Oklahoma City ? The loosest bunch in all of sports? The Kansas State basketball team. Hands down.

Sophomore forward Jamar Samuels, the loosest of the loose, was asked Wednesday, on the eve of Kansas State’s first-round NCAA Tournament game against North Texas, about St. Patrick’s Day.

“We just finished having our Fake Patty’s Day,” Samuels said from his seat in what usually is the Oklahoma City Thunder’s locker room.

He was met by blank stares from those unfamiliar with the Aggieville tradition cooked up by bar owners who lamented all the lost revenue because St. Patrick’s Day takes place during Kansas State’s spring break.

“You have to wear green, and the bars are filled with drunken people,” Samuels said of last week’s fake holiday.

And this, he was asked, was different from a normal night in Aggieville how, other than green replacing purple?

“I don’t know,” he said. “I really don’t go to the bars, only on Saturday, when I know girls my age are there.”

Loose team, all right. He said that’s the way coach Frank Martin likes it.

“You have to come into the tournament, don’t overlook anyone, and have as much fun as you want. We had a lot of fun in practice this morning. Frank, he’s all about giggles, and he’s all about competing, too. We had a lot of giggles before and after practice. Nothing during it.”

Martin is not subtle about where he draws lines.

“This is Frank’s team,” Samuels said. “Nobody else’s team. If he yells, everybody looks up. He’s the king. That’s who we have to listen to if we want to succeed in life.”

Learning how to listen to him when he’s speaking in short words at high volume is an acquired skill. Martin is particularly rough on freshmen.

“Sometimes I’ll tell Frank, ‘Come on, Frank, cool out a little bit,’ because every second he’ll yell at them,” Samuels said. “It got to the point Jake (junior guard Jacob Pullen) and I would walk down to the end of the court and start laughing because it’s so funny. We just remember ourselves being yelled at all the time, too.”

Martin’s most intimidating rebuke is a silent one. His signature glare cuts deeper than a Joe Friday lecture.

“The glare, the first time you’re looking at him like, ‘Oh, I’m about to go home. He’s about to kick me out of practice.’ When he gives that to freshmen, that has to be the funniest thing ever,” Samuels said.

Funny? Funny how?

“They don’t know whether to look in his face or look down,” Samuels said. “Some of them just look up and down, up and down. Some look in the stands. It’s very funny. They come to me and Jake and ask, ‘What should I do? I don’t know what to do.’ I just tell them to relax, and you’ll be all right. I promise you. Some of them don’t listen, and they back-talk him. If you back-talk him, you’re going to meet the steps. You’re going to run the steps, and that’s not a good look right there.”

That Samuels is so comfortable talking that way about his coach proves Martin lets his players be themselves. He’s so tough on them because he wants them to become better men while still being true to themselves. He’s good at it. Great hire by K-State.