Courtesy of Kansas State Athletics
MANHATTAN, Kansas – K-State women's basketball head coach Jeff Mittie has been named as one of 15 candidates for the 2024 Werner Ladder Naismith Women's Coach of the Year Late Season Watch List presented by AXIA Time in an announcement on Wednesday.
Mittie is the second K-State women's basketball head coach in the program's 56 seasons of action to earn consideration for Naismith Women's Coach of the Year honors, as Deb Patterson was a three-time finalist for the honor in 2002, 2003 and 2005.
K-State has achieved an overall record of 22-4 this season, which included a 14-game winning streak from December 1, 2023, to Jan. 31, 2024. Among its 22 victories are four against Associated Press (AP) top-25 foes.
The Wildcats have improved upon its 2022-23 overall win total by three victories and its Big 12 record by six wins with four regular season contests remaining.
With its success on the court this season, the Wildcats achieved the program's highest ranking in the Mittie era (2014-present), as the team was ranked second in the nation in both the AP and Coaches polls in the same week for the first time in program history. It was the highest ranking for the program in the AP poll since Nov. 25, 2002, when K-State was ranked second.
According to Stats Perform, K-State was the first women's program since the start of the AP poll in 1976 to go from unranked in the preseason to either No. 1 or No. 2 in the same season.
Since making its poll debut on Nov. 20 this season, K-State has been ranked for 14 consecutive weeks. This is the longest consecutive streak for K-State since being ranked for the entirety of the 2004-05 season.
Aiding the team's performance this season has been one of the top defenses in the nation. K-State enters Wednesday's game as the Big 12 leaders in scoring defense (56.0 ppg). The Wildcats lead the league and are seventh in the nation in field goal percentage defense (.350) and 3-point FG percentage defense (.252). K-State has held 19 opponents to 60 points or less this season (19-0).K-State concludes a two-game home stand tonight, as the Wildcats host (22/22) West Virginia at 6:30 p.m. For tickets, call (800) 221-CATS, visit kstatesports.com/tickets or stop by the K-State Athletics Ticket Office at Bramlage.
Wednesday's game can be seen on Big 12 Now on ESPN+ and can be heard on the K-State Sports Network including the flagship stations Sunny 102.5 FM and 1350 KMAN, online at kstatesports.com, or on the K-State Sports app. The game will also be available on SiriusXM channels 137 or 199 and on the SiriusXM app.
2024 Werner Ladder Naismith Women's Coach of the Year Late Season Watch List
Lisa Bluder, Iowa
Kenny Brooks, Virginia Tech
Cori Close, UCLA
Lisa Fortier, Gonzaga
Lindsay Gottlieb, USC
Felisha Legette-Jack, Syracuse
Kevin McGuff, Ohio State
Jeff Mittie, Kansas State
Wes Moore, NC State
Kim Mulkey, LSU
JR Payne, Colorado
Scott Rueck, Oregon State
Vic Schaefer, Texas
Dawn Staley, South Carolina
Tara VanDerveer, Stanford