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K-State did what KU and Mizzou couldn’t. And how Sweet 16 it is for Wildcats fans | Opinion

Kansas State is in the NCAA tournament round of 16, the first time in five years the Wildcats from the Little Apple — Manhattan, Kansas — advanced this deep in the Big Dance. How Sweet 16 it must be for Wildcats fans everywhere. A program often overshadowed by KU, its tradition-rich nemesis from Lawrence, advanced to the regional semifinals in the Big Apple.

Meanwhile the Jayhawks failed to make it past the tournament’s first weekend. As did the much-improved Missouri Tigers, led by first-year head coach Dennis Gates.

On Sunday, Kansas State, the No. 3 seed in the East Region, beat No. 6 seed Kentucky. The Wildcats will play Michigan State Thursday at New York’s Madison Square Garden. How fitting.

Yes, the Jayhawks were the defending national champions and went into this year’s NCAA tournament as the No. 1 seed in the West Region. Even without head coach Bill Self, who was sidelined for medical reasons, Kansas was expected to make it out of the second round.

Missouri’s path to the Sweet 16 was blocked by a pesky Princeton team in round two of the South Region in Sacramento.

Under first-year head coach Jerome Tang, the Wildcats are the only area program still dancing.

Fans should savor the moment. Who knows what next year brings? In this wild and wacky era of college athletics we’re in — name, image and likeness deals; freer player movement between teams and universities — dramatic improvement is possible, as both K-State and Mizzou showed us this season.

But it also means the team we cheered or booed last year might well be a very different team from the one we love right now. Rejoice and revel in each victory, Wildcats fans. Who knows what next season will bring?