The questions and projections are a thing of the past.

We now know No. 15 Kansas State (25-8, 14-4 Big 12 Conference) will play in the NCAA Tournament as a No. 4 seed in the South Region. The Wildcats' opening game will be played against No. 13 seed UC-Irvine (30-5) in San Jose on Friday.

The Anteaters are 30-game winners out of the Big West Conference and have won 16 straight games. Irvine is both the Big West regular season and conference tournament champion. Their five losses are to Toledo, Utah State, Butler, Pacific and Long Beach State.

If the Wildcats are fortunate enough to advance past the opening game they would play the winner of No. 5 Wisconsin vs. No. 12 Oregon for the right to advance to the Sweet 16, which would be played in Louisville.

This will be the fourth trip to the South Regional for K-State, including the third straight appearance in the South. It's also the fourth time K-State will be a No. 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament. This will represent the Wildcats' first trip to San Jose as part of the NCAA Tournament.

K-State, who earned the No. 1 seed in the Big 12 Championship after sharing the regular-season crown with Texas Tech, advanced to the Elite Eight last season as a No. 9 seed.

The Wildcats have the same projected starting five - Kam Stokes, Cartier Diarra, Barry Brown, Xavier Sneed and Makol Mawien - as the group that fell one game shy of the Final Four last season.

K-State and UC-Irvine did play a season ago, with the Wildcats winning 71-49 in Manhattan.

Stay tuned to KSO for live reaction from the Wildcats and a detailed look at the draw K-State is facing.

Kansas State was rewarded for a successful season on Sunday, as the Wildcats earned their 31st overall bid to the NCAA Tournament, including the fifth in seven seasons under head coach Bruce Weber.

The Big 12 co-champion, K-State (25-8, 14-4 Big 12) was selected as a No. 4 seed in the South Regional and will travel to San Jose, Calif., to play No. 13 seed and Big West Conference regular-season and tournament champion UC Irvine (30-5, 15-1 Big West) in the first round on Friday, March 22 at SAP Center. The winner will advance to play the winner of the No. 5 seed Wisconsin (23-10, 14-6 Big Ten) and No. 12 seed Oregon (23-12, 10-8 Pac-12) on Sunday, March 24.

K-State was the No. 15 overall seed in the 2019 NCAA Tournament, including third among the four No. 4 seeds (trailing Kansas and Florida State).

The Wildcats will be joined at the venue by No. 4 seed Virginia Tech (24-8), No. 5 Mississippi State (23-10), No. 12 Liberty (28-6) and No. 13 Saint Louis (22-12) of the East Regional. The top seeds in the South Regional are No. 1 seed Virginia (29-3), No. 2 seed Tennessee (29-4), No. 3 seed Purdue (23-9), No. 4 seed K-State (25-8), No. 5 seed Wisconsin (23-10), No. 6 seed Villanova (25-9) and No. 7 seed Cincinnati (28-6).

K-State and UC Irvine will tip off at 1 p.m., CT (11 a.m., PT) with the matchup between No. 5 seed Wisconsin and No. 12 seed Oregon to follow 30 minutes after the conclusion of the first game. The game will be broadcast nationally on TBS with Spero Dedes, Len Elmore, Steve Smith and Ros Gold-Onwude.

Public requests for NCAA Tournament tickets are available until 5 p.m., CT on Monday. Please click here to request tickets exclusively within the K-State allotment. Tickets are priced at $66 (upper level) and $100 (lower level).

K-State is making its 38th postseason appearance, which includes 31 in the NCAA Tournament and seven in the Postseason NIT. The Wildcats advance to the NCAA Tournament for the ninth time in the last 13 seasons, including in three consecutive seasons for the first time since making five straight appearances from 2010 to 2014. The program has now advanced to the postseason 11 times in the last 13 seasons (nine trips to NCAA Tournament and two to the NIT). The 31 overall bids rank 20th nationally, including fourth among Big 12 schools (Kansas [49], Texas [34] and Oklahoma [32]).

In its last NCAA appearance, No. 9 seed K-State advanced to its 12th Elite Eight by knocking off No. 8 seed Creighton (69-59), No. 16 seed UMBC (50-43) and No. 5 seed Kentucky (61-58) before losing to No. 11 seed Loyola Chicago (78-62) in the South Regional Final in Atlanta. Ten current players saw action in one or more of those NCAA Tournament games, including starts in all 3 games by seniors Barry Brown, Jr. and Kamau Stokes and juniors Makol Mawien and Xavier Sneed. K-State has a 10-8 NCAA Tournament mark in its last eight appearances.

The program has posted a 37-34 all-time record in NCAA Tournament play, including 11-5 in the first round. The school will be making its third consecutive appearance (2017-19) in the South Regional and the fourth overall with the other trip coming in 1993 and is 4-3 all-time in the region. K-State will be making its third appearance as a No. 4 seed and the first since the 2013 NCAA Tournament, in which, the Wildcats lost to No. 13 seed La Salle, 63-61, in the West Regional in Kansas City. The other appearance as a No. 4 seed came in the 1988 NCAA Tournament when the school advanced to the Elite Eight by defeating No. 13 La Salle (66-53), No. 5 DePaul (66-58) and No. 1 Purdue (73-70) before falling to No. 6 Kansas (71-58) in Pontiac, Mich. Overall, the school is 3-2 as a No. 4 seed.

In K-State’s 30 previous NCAA Tournament appearances, the Wildcats have advanced to the Sweet 16 a total of 17 times. The program has also reached the Elite Eight 12 times, made four Final Four appearances and played in one National Championship game (1951).

Head coach Bruce Weber becomes fourth different coach to lead K-State to at least five NCAA Tournament appearances, joining Jack Hartman (1970-86), Tex Winter (1954-68) and Frank Martin (2007-12). Overall, Weber advances to his 13th NCAA Tournament, which includes six at Illinois and two at Southern Illinois. He is 41st head coach in NCAA history to take three schools to the tournament, including the 21st active coach. He has a 15-12 record in the NCAA Tournament with four trips to the Sweet 16, two in the Elite Eight and the 2005 Final Four.

K-State earned its fifth 20-win season under Weber and finished as co-champion of the Big 12 with Texas Tech with identical 14-4 marks. The Wildcats have posted 25 wins in consecutive seasons for the first time in school history, while the 14 in Big 12 play tie the 1958-59 and 2012-13 squads for the most in school history. The team is led by All-Big 12 First Team selections Barry Brown, Jr. (14.9 ppg., 4.1 rpg.) and Dean Wade (12.9 ppg., 6.2 rpg.) as well as All-Big 12 Honorable Mention picks Kamau Stokes (10.8 ppg., 3.3 apg.) and Xavier Sneed (10.6 ppg., 5.5 rpg.)

The Big West Conference regular-season and tournament champion, UC Irvine enters Friday’s game with a 30-5 overall record, which has won 16 consecutive games dating back to January 19. The Anteaters boast one of the best defenses in the country, allowing just 63.3 points per game on 38 percent shooting, including 33.2 percent from 3-point range, while grabbing 40.3 rebounds per contest. They are a balanced squad with nine or more players averaging 5 or more points led by Big West Defensive Player of the Year and All-Big West First Team selection Jonathan Galloway (7.0 ppg., 8.0 rpg.), All-Big West Second Team selection Max Hazzard (12.5 ppg., 1.9 rpg.) and All-Big West honorable mention pick Evan Leonard (11.1 ppg., 2.5 rpg.).

UC Irvine is led by head coach Russell Turner, who has a 187-127 (.595) record in 10 seasons at the helm of the Anteaters, which includes six postseason appearances in the last seven seasons.

This will be second meeting between K-State and UC Irvine on the hardwood and in consecutive seasons after the Wildcats earned a 71-49 victory at home on Nov. 17, 2017. Kamau Stokes was one of three Wildcats in double figures with a game-high 14 points, as neither team shot 40 percent from the field.

The winner of Friday’s first-round matchup will face either No. 5 seed Wisconsin (23-10, 14-6 Big Ten) or No. 12 seed Oregon (23-12, 10-8 Pac-12) on Sunday. The Badgers, who placed fourth in the Big Ten, are led three-time First Team All-Big Ten selection Ethan Happ, who leads the squad in scoring (17.5 ppg.), rebounding (10.1 rpg.) and assists (4.6 apg.). All-Big Ten honorable mention pick D’Mitrik Trice averages 11.7 points per game.

Led by former K-State head coach Dana Altman, the Pac-12 Tournament champion Ducks are one of the hottest teams in the country with eight consecutive wins since Feb. 23. Three players are averaging in double figures led by Pac-12 honorable mention selection Louis King (13.1 ppg.), Pac-12 Tournament MVP Payton Prichard (12.7 ppg.) and Paul White (10.6 ppg.). Pac-12 All-Defensive Team member Kenny Wooten has a team-high 62 blocks.

K-State is 2-4 all-time against Wisconsin, including 0-2 in the NCAA Tournament (2008, 2011), and 2-2 all-time against Oregon, including losing a home-and-home series in 2007 and 2008.

The four teams are among the best defensive teams in the country, allowing 59.2 points (K-State), Wisconsin (61.4 ppg.), Oregon (62.9 ppg.) and UC Irvine (63.3 ppg.) to all rank in the Top 20 nationally in scoring defense.

K-State was one of eight Big 12 teams to earn berths to the NCAA Tournament and NIT, including six in the Big Dance, joining No. 3 seed Texas Tech (West), No. 4 seed Kansas (Midwest), No. 6 seed Iowa State (Midwest) and No. 9 seeds Baylor (West) and Oklahoma (South). In addition, TCU is a No. 1 seed and Texas a No. 2 seed in the NIT. The Big 12 has eight or more combined teams in the two tournaments for the second straight season.

In addition, all three Division I programs in the state of Kansas (Kansas, Kansas State and Wichita State) all advanced to the NCAA Tournament or NIT for sixth time in eight seasons.

PRESS CONFERENCE QUOTES

K-State Head Coach Bruce Weber

On what he remembers of UC Irvine from 2017…

“Well, one he’s (Russell Turner) a very, very good coach. I think if you’d talk to any of the coaches out west they would consider him a good coach, a basketball coach that they respect. They came in here and we beat them by a fairly decent amount of points but they were huge, I remember that. They have a lot of size, they are very good defensively, and they rebound the basketball. They are +7 this year for that. They have, I think it’s eight or nine guys they have that played against us last year, and when I talked to them after, if you look at their schedule they had like eight or nine road games in a 10 game stretch and I said, ‘why are you doing that?’ and he said, ‘because we’re going to be really good next year and I want home games.’ So, they’ve won 30 games, obviously one at Texas A&M early in the year and one at Saint Mary’s. Some pretty good wins in anybody’s books so they’re legit, they’re a good team and he’s a good coach. We’re going to have to get ready to play. They’re one of the top teams in the country in 2-point field goal defense. I think they hold their opponents to high 30’s to 40’s from two. Rebounding and their size will definitely be a concern.”

On the excitement of Selection Sunday…

“I think this is, to me it’s for the players. To have that opportunity to earn it, it’s always special, there’s no doubt. To be part of it, to sit here and watch with the guys. I told them, this is their reward for working hard since last April when we set goals. When we get in there and get a better seed than we were a year ago, all the things. Now, what are you doing to do with it? That’s the whole key.”

On Dean Wade’s status…

“He is going to get examined tomorrow by the doctors, them hopefully he’s making some progress. Then we will see where he is at. I don’t know if the appointment is in the morning or the afternoon but I know that he is going in.”

On expectations of where the team would be seeded…

“I thought 3-5. I don’t study it as much as everybody else. You know, obviously if we would have won a couple of those games, Tulsa and Texas A&M on the road, we probably would have been more of a 3-seed. I’m not sure our league got quite the respect that it should have deserved. Those TCU, Texas, it is kind of in between. It’s interesting, we will have to study it and see how much that net rating was a factor, road games things like that. Texas Tech gets a 3-seed, their net is a lot higher, but they didn’t play road games so I don’t know. Its tid-for-tat. You have to play somebody and you have to play well. You have to have a good mental framework. We have until Friday, which is positive I think for us, just to get a little bit more rest. We took off yesterday and today. Some of the guys worked out that don’t play a lot of minutes. Today and tomorrow we will do a lot of shooting and weights, staring watching UC-Irvine tape and practice Tuesday, Wednesday then head out there and hopefully have good prep.”

On importance of Barry Brown, Jr. and Kamau Stokes on tournament run…

“They have carried us. For four years, they have been really important. With Dean (Wade), you throw Xavier Sneed in the mix for the last three, those guys are really important. They have experience, we said after that after the last four in, or when we were the last team in a couple of years ago we got that experience to beat Wake Forest and go on to Sacramento and play Cincinnati. I said at the time it was so good to reward the seniors, Wes (Iwundu) DJ (Johnson) it felt pretty good but also for the young guys to get a taste of it. They took the taste of it and they wanted more. They had the opportunity last year and took it a whole another step but I think the thing that we have emphasized and I have really talked to them about is that every game is different. That’s something that we have tried to teach and learn throughout the year. You can’t mentally say we are going to do this or that. Every game is different and the ball bounces, different shots go in, they don’t go in, but, control what you can control. We better guard the heck out of people, we have to play our butts off, in this case we are going to have to rebound, then share the basketball. When we share the basketball we are pretty good.”

On difficulty of getting out of the first week of the NCAA tournament…

“Well I think it’s with anybody. The whole thing is you have to get in the mindset. I have told them, and I have told you guys before, one of my most disappointing games in my career was in 2013, playing in Kansas City. I guess maybe I was trying to make them think ahead, because I brought it up to them at Christmas, I didn’t know that we were going to win the league like we did in 2013, basically the same seed then we had to play the play-in game. I think that gave them a little bit of an advantage, but I hope that we have them ready to go. They have been really good, not every game but for the most part our focus and consistency. If you think about how good Iowa State was and they were 9-9 in our league. So, kudos to our guys for being so consistent without injuries, with injuries, with illnesses all the things they went through and still have that consistency to win seven road games and 14 conference games to win the league title, to come back in the tournament, obviously we played Iowa State until the end. I woke up this morning again and I had to watch it again. We made them (the team) watch it again, part of it. It’s all for them to learn and get better and hopefully we will be better on Friday.”

On how much the team will draw on last year’s experience...

“I think that it is important. The only thing is, they can’t anticipate that they are going to win. That’s what I have said, foreshadowing, whatever the words are, trying to get them to think ahead, I have been trying to put things in their head about importance of preparation, understanding our opponent and all that stuff. They knew we played them last year but I don’t think they knew the score. For the most part, they know how important it is and how important the preparation is.”

On playing without Dean Wade…

“We’ve been through it. We’ve been through it this year. He didn’t play five, six games and a couple of the games after that he played 15-20 minutes. We won at Iowa State with him playing minimal minutes and scoring 2 points. So, the only thing is with this team, they are big. So playing TCU and Iowa State it was small-ball, this is Austin (Trice), Levi (Stockard III), they are probably going to have to come through for us.”

On traveling out to San Jose..

“Our goal is to get out there Tuesday night if we can. If you look at us, we have been pretty good on the road. I kind of said that we have a road-dog mentality. I hope our experience, our guys being through it before, not the first time, has a bigger impact. And the schedule that we have played. They played Utah State, they played Saint Mary’s, Toledo’s a good team. Not the grind that we have played, hopefully that will prepare us.”

On advantage of getting a Friday game…

“I think for our sake it is probably a good thing. There’s no doubt. Especially going across country. This gives, even Barry (Brown, Jr.) was complaining about a couple of things. Not only playing on Friday gives us another day of rest and another day to get across country. You guy’s follow us, we have been pretty good. We try to leave early and get to some places and when we are able to do that our preparation focus is very good.”

On Xavier Sneed’s impact…

“I think that his all-around game is better. Obviously, his defensive abilities to stop people, a variety of people. We have put him on the point guard, we have put him on the four, we have put him on the three. The other night, if you go really study, I know (Marial) Shayok made some big shots late, but in the guts of the game he did a good job on Shayok, he did well defending him. He wasn’t in there late because he was kind of hurting, kind of buggered up there. Just two nights in-a-row, the whole thing kind of took its toll. I think defensively he was better, he’s rebounding better. A key rebound was when they (Iowa State) hit the three and he wasn’t in there, if you think about a lot of games, late in games who goes and gets that rebound, he’s the one. So hopefully, a couple of extra days of rest he can get healthy because he can give us that part. Then his versatility, of being able to score the basketball, outside, inside. He didn’t shoot it really well Friday night, he had some good looks, I think he has advanced his game in a lot of ways.”

KAMAU STOKES, SENIOR GUARD

On the sense of urgency this tournament…

“It’s either win or go home and that’s what we’re emphasizing right now, how much we want to stay alive in that tournament so we gotta be prepared for a tough game Friday.”

On sharing this Senior tournament with Barry Brown…

“This is my guy, man. I love him to death. Knowing that this is our last run together, it means a lot to me. So we’re gonna go out there and give it our all and hopefully we have the run like we did and move further than that.”

On how much they plan to draw from last year’s Elite 8 run...

“The experience helps a lot, we know how to handle certain situations and having everyone back from that team last year during our run, it means a lot because they know what to do in the tournament, they know how to handle all the pressure if there’s any and they know how to prepare for certain teams.”

On the advantage they get from playing a team they played last year…

“I don’t know that it’s an advantage, I’m pretty sure they got better just like we did so we’ve got to look at that film, see things they did, see things they do this year and just adjust to that.”

On Xavier Sneed’s performance in March…

“It just shows how tough he is, it shows what he’s capable of athletically. And skill-wise he just gives us a different look, especially since he’s playing the four sometimes now that [Senior Forward Dean Wade’s] out, he’ll definitely help out like he did in the tournament last year.”

On having another chance at the tournament after battling injuries last year…

“It’s definitely rewarding to have another shot, I feel fine though.”

On the difficulty of winning the first two rounds…

“It’s a quick turn-around. That’s one of the things that the tournament we just came off of helps you with, preparing for the quick turn-around because you have to get ready for a different team hours after you’re done playing so knowing that it’s a quick turn-around, you have to be focused, get out of there and get ready for your next opponent.”

On the difference watching this selection show compared to last…

“The last two years we weren’t so sure that we’d be getting in. This year we knew we were pretty much in, just had to figure out what seed we were gonna be, who we were gonna be playing but overall being in the tournament is still exciting, but now I feel like this time will be a little bit more comfortable because we are in that high seed."

On hearing someone picking against K-State…

“People doubted us when we were winning, people doubted us when we were losing, so that’s why I chuckled because no matter, there will be people out there doubting you. It’s really up to us so if we handle our business, there won’t be no upsets.”

On a being the hunted this year as opposed to being an eight seed last year…

“Right now it doesn’t feel different because we’ve been the hunted all year so it doesn’t feel different at all. And like I said, if we do what we need to do and are supposed to do, there won’t be any disappointments.”

BARRY BROWN JR., SENIOR GUARD

On if poor shooting in Kansas City has an effect going forward…

“It is a clean slate man. I’m not really worried about it. It is kind of like a new season nothing that happened in the past matters. Percentages don’t matter and all the other stats and things like that do not matter. People do things that you do not expect in March, so none of these things matter moving forward.”

On being a four seed …

“I was happy. I was happy just for everyone, our guys, coaches and everyone that likes K-State. Knowing the hard work that we put in. It could have been higher with some wins here and there but for the most part I am happy with a four seed.”

On if he knows anything about U.C. Irvine…

“We played them last year. They have everyone back and are a good team we just have to be ready to play.”

On drawing on last year’s experience in the tournament…

“Not really too much. It is in the back of my mind that we are capable now it is about doing it. This year is a new team. It is a new team we are going to play. We are still a new team because we have grown and had these experiences. We have developed and got better and can do different things. So were a new team we are playing a different team in a different arena so it is going to be different. Having that run last year is good but march is here and it is time to do something different.”

On people picking this game as the 4/13 upset…

“I respect them. They have 30 wins this year they are a good team. It is all about respecting them and understanding they have everyone back from last year. We just gotta go into the game understanding they could beat us and it is all about surviving and advancing, win or go home, do everything right. So we have to be ready to play.”

On the feeling that any game could be their last…

“It keeps us on an edge a little more. It gives us that edge and kind of grit. It is different when you are going into a game when you feel like I am going to win it regardless it does not matter what happens. The healthy feel allows us to come into the game with that edge and kinda grit with a chip on our shoulder. It causes us to do all the little things. Diving on the floor and getting rebounds all of the little things. Making more shots and the extra pass and just trying to do everything right to get that win.”

On rest and getting healthy…

“I took a day off. I am trying to get right mentally and physically to get ready for what is coming up. U.C. Irvine is going to have my full undivided attention. I did not rest after the regular season because it was too quick of a turnaround.”