OKLAHOMA CITY | Sometimes, you just don&#8217;t make shots.</p><p>That&#8217;s a hard thing to accept come March basketball. This time of year, everyone wants a deeper reason, a more compelling angle, a better story line. After Texas beat Kansas State 61-58 in a ferocious Big 12 tournament game, everyone wanted to know what the Longhorns had done, what magical defense they&#8217;d found, how they had shut down Wildcats guard Denis Clemente.</p><p>But, truth is, sometimes you don&#8217;t make shots.</p><p>&#8220;We tried to hound him,&#8221; Texas coach Rick Barnes said when someone asked him about Clemente&#8217;s four-for-20 shooting performance. But then he admitted: &#8220;To be honest with you, sometimes it&#8217;s just a make-or-miss situation.&#8221;</p><p>Clemente missed on this day. Kansas State missed. That was the whole story. The Wildcats were on the short end of one of the most amazing basketball box scores you will ever see. K-State shot 29 percent, while Texas shot better than 51 percent. Texas outrebounded Kansas State. Texas got more second-chance points. Texas&#8217; suddenly remarkable big man Dexter Pittman scored 19 and grabbed 20 rebounds.</p><p>And Kansas State <em>still</em> had the lead late in the second half and <em>still</em> had a pretty decent look at a three-point shot to tie the game at the buzzer. It was Clemente&#8217;s shot. He missed.</p><p>&#8220;We took open shot after open shot,&#8221; Kansas State coach Frank Martin said. &#8220;And it just wasn&#8217;t going in. &#8230; It is hard to win when you don&#8217;t make shots. And we obviously didn&#8217;t make enough shots.&#8221;</p><p>That&#8217;s what it came down to &#8212; and now it is pretty much accepted that the Wildcats will not make the NCAA Tournament. They won 21 games. They had a winning record in the Big 12. But they have no real chance to get in, which led to a rather remarkable soliloquy from Martin.</p><p>A few excerpts:</p><p>&#8220;What do you want me to tell you? We don&#8217;t deserve to be there? Of course we deserve to be there. These kids have busted their rear ends for us.</p><p>&#8220;I got a problem with the way people spin things for their advantage because everyone assumed we (stunk) this year. And when we didn&#8217;t, a lot of people have had a tough time saying, &#8216;You know what? They are actually pretty good.&#8217; That&#8217;s what bothers me.</p><p>&#8220;I find it ironic that every other league in the country says: Oh, they&#8217;re getting eight in. Big 12 is lucky if they maybe get six.</p><p>&#8220;Give me a break. That&#8217;s the most ignorant thing I have ever heard this whole year.</p><p>&#8220;If you follow the RPI and you follow the so-called resumes, look at our paperwork and compare it to the other so-called bubble teams. You tell me if ours don&#8217;t compare to theirs.&#8221;</p><p>It was a tour de force by Martin. There is no way to watch Kansas State play basketball without appreciating the team&#8217;s passion and Martin&#8217;s passion.</p><p>Trouble is, Kansas State really does not have a good NCAA resume. They are 10-11 against the top 200 teams. They have one top-25 victory and three top-50 victories. They could have put pressure on the tournament committee by beating Texas and then beating Baylor today. That didn&#8217;t happen.</p><p>Sometimes, you just don&#8217;t make shots.