By ARNE GREEN

Salina Journal

MANHATTAN -- Their record speaks for itself, yet sometimes it seems as if nobody's listening.

Welcome to Kansas State's reality in the world of Big 12 women's basketball.

Where else would a defending conference champion with four starters back be picked seventh by league coaches -- and not even give it a second though?

"I don't know why people view us at K-State like this, but no matter what, we usually are the underdog, which is fine with us," senior point guard Shalee Lehning said without a trace of bitterness. "We don't want to run around with a big target on our backs."

And that's with a 13-0 nonconference record and No. 20 national ranking heading into Saturday's 6 p.m. Big 12 opener against Kansas at Bramlage Coliseum.

Of course, there are four conference teams -- No. 3 Texas A M, No. 4 Oklahoma, No. 6 Baylor and No. 8 Texas -- currently ranked in the top 10, with Oklahoma State at No. 21 and 11-2 Iowa State just two spots out of the top 25.

"This team, we've come together so much because of that, being the underdog, and we kind of live for that," said junior forward Ashley Sweat, the Wildcats' leading scorer at 16 points per game. "We have nothing to lose.

"We just go out there every night and play our hardest and hopefully our chemistry can pull us through."

Chemistry, in a nutshell, is what last year delivered the Wildcats their first-ever outright Big 12 title and again has them entering league play with a perfect record.

"We're not as athletic as a lot of the teams in the Big 12 and obviously that's a disadvantage for us," Sweat said. "We have to play smarter than other teams.

"We've been so tight-knit and we've been playing with each other for so long that I think there is a lot of chemistry we have that other teams don't have."

With four Kansans in the starting lineup -- Lehning is from Sublette, Sweat and senior forward Marlies Gipson from McPherson and junior guard Kari Kincaid from Andover -- the Wildcats also have captured the imagination of their home-state fans.

But to the casual observer, they don't look the part.

"We're not the only ones that think that we're underdogs," said Kincaid, a second-year starter who averages 8.9 points and 2.2 assists. "We're not the most impressive, athletically or on paper, but our strength is we work as a unit of five and we know our strengths and how to play off each other.

"That's what we've got to use this year and that's how it is each and every game."

Even K-State coach Deb Patterson, now in her 13th season, has expressed her amazement at the accomplishments of this team.

"When we walk in and have warmups, the teams we're playing look like that," she said pointing to the Bramlage Coliseum floor, where the Wildcat men are preparing to practice. "We're always the smallest, we're always the skinniest and we're always the team that has to play players 38 minutes a game.

"That's what's so amazing to me about Lehning and Gipson and Sweat. They're playing major minutes without a lot of dropoff, against opponents that are already quicker, stronger and bigger than they are."

Still Lehning, at 5-foot-8, leads the team in rebounding with 7.3 a game, leads the nation in assists with a 9.2 average and adds 10.9 points. Gipson, listed generously at 6 feet, contributes 13.9 points, 6.8 rebounds and leads the Big 12 with 3.8 blocks per outing.

"We are an underdog and we are an underdog for a reason, and that's why I continue to say that what our young people have achieved is really extraordinary," Patterson said. "It's almost like an oxymoron that you think,20how can you achieve something and yet not be regarded so much higher the next minute or next season or the next day.

"It's because everybody else (in the league) is doing as much or more. Those of us in the game understand how good those other guys are, too."

A year ago, the Wildcats got off to a great league start by stealing road victories against South Division powers Texas A M and Oklahoma State. So while they might not be highly regarded again this season, they also aren't likely to catch anybody napping.

"I think everybody will be ready for us this year," Lehning said. "Preseason polls, as we all know, mean nothing.

"I think everybody will know that we have the ability and the capabilities to do good things, so it's going to be us going out and executing. On any night, anybody can win a ballgame, and that's something we live by here."

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