Kansas State coaches review past year, look to next season

    When K-State's women's basketball coach Deb Patterson reflects on what her team accomplished this season, she thinks about regular people who achieve great things.
    Patterson took the Wildcats from the bottom of the conference standings in 2007 to the top in 2008, her 13th season at K-State. She also led the Wildcats to their second Big 12 regular-season title and a berth in the NCAA Tournament, where they lost in the second round to the Louisville Cardinals.
    She said Monday when she thinks about K-State fans and players, one phrase comes to mind: "Salt of the earth."
    "That's what I think about when I think about Kansas State women's basketball," she said. "That's what I think about when I think about everybody here. I think about regular folks doing great things. And quite frankly, regular folks doing great things becomes regular folks becoming great and helping others achieve great things."
    Patterson delivered her exuberant speech during the K-State Fun Day banquet, a celebration of all things K-State sponsored by the Dodge City Catbackers. The event reminded fans of the Wildcats' athletic achievements in 2007-08 and gave them a preview of the coming sports seasons.
    Patterson repeatedly praised Shalee Lehning, a standout junior point guard from Sublette who helped lead the Wildcats to their conference title this year. Lehning was an All-Big 12 first team selection.
    The coach said Lehning was one of the "salt-of-the-earth" people who play for K-State.
    "People that you can identify with, people that you have seen, people that you can touch that are like you," Patterson said. "They get up every day and really take that day and say, 'I'm going to give the very best that I have to this day. I'm going to be the very best that I can be.'
    "And that's not easy for any of us to do on a day-by-day-by-day-by-day basis, because a lot of days — like a lot of years — things don't go the way we want them to."
    K-State's head football coach, Ron Prince, also reviewed the 2007 season and looked ahead to 2008. But his speech contained several downbeat notes as he reflected on what he described as a disappointing season.
    Prince said it was difficult to speak positively about the past season in the face of several setbacks, including last-drive losses to Auburn, KU and Oklahoma State. He said the losses overshadowed some positive developments, including:
    • The Sept. 29 victory over Texas, which marked the first time in school history that K-State had beaten a top-10 team on the road.
    • Record-setting performances by players like quarterback Josh Freeman, defensive end Ian Campbell — who hails from Cimarron — and wide receiver Jordy Nelson.
    "We broke virtually every record — Josh Freeman did, between him and Jordy — and very little of that got any attention because we lost the games," Prince said. "And I think it's unfortunate."
    K-State finished 2007 with a 5-7 record, including a four-game season-ending losing streak.
    Prince said he was absolutely disgusted by the previous season, but he vowed that the Wildcats would never perform like that again.
    "Until we can prove to you that we're going to play and play the way the game is supposed to be played for 60 minutes, for three hours and for 12 to 14 games in a season, then I'm not going to be real pleased with the team," he said. "That's the way the game is supposed to be played, and anything less than that disrespects the game. And we're not going to have anything to do with that."
   
Reach Eric Swanson at (620) 408-9917 or e-mail him at eric.swanson@dodgeglobe.com.