KANSAS CITY, Mo. — All signs point to Iowa State making its first return trip to the NCAA tournament since 2002, its seventh appearance in school history.

The last time Iowa State went to the tournament, it was the No. 3 seed, hosting the first two rounds of the Midwest Regional. ISU coach Bill Fennelly said he knows that high of a seed is not in the cards for the Cyclones this year, but he is cautiously optimistic about his team’s berth.

“God willing, this team, I think, deserves to be in the NCAA tournament,” he said. “I don’t talk about that stuff much, but that’s what I told them in the locker room.

“We’re not done yet, we get to play again.”

A bracket projection on ESPN.com has the Cyclones seeded seventh, facing Richmond in the Philadelphia regional held in Chapel Hill, N.C. Nothing is for certain, though, until the selection committee decides Sunday where teams will end up.

“I’m not trying to be smart here, but I never assume anything,” Fennelly said. “I think as far as the effort it takes to get in, yes, [we’re in the NCAA].”

Fennelly has guided every Cyclone team that has ever made the NCAA tournament and took the University of Toledo to the tournament three times before he moved to Ames. The Cyclones advanced to the Elite Eight in the 1999 tournament before bowing out to Georgia.

One aspect of Iowa State’s game that came out in the loss to Texas Tech was a strong inside game led by seniors Katie Robinette and Lisa Kriener. Robinette has been on opposing coaches’ scouting reports all year, but Kriener has come off the bench and hasn’t always scored.

“Now that everybody is concentrating on the outside, its time for us to show that we can have a good post game as well,” Kriener said. “I think this is going to be great for us to know that teams are going to have to guard inside and outside.”

Iowa State has lived and died by the three this year, with Anne O’Neil, Mary Fox and Megan Ronhovde lighting up the opposition from behind the arc. Now teams might have to worry about the seniors in the post, as well.

The postseason is especially important to the five seniors, as it will be the last time they get to take the court with Fennelly as their coach.

“I’m feeling a little urgent here,” Robinette said. “Now it’s for real; it’ll be over after our last game — win or go home.

“We’ll be ready to go, I promise.”