott Drew have both won national championships. Kelvin Sampson has been to multiple Final Fours. These are the guys that Big 12 refs are ejecting from games?

He wasn’t ejected from a game, but Jerome Tang picked up technical fouls in consecutive games earlier this season and then blasted a Big 12 official afterward.

I don’t know how to explain it, other than that it does seem like officiating has hit rock bottom this season in the Big 12. The games are way too physical, and it’s never been harder to win on the road. Home court should be worth about three points over the course of a game, not 15.

That doesn’t excuse Big 12 coaches from being overly critical of Big 12 refs. But three ejections in less than two months is excessive.

Thoughts on what Will Howard’s high school coach had to say about Howard’s time at Kansas State? - Jeff M. via e-mail

For those who didn’t see it, The Athletic wrote a story this week about what Ohio State fans can expect from Will Howard next season.

Howard’s high school coach was interviewed and he said this about Howard’s four years with the Wildcats:

“He wasn’t thrilled about how it all went. He felt like he had to re-win it every year, but he stayed and fought. In a day and age when kids get in the portal early, Will Howard never did.”

It’s the type of answer you would expect from one of Howard’s biggest supporters. But there is some hyperbole in there. Howard didn’t win the starting QB job until the second half of his junior year with the Wildcats when Adrian Martinez went down with an injury and Howard led K-State to a Big 12 championship.

Skylar Thompson was the opening day starter when Howard was both a freshman and a sophomore. Then the Wildcats brought in Martinez as a one-year transfer to start when Howard was a junior.

Howard was only the opening day starter as a senior. And he never had to “re-win” the job after that, even though some fans wanted Avery Johnson to take over after he ran for five touchdowns against Texas Tech.

It would be more accurate to say Howard was frustrated because K-State let Thompson return for an extra year and then signed Martinez as a transfer rather than let Howard take command of the offense. But the Wildcats were loyal to Howard after he “won” the job as a junior.

What’s interesting is Ohio State didn’t stop recruiting quarterbacks after it landed Howard. He might have to “win” and then “re-win” the starting job there, too.

At the end of the day, I don’t think this quote is worthy of much oxygen. Besides, the second half of the quote is dead on. Howard easily could have transferred as a young quarterback, but he stuck around and led the Wildcats to a conference title. He deserves kudos for that.

K-State fans should wish him nothing but the best with the Buckeyes.

Any predictions on player rating for NCAA 25? - @Wildcatsman69 via X

Avery Johnson’s speed rating should be close to 99.

With him at quarterback and DJ Giddens at running back, K-State could be a really fun team to play with in the new college football video game from EA Sports.

If you could be inside the Willie Costume for one game in K-State history, which game would you mascot? - @ras2017 via X

My guess is you are expecting me to pick a thrilling K-State victory in which Willie was able to pump up the home fans and crowd surf when the game was over.

But I’m not going to provide that kind of answer.

Sure, it would be fun to watch a game from inside the Willie costume when the Wildcats are, say, beating rival Kansas 63-0. But it would also be exhausting.

I have no desire to cheer after that many points. And I really don’t want to attempt 315 push ups during the course of a game.

Instead, give me a nice lazy game like the time Oklahoma demolished Kansas State 55-0 in 2014. No push ups required. There also decent weather that day. Not too hot to wear the Willie head.

There is some allure to picking a game in the early 2000s when K-State made it a tradition for Willie to tackle some poor dude at midfield who was dressed up in the visiting team’s gear. But I would hate to be sued for injuring that unfortunate person.

So give me a shutout loss.

Did any former Wildcats pick up stat lines in the Super Bowl? I’m thinking Felix may have been in on a play or two. - Kirk Z via e-mail.

Felix Anudike-Uzomah rewarded the Chiefs for using a first-round pick on him when he made an important tackle for loss at the Super Bowl last week.

Ekow Boye-Doe will get a ring, but his name did not show up in the box score.