K-State finished the season with a 15-18 overall record — the program's first losing season in nine years — as it failed to advance to the postseason for the first time since the 2000-01 season.
While there were a multitude of reasons for the Wildcats' downfall this season, none remains bigger than the youth K-State brought to the floor. Not only did the Wildcats feature a lineup with three first-time starters, two of them — freshmen Brittany Chambers and Taelor Karr — were asked to carry much of the offensive load down the stretch.
K-State opened the season with back-to-back losses at home to Indiana State and Arkansas State, as it finished with a 9-7 record in nonconference play. The Big 12 season wasn't much better, despite a pair of wins over Iowa State and Kansas early. The bright spot, if there was one, is that K-State competed to the end, remaining in games, sometimes leading, but rarely coming out with the needed win. The Wildcats finished 5-11 in conference play, while going 1-1 at the Big 12 tournament in Kansas City, Mo.
"I think they showed signs of beginning to understand what is necessary to win," said Patterson, who will enter 15th season at K-State in the fall. "But thinking you know it, and being good enough to do it, are two different things. I think we finished and competed unbelievably better through conference play, than we did in nonconference play.
"I think our players, as they look back on the nonconference, just shake their heads and say, 'Oh my gosh, if I knew then, what I know now, we'd be in the postseason.' "
The lessons learned aren't just about gameday, though, for this team. Patterson said the work ethic and commitment during practice has to change next season — an overall attitude adjustment.
"One of the greatest challenges we faces as a coaching staff, was that this team didn't match the day to day intensity and work ethic that we deem necessary in practice, across the board with any and every player on our roster," Patterson said. "For me, that was, and remains the greatest challenge and the most important part of our future development.
"They need to connect with the intensity and the work ethic that you need to bring each and every day. We learned it to some extent on gamedays, but I still won't give to this team that we had each player on the roster understanding and committing to that work ethic and practice ethic that you have to have to be successful. It's not surprising to me that we weren't tough enough to win games that I believe were within our reach from time to time."
But there were some positives to the season, too, as Chambers and Karr emerged as legitimate scorers in the league at 12.1 and 9.1 points a game, respectively, finishing second and third on the team in scoring behind only senior All-Big 12 forward Ashley Sweat.
For all the struggles of the 2009-10 season, this young K-State team still managed to position itself for a possible WNIT berth going into the Big 12 tournament.
In one of the strangest scenarios in years, K-State may have actually played itself out of the WNIT with a win over Texas Tech in the opening round of the conference tourney, knocking the Lady Raiders from the NCAA field and into the WNIT, ultimately taking a spot that the Wildcats had their eyes on.
"I think, overall, as challenging as it was to get our team to understand what winning requires, and as shallow of a roster we had and as inexperienced as a roster we had, I was surprised that we even put ourselves to be in position to be standing at the door of the postseason play," Patterson said.
"We were constantly running up what seemed like a sheer-faced wall to get there and yet, we were right there. We were right there in a lot of games and right there in the big picture."
Going forward, K-State looks to have just one senior next season in Shalin Spani, who is trying to comeback from yet another serious knee injury. The Wildcats are bringing in four new recruits — three forwards and one guard -— who look to be immediate contributors on a team that finished the season with just seven healthy players.
Finding replacements for two lost starters in Sweat and guard Kari Kincaid looks to be a priority for this team, but much of the work during the offseason will need to be addressed individually.
"They have to address it individually because we don't have our hands on them," Patterson said. "They can do it the weight room. They can do it in their own personal workouts, to some extent, but it really is what you do on that 94-foot hardwood floor day in and day out during the time we have our hands on them.
"Hopefully, as a player, you look back and evaluate and say, 'this wasn't good enough,' and you take in the messages and take in the input and evaluate the results and if you're hungry for more, you understand more requires change."
Beyond trying to find new scorers to make up for the 25 combined points per game Sweat and Kincaid provided, the Wildcats are in search of new leadership.
"The ideal situation is that you have a perimeter player who is a great leader and a post player to back them up," Patterson said. "The window of opportunity is there. I don't know that anyone we're bring into the gym right now has shown the willingness to do that or be that day in and day out at the highest level, setting the example and carrying the mantle and wanting to carry the mantle as the leader. We'll need someone to emerge.
"This team is still in a formulating process. This season, coming off of that core group of players that got it from the day they walked in, and then with Ashley and Kari who had been around winning — had the expectations of winning and understood what it took to win — and now they're gone, leaves a void."
