WSU motivated by title aspirations
PULLMAN – Maybe the greatest irony of this Washington State season is that the week everything has pointed toward for months may end up meaning virtually nothing.
Why? Because the Cougars have won too many games. (And not enough, at the same time.)
Obviously, that’s not a problem men’s basketball coach Tony Bennett and his team consider worthy of their concern. But heading into Thursday night’s home game against UCLA and Saturday’s regular-season finale against USC, there’s little room for WSU to move up or down in the conference standings.
Stranger still is the fact that this is true even though the Bruins are in first place, one spot ahead of WSU, while USC is in third, one behind the Cougars.
The motivation for WSU, based on the team’s reaction Monday, is the hope for a share of the Pac-10 Conference title. For that to happen, the Cougars would have to win both games this week and then get help in the form of a Washington win against UCLA.
“We’re playing to maybe get a share of the Pac-10 championship,” Bennett said. “I think that’s a pretty big deal. I don’t think that’s ever happened here, so I’ll take it.”
The coach is right; WSU hasn’t finished first in the Pac-10 and its last conference championship of any kind came in 1950, when, under Jack Friel, the Cougars won the Pacific Coast North Conference crown.
Even if the Cougars do claim a share of the league title, though, they’ll still be the No. 2 seed in the league tournament next week, as the Bruins (25-3, 14-2 Pac-10) have the top spot sealed. Two games behind the Bruins and one game ahead of the Trojans, the Cougars need just one victory out of the two to wrap up the second seed. Two losses drop them to third.
WSU (23-5, 12-4) did drop a few spots to No. 13 in both polls this week after the road loss at Oregon. Had the Cougars won that game they would still control their own destiny for at least a split of the Pac-10 title and the top seed in next week’s tournament.
Of course, the ultimate goal of qualifying for the NCAA tournament was secured weeks ago, and so at this point it’s become all about finding the potential in this regular season as the postseason is on the horizon.
“Even though we’re going to be able to play in the NCAA tournament, we still want to contend for a Pac-10 championship,” guard Derrick Low said. “If we want to do that, we have to win these next two games and hope something happens to UCLA.”
As a result, there’s little sense that the Cougars are getting anywhere near the end of the season. Rather, this is a team getting ready for what’s still to come.
“There is still a lot of ball left,” Bennett said. “If it were last year I think I’d feel a little more like it was winding down, and probably thankfully so. But this year there’s some definite excitement for the March Madness.”
Notes
Nikola Koprivica had surgery Friday to repair his injured knee. Bennett said the surgery went well, and suggested that a shorter-than-expected, six-month time frame for the freshman’s recovery is possible. … Chris Henry remains on track with his rehab process from ankle surgery, although Bennett did not know what the chances of getting the junior back into practice this season would be.