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The 2012 NCAA Tournament bracket and field has been announced, and the Kansas State Wildcats will receive an 8 seed in the East region. The Wildcats' first opponent will be the Southern Miss Golden Eagles, and they will play on Thursday in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. If the Wildcats wins their first matchup, they will face the winner of No. 1 Syracuse and No. 16 UNC-Asheville .
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The Kansas State Wildcats earned the 8 after finishing 21-10 overall and 10-8 in the Big 12, falling to Baylor in the conference tournament semifinals. Frank Martin's squad has an interesting profile of wins. The Wildcats beat Big 12 tournament champion Missouri twice and Baylor once, but also have a loss to Oklahoma in there.
Here's a look at the East region of the 2012 NCAA Tournament bracket:
No. 1 Syracuse vs. No. 16 UNC-Asheville, Pittsburgh, Penn., Thursday
No. 8 Kansas State vs. No. 9 Southern Miss, Pittsburgh, Penn., Thursday
No. 5 Vanderbilt vs. No. 12 Harvard, Albuquerque, N.M., Thursday
No. 4 Wisconsin vs. No. 13 Montana, Albuquerque, N.M., Thursday
No. 2 Ohio State vs. No. 15 Loyola (MD), Pittsburgh, Penn., Thursday
No. 7 Gonzaga vs. No. 10 West Virginia, Pittsburgh, Penn., Thursday
No. 3 Florida State vs. No. 14 St. Bonaventure, Nashville, Tenn., Friday
No. 6 Cincinnati vs. No. 11 Texas, Nashville, Tenn., Friday
For more on Kansas State, visit Bring On The Cats. For more coverage on the Wildcats in the 2012 NCAA Tournament, visit SB Nation Kansas City's STORYSTREAM. Click here for a link to our NCAA bracket 2012.