Postgame: Kansas 72, K-State 64

A win over Kansas in the Big 12 Tournament championship game would have gone down as one of the top moments in the modern era of K-State sports.

It didn't happen, and Wildcats players cried when they realized they missed out on a tremendous opportunity.

But in the grand scheme of things, Saturday's highly competitive loss to the Jayhawks wasn't a season-altering setback. Not even close. Yes, K-State had everything to gain from winning on the Big 12's grandest stage, but it also had nothing to lose.

When the NCAA Tournament selection show begins at 5 p.m. today, the Wildcats will like what they see. A No. 2 seed, a spot in the Oklahoma City sub-regional, some praise from the program's hosts ... All are likely to occur.

So even though it's understandable that K-State players are upset right now, their pain shouldn't last for long.

A new, more important season is on the horizon. They are moving on to bigger and better things, and they will require all their focus.

Assuming it can recover from this loss (which it will) and play with the steady enthusiasm/intensity it showed this week at the Sprint Center (which it should) K-State will be able to succeed in the Big Dance.

Losing a tough game to Kansas doesn't change that.

Emptying the notebook:
-- Wally Judge may be positioning himself for some strong games in the NCAA Tournament. Against Kansas he scored seven points and grabbed four rebounds in nine minutes of action.

He said he is feeling more confident than ever, and the team has only one goal in mind moving forward.

"We're going to do everything we can to win six games," Judge said. "That's all any of us are thinking about right now."

-- K-State coach Frank Martin worked the officials throughout the first half, and he had good reason to do so. The Wildcats attempted zero free throws in the first half.

Though some of that had to do with K-State settling for jumpers, it went to the basket too often to not get at least one trip to the charity stripe.

The referees immediately sent Dominique Sutton to the free-throw line four times at the start of the second half.

-- Jacob Pullen only scored two points in the first half. K-State's leading scorer can't let that happen again.

-- Curtis Kelly said it didn't much bother him losing to the same team three times in a season. It was how K-State lost to Kansas all three times that bugged him.

"We were right there in all three games," Kelly said. "We just couldn't get past them."

K-State could have won the first game in Manhattan with one more play or a lucky bounce. It could have won on Saturday by coming out to a strong start.

-- Jamar Samuels was apparently displeased by the ratio of Kansas fans to K-State fans at the Sprint Center.

Via his twitter feed Saturday night: "Where was the K-State fans tonight? I seen all blue."

When Kansas made its final push, the arena certainly sounded closer to Allen Fieldhouse than it did a neutral court. But early on, the crowd advantage wasn't that severe. Maybe 70 percent KU and 30 percent K-State. I'm not good at those kind of estimates.

But K-State athletic director John Currie told me he thought the Wildcats' fans were louder than KU's during pregame introductions.

Player of the game: Cole Aldrich. The country's best true center frustrated K-State's big men all night with his defense. The Wildcats found it very difficult to shoot around him.

Play of the game: K-State had one good shot to get back in the game late. Down by six points, Samuels missed a wide-open trey quickly into a possession, and the Jayhawks responded by scoring immediately on the other end. The swing put the game out of reach.

Do this again: Samuels is a real threat when he steps outside and swishes three-pointers. He looked good shooting the ball twice in the Big 12 Tournament.

Try to avoid: Against top competition, K-State can't afford to play tight, sloppy, or poorly at the beginning of games. It took the Wildcats more than five minutes to score against Kansas, and they were playing catch up the rest of the way. Sure, they showed lots of fight trying to take the lead in the second half, but it's always easier to play from ahead.

Bottom line: K-State likely assured itself a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament, and a spot in Oklahoma City for the first two rounds by going 2-1 at the Sprint Center. All things considered, that made the trip to Kansas City a success.