WSU foe knows his opponent
Ben Haynes moved to Pullman when he was 3 years old. He played basketball for the Greyhounds in high school, and all the while he followed Washington State, harboring dreams of playing for a Division I school.
“I went to every single game,” he said. “I love the Cougs and I guess that’s where I grew up watching basketball.”
Haynes got his wish, walking on to the team at Oral Roberts University. A third-year sophomore, Haynes has played sparingly this season, but he’s been a part of a team that won the Mid-Continent Conference and earned a trip to the NCAA Tournament.
And on Sunday, Haynes learned his team would meet WSU in the first round.
“I’m still in shock, I guess,” he said. “I was walking up to the gym and just thinking that I can’t believe we’re playing Washington State. It’s going to be weird seeing that crimson and gray on the other side.
“We’ve had such a great year and at the same time I’m excited for the Cougars because they’ve worked hard and had a Cinderella season just like we have.”
Haynes isn’t the only member of the family who will have mixed emotions when the Cougars and the Golden Eagles take the floor together on Thursday in Sacramento.
Haynes’ father, Donnie, is a pastor at the Calvary Christian Center in Pullman. He’s also a 17-year season-ticket holder at WSU men’s basketball games, having suffered through the 13-year drought without an NCAA Tournament bid to show for it.
He’s also gotten to know numerous players on the team over the years through his church, including All-Pac-10 guard Kyle Weaver, a current member of the congregation.
So when Haynes and his wife, Donna, found out about the dream matchup while on vacation in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., they realized that their plans were going to have to change.
“I had to sit down watching the selection show,” Donnie Haynes said, adding that he’ll cut short his vacation to make the trip to Sacramento. “I just couldn’t believe it in a million years.”
Ben Haynes could be an ace up the sleeve for Oral Roberts this week. Having played pickup basketball with some of the Cougar players in the past, he’s already spoken with head coach Scott Sutton about some individual tendencies.
And in a week when every piece of information is considered valuable, Haynes’ insights could help the Golden Eagles get an upset win against his hometown team.
“He’ll be a help this week,” Sutton said.
“I promise, he was the most excited guy of anybody watching that selection show.”
Haynes and his family were a little unsure of one thing, though. Just who will dad be rooting for?
After all, Donnie Haynes said he thinks of some of the WSU players as his own kids. And in addition to his son on the Oral Roberts bench, his daughter, Danielle, a freshman cheerleader at the Tulsa, Okla., school, will be in Sacramento.
“I’ll probably go and sit behind the ORU bench, and it’s going to be hard not to root for WSU,” Donnie Haynes said. “I’ll probably root for both of them. That’s not the politically correct thing, that’s what I’ll be rooting for. It’s like asking Archie Manning if he’s going to root for Eli or Peyton. You root for both of them.”
Even if he is still torn, Ben Haynes noted that he was confident in the backing of at least one member of the family.
“Mom’s for her boy all the way,” he said.