The Cyclones are coming off one of their most emotional victories of the short season over North Carolina.

In less than a week, they’ll travel to Kansas to rekindle what may be the school’s most heated rivalry with the Jayhawks.

Trapped in the middle, however, is a date at home with Kansas State.

With just one day to prepare and so much excitement ahead of and behind them, Iowa State may not have a better chance this season for a letdown.

The Wildcats aren’t exactly burning up the Big 12 nets so far this year, sitting at just 9-10 with a 2-4 conference mark.

However, with close losses to several quality opponents and victories over Drake and on the road at Texas A&M, K-State can’t be completely overlooked.

“Their losses really just show you what kind of conference this is,” said Cyclone center Angie Welle. “They’re a very good team, but good teams lose games in this conference, so you can’t really just look at their record.”

The Wildcats are led by a pair of 6-1 senior post players in Angie Finkes and Nicky Ramage.

The athletic Finkes has averaged 14.2 points and 7.0 rebounds per game so far to lead the Wildcats in both categories.

Ramage has put together a 13.9 point, 5.8 rebound per game average on the season and has emerged in Big 12 play to lead the team in scoring.

Among her season highlights are a 23-point effort in the road win over the Aggies.

“They have three great post players,” Welle said. “Two of them are seniors and they’re leaders and they’ve been through it all.”

Olga Firsova, a 6-6 senior center, has seen a statistical dropoff since Big 12 play began but is still a force to be reckoned with in the post.

“They’re great inside, but they’ve also got some good three-point shooters,” Welle said. “We just have to play a solid all-around defense if we expect to stop them.”

Guards Kim Woodlee and Kristin Rethman provide the primary long-range threat, shooting a combined .427 from beyond the arc. In addition, Rethman leads the Wildcats with 64 assists to just 46 turnovers so far.

K-State, however, will have its hands full when it faces a Cyclone team that is statistically superior in every major category.

Their only hope may lie in the short preparation time Iowa State has had since the Sunday victory over the Tar Heels.

“It’s tough when you only have a day to prepare,” Welle said. “As soon as the North Carolina game was done, the coaches started watching film again, and we got to watch some film before practice today. Usually, you at least have a couple days to go over things, but we’ll just have to be really focused.”

As far as the possibility of a big letdown, the Cyclones are adamant that there’s nothing to worry about.

“The thing about our team is we’re pretty even keel, and we’re really focused on what needs to be done,” Welle said. “Right now, we’re focused on K-State. We need to worry about this game now and get a win there, and then we can look ahead to the next one.”

With their recent surge to No. 6 in both the AP and Coaches’ polls and a perfect Big 12 record, the Cyclones seem to be in the driver’s seat in the conference.

“It’s nice to get the recognition, but you can’t really base anything on that,” Welle said. “All it means to us is that teams are going to be up to play even more now. The more you move up in the rankings, the more teams are going to be out to get you.”

Before Big 12 championships and NCAA berths can seriously be discussed, Iowa State has a number of games left to play, including a must-win tonight against the Wildcats.

“It’s a conference game, and we lost to them last year,” Welle said, “so we’ll have to be prepared.”