With the regular season over, conference and NCAA tournament talk has shifted into overdrive and coach Bill Fennelly is no exception.

“Besides what I do every day for my job and my family and whatever, the NCAA tournament is what gets me up in the morning,” said ISU coach Bill Fennelly in his weekly news conference. “Trying to figure out who, what, where; you don’t know if you’re in or you’re out, who you’re playing, seed, all that stuff, so you do pay attention and I do pay attention to it and I always have.”

This week, the Cyclones head down I-35 for the Phillips 66 Big 12 Women’s Basketball Championship in Kansas City, Mo. Iowa State (18-11, 9-9 Big 12) will take on a Kansas State team it swept in the season series this year, but Fennelly says he doesn’t buy into the “it’s hard to beat a team three times” mindset.

“I think it’s hard to beat someone once in this league,” he said. “They know us and we know them, so hopefully we can continue to play the way we’ve been playing and give yourself a chance.”

This year will be the last time both the men’s and women’s tournaments are held in the same location. The separate sceneries could cause the surrounding area to take a hit financially, and Kansas City native Brynn Williamson said the fans won’t like it either.

“I think one, it might hurt Kansas City a little bit because that’s really what people back home look forward to, especially around this time,” she said. “Going downtown and all the restaurants and Power and Light District’s down there … and just having great games there and it’s definitely going to take away from it.”

Iowa State faced Baylor on Saturday morning in Waco, Texas, to cap off the regular season, and Player of the Year candidate Brittney Griner tagged the Cyclones for 41 points. However, the score remained tied at halftime and Hallie Christofferson said they plan to take the positives out of the first stanza.

“The first half and how we fed off of each other was really great and we were just having fun,” she said. “And that second half when they started to press us, we lost our energy and we lost our fundamentals and it really showed, so I guess we just have to take away the elements from the first half to bring down to Kansas City.”

To the delight of the Hilton faithful, Ames will host the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament this year. Fennelly has said all season there are no guarantees to the NCAA tournament, unless you are undefeated Baylor. When asked about the possibility of not making the cut, Fennelly said it would be the worst day ever.

“We’re in a much better position than we were three weeks ago to talk about that, but if on March the 12th and our name doesn’t show up, I hope my assistants run in my office and get the sharp objects out of it, and luckily, the Sukop isn’t a very tall building.”

Tipoff for Wednesday’s matchup is set for 11 a.m., and if the Cyclones can pull off another victory over the Wildcats (18-12, 9-9), they will get another shot at Baylor on Friday. All games are played at Kansas City’s Municipal Auditorium.