Last Season: 26–8, Sweet 16

	Ohlde leads the youth movement in Manhattan.

Ticket scalping in most of the country is a crime. In Manhattan, Kan., it's a dream come true. "When I took over in 1996, I had a dream we'd fill Bramlage for a women's game," says Deb Patterson. "To know people are scalping tickets, sprinting for premier seats -- that's once in a lifetime." After the program's first Tourney wins in nearly two decades, look for once-in-a-lifetime to last at least three more seasons. Freshmen dominated the 2001-02 squad; the roster contains no seniors. Leading the youth movement are 6'4" junior C Nicole Ohlde (17.9 ppg, 7.7 rpg) and soph wings Laurie Koehn (17.6 ppg, 122 threes) and Kendra Wecker (16.4 ppg, 7.8 rpg). How fitting that the woman running the show, soph PG Megan Mahoney, does everything (8.4 ppg, 5.4 rpg, 4.6 apg) but sell tickets.

One Step Ahead: Ohlde, Wecker and Koehn hail from tiny specks on the Kansas map. Patterson likes to say her thick playbook contains "complex sets for simple folk." KSU can baffle foes with 10 different offensive looks in one half, plus three or four matchup zones on the other end. That makes the Wildcats a tough draw come March.

One Step Behind: It's hard to build quality depth recruiting to a small town against glitzier Big 12 teams. Only seven players averaged double-figure minutes last season, and the four returning starters all played over 30 mpg. After opening 20–2, the Cats finished 6–6, with just one of those final 12 games decided by 13 points or less.

2002-2003 NCAA PREVIEW
WOMEN
1. Duke Blue Devils	5. LSU Tigers
2. Tennessee Volunteers	6. Texas Tech Red Raiders
3. Kansas State Wildcats	7. Texas Longhorns
4. UConn Huskies	8. Stanford Cardinal

This article will appear in the November 25 issue of ESPN The Magazine.