KANSAS CITY - To me, there were four main goals for Kansas State at this week's Big 12 Championship at Sprint Center:

1. Win the tournament.

2. Get Cartier Diarra comfortable on the floor.

3. Show the NCAA Selection Committee you're a threat with or without Dean Wade.

4. Avoid further injury.

If two out of three ain't bad, what's three out of four?

Let's start with Goal No. 1, the only one that certainly wasn't accomplished by K-State.

The Wildcats exited the conference tournament with a 63-59 loss to Iowa State. (By the way, the Cyclones sure won the Dean Wade lottery this year. Only 22 minutes in his first game back in Ames, misses the stretch run of a tight game in Manhattan and then doesn't play in K.C.) The loss prevents the Wildcats from having an opportunity today to follow up a regular-season championship with a tournament trophy.

It's a disappointing result, and it's not what the Wildcats wanted.

That said, this is really the only one of those four goals you could easily find a sliver lining to missing.

This K-State team needs rest - desperately - and falling in a thriller last night, while painful, ensured K-State wasn't faced with another 40-minute battle today that would - at best - bump K-State up a single seed with a victory.

Goals two and three were both accomplished, and they fit together.

KMAN's John Kurtz Tweeted last night about how impressed the West Virginia coaches were with Cartier Diarra while scouting the Wildcats and Cyclones. I was fortunate enough to sit next to and interact with Kansas' coaches scouting at the same time, and they constantly shared praise among each other about how well Diarra was playing and the difference he makes.

A prominent KU assistant at one point in our conversation simply remarked, "They were great in the tournament last year without Dean, right? And now all these guys are back and better. They're going to be tough"

Diarra, who hadn't played since early February, looked like the Wildcats' best player over two days in Kansas City. He played more than 60 minutes combined over the two games, and while he clearly battled some fatigue (he missed his last three three-point tries after making his first four) he was far, far more advanced than anybody in purple could have hoped.

K-State knows what it has in Diarra going forward, and perhaps even more importantly Diarra knows what he's capable coming back from this injury.

While the status of Dean Wade remains in question, it's my opinion the selection committee should reward the Wildcats for what they've done all season (25 wins and a 14-4 Big 12 mark), what this group proved capable of without Wade a year ago, and what this team showed over a two-day span in Kansas City.

K-State deserves to be a No. 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

K-State played a pair of NCAA Tournament teams in TCU and Iowa State at a neutral site. The Wildcats handled TCU with some level of comfort, beating the Horned Frogs by 20-plus points in the final 30 minutes.

Iowa State could be as high as a No. 5 or No. 6 seed in the tournament, and the Wildcats were able to beat them by as many as 15 points in the second half (from down 10 to up five) before relinquishing the lead late.

Legs disappeared on open three-pointers (K-State was shooting 40 percent from three until missing their final seven looks from deep), and ISU's Marial Shayok hit an amazingly difficult shot from long range to break a tie in the final minute.

A loss in a loss, of course. And, starting next week, a loss like that would end K-State's season.

Still, it felt like a Round Two NCAA Tournament game (credit to ksu_FAN for making this point on The KSO Show, included above), and one that really wasn't in that neutral of an environment; ISU fans dominated Sprint Center in what felt like an 80/20 split in favor of the Clones.

K-State likely won't face a tougher situation than Iowa State in Sprint Center until at least the third round of the NCAAs, if the Wildcats have the good fortune to advance that far.

The same KU assistant mentioned earlier also told his peers, "This is so good for these two teams. They're playing a tournament game right now. Such good experience."

Finally, K-State needed to avoid any further injury. That was accomplished.

Now, is the week K-State is going to have enough time to get everybody back to 100 percent? Bluntly put, no. But the Wildcats will be in significantly better shape the next time they take the floor, and with some good fortune could be a team that gets to play the NCAA Tournament relatively close to full strength.

When talking about team strengths related to K-State, "experience" is typically one of the first words mentioned. And while the end result in Kansas City certainly wasn't the one the Wildcats' desired, more valuable experience was certainly gained by this group.