The Wildcats (21-13) advance to the first round to face Cincinnati on Friday at 7:27 p.m. ET.
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Although being in the NCAA Tournament is new to these Wake Forest Demon Deacons, their track record with Big 12 teams might give bettors confidence.
Since the NCAA instituted the First Four in 2011, one of the two at-large winners has won a second NCAA tournament game every year.
Despite that Kansas State had balanced scoring and led 40-36 at the break. “It was in the best interests of our team moving forward”.
Bruce Weber took his team to the big dance for the first time since 2014 and saw the Kansas beat a good team from the tough Atlantic Coast Conference. Fair enough. Maybe he has a point, given how strong this year’s team is. They lost to La Salle in his first year and Kentucky in his second year as the Wildcat Head coach. The physical style of play kept the Demon Deacons at the line, where they converted 29-of-32 attempts, but it also contributed to the victory.
The key to Kansas State’s success will come from Dean Wade.
Mount St. Mary’s Junior Robinson is the shortest player in Division I this season at 5-foot-5. Wake averages 82.7 points per game on offense while the defense is allowing 77.9 points per contest.
Kansas State placed sixth in the Big 12 and reached the 20-win mark, but the possibility of being passed over remained a real concern. Despite the presence of Collins down low, Wake Forest struggled inside the paint on both the offensive and defensive ends early.
After Kamau Stokes converted two free throws off an intentional foul, Stokes made a nice feed to Johnson in the lane for an easy layup and an 88-79 margin.
It was a breakthrough season for the Demon Deacons in coach Danny Manning’s third season.
Wake Forest won four of its last five games, which included wins over Louisville and Virginia Tech, before an ACC Tournament loss to Virginia Tech.
Wake is led by 6-foot-10 sophomore forward John Collins (18.9 ppg, 9.8 rpg), with help from guards Bryant Crawford (16.1 ppg) and Keyshawn Woods (12.8 ppg). They are among the best at causing turnovers, forcing 15.2 per game while averaging 7.8 steals.
Oddsmakers in Las Vegas now favor the Wildcats by one point.
The other No. 1 seeds project to be familiar faces, too: ACC champ Notre Dame, SEC champ SC and Baylor, which won the Big 12 regular-season title but then ran into the aforementioned Morgantown Express in the league final.
This will be Wake’s 23rd NCAA appearance.
Big Sky champion Montana State returns to the NCAA field for the first time since 1993. The Aggies don’t shoot well from anywhere on the floor, and thus they lean on stellar defense by their guards. However, this team has improved all season, and it’s proven that it can play with some of the best teams in the country.
“One of my first games at K-State, that’s a very heated rivalry, they were throwing live chickens at us”, Manning said.
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So we’ll see which team outside the top 16 gets the chance to host because the Cardinal can’t.
