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The Kansas State Wildcats finished the season 26-7 and 11-5 in Big 12 Conference play. The Wildcats are a #2 seed in the NCAA West Regional for the 2010 NCAA Basketball tournament. The Wildcats have big wins this season over Xavier, Texas A&M, and Baylor. They have losses to Ole Miss, Missouri, and a late, March loss to Iowa State. Coach Frank Martin is 1-1 lifetime in NCAA tournament games and K State last appeared in the 2008 NCAA Tourney where they lost to Wisconsin in the 2^nd round.

Kansas State is lead by Jacob Pullen (18.9 ppg0 and Denis Clemente (16.2 ppg, 4.2 apg) with Pullen being the team leader in scoring this season. Pullen has been shooting 38.4 % from 3 and also scores a number of his points from inside of the paint. Both players combine for 7.7 assists per game.

When K State has lost this season, they have turned the ball over at a 15.0 turnover per game rate. They also have a lack of depth in the front court making the Wildcats vulnerable when either Jamar Samuels or Luis Colon get into foul trouble. Junior Curtis Kelly (11.1 ppg, 6.3 rpg) provides additional interior scoring for the Wildcats and Dominique Sutton adds 7.5 rpg.

Kansas State scores 79.9 ppg which is 13^th in the nation and gives up 69.3 ppg on defense. The Wildcats shoot 45.3 % from the field and hold opponents to 41.8%. As a team, they average 6.6 3’s a game shooting at a 35.1 % clip. Their free throw percentage is a bit below par at 66.5% and the Wildcats have less than a 1.0 assist-to-turnover ration as a team. They do have a 5.2 rebounding margin per game.

K State has a tough opening round game against BYU. In the second round, they will either face a resurgent Minnesota team or Pitt.

A couple of weeks into the NCAA hoops season and it is a surprise name at the top of the scoring rankings in Washington State’s sophomore guard Klay Thompson, a player who has more than doubled his points output in his second season.

Although many expected the Cougars to be a decent team this season, most were looking to Reggie Moore and DeAngelo Casto to provide the points on a consistent basis, leaving Thompson’s outburst as something of a shock.

Washington State has yet to play anyone particularly special in the early going, but that changes this week with road games against ranked Gonzaga and also a Kansas State side which recently beat then No 18 Dayton on the road as well.

By the end of the week we should know just how good Thompson might be, although if you ask any of the San Diego Toreros he played against in the final of the Great Alaska Shootout on Saturday, you’ll probably just get a series of expletives

Thompson went off for a career high 43 points, hitting 16-of-24 shots and connecting on eight shots from beyond the arc. He is shooting a quite ridiculous (and improbable) 56.3% from the floor as well as providing decent rebound numbers and adding in a couple of steals per game as well.

His 28.3 points per game sees him head off Arkansas’ Rotnei Clarke and Houston’s Aubrey Coleman at the top of the scoring charts with only Luke Harangody of Notre Dame representing the players who had been expected to be at the top of the standings making his way into the top 10.

The performances were also enough for him to be named Pac-10 player of the week for the second week running, only the 17^th player in history to manage that feat. Can he keep it up? Well if he does Cougar fans are going to enjoy a really successful season and end it with a berth in the NCAA Championship – perhaps with basketball betting backing them to go into the deeper stages.

By Andy Charles – A professional sports writer who blogs about College Basketball and NBA Predictions .

2009 Kansas State Wildcats Basketball Schedule

Sun, Nov 08   Pittsburg State (Exh.)  Manhattan    3 p.m. 

Fri, Nov 13   Loyola Chicago  Manhattan    7 p.m. 

Sun, Nov 15   Western Illinois  Manhattan    3 p.m. 

O’Reilly Auto Parts Puerto Rico Tipoff 

Thu, Nov 19   Boston University  at San Juan, Puerto Rico    6:30 p.m. 

Fri, Nov 20   Indiana/Ole Miss  at San Juan, Puerto Rico    5/7:30 p.m. 

Sun, Nov 22   TBA  at San Juan, Puerto Rico    TBA 

K-State Holiday Classic 

Sat, Nov 28   IUPUI  Kansas City, Mo. (Sprint Center)    3:30 p.m. 

Tue, Dec 01   Fort Hays State  Manhattan    7 p.m. 

Big 12 / Pac-10 Hardwood Series 

Sat, Dec 05   Washington State  Manhattan    8 p.m. 

Tue, Dec 08   Xavier  Manhattan    8 p.m. 

Sat, Dec 12   UNLV  at Las Vegas, Nev. (Orleans Arena)    6 p.m. 

Coors Classic 

Sat, Dec 19   Alabama  at Mobile, Ala. (Mitchell Center)    8 p.m. 

Mon, Dec 21   Arkansas-Pine Bluff  Manhattan    7 p.m. 

Tue, Dec 29   Cleveland State  Manhattan    7 p.m. 

2010 Kansas State Wildcats Basketball Schedule

Sun, Jan 03   South Dakota  Manhattan    12 p.m. 

Sat, Jan 09   Missouri *  at Columbia, Mo.    1 p.m. 

Tue, Jan 12   Texas A&M *  Manhattan    6 p.m. 

Sat, Jan 16   Colorado *  at Boulder, Colo.    3 p.m. 

Mon, Jan 18   Texas *  Manhattan    8 p.m. 

Sat, Jan 23   Oklahoma State *  Manhattan    3 p.m. 

Tue, Jan 26   Baylor *  at Waco, Texas    7 p.m. 

Sat, Jan 30   Kansas *  Manhattan    6 p.m. 

Tue, Feb 02   Nebraska *  at Lincoln, Neb.    7 p.m. 

Sat, Feb 06   Iowa State *  at Ames, Iowa    1 p.m. 

Sat, Feb 13   Colorado *  Manhattan    5 p.m. 

Wed, Feb 17   Nebraska *  Manhattan    6 p.m. 

Sat, Feb 20   Oklahoma *  at Norman, Okla.    5 p.m. 

Tue, Feb 23   Texas Tech *  at Lubbock, Texas    7 p.m. 

Sat, Feb 27   Missouri *  Manhattan    7 p.m. 

Wed, Mar 03   Kansas *  at Lawrence, Kan.    7 p.m. 

Sat, Mar 06   Iowa State *  Manhattan    5 p.m. 

Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship 

Wed, Mar 10   TBA  at Kansas City, Mo. (Sprint Center)    TBA