Cougars climb to 9 in AP poll

PULLMAN – All the hands went into the center and in unison the voices called out “Pac-10 champs!” as Washington State’s basketball team closed its practice Monday.

It’s the story that no one – not a player, not a coach and certainly not a pundit – saw coming, but here it is. The Cougars, at 22-4 and 11-3 in the Pac-10, are just four games away from ruling a league that many assumed would rule over them for yet another season.

WSU climbed one more spot in the Associated Press poll on Monday, and its new spot at No. 9 is yet another school record, bettering the marks set or matched in each of the last two polls.

And with that in mind, WSU has legitimate reason to think big. If the Cougars can win out, they will be the regular-season league champions and a top seed in the Pac-10 Tournament next month, even though they currently trail No. 4 UCLA by a game.

“Playing well enough to win a Pac-10 championship is what we’re trying to be focused on, playing to that quality,” junior forward Robbie Cowgill said. “That’s definitely a goal now. That’s in sight. That’s a possibility.

“This is when you have to start peaking. This is when you have to play your best ball. I hope that we still have our best games ahead of us.”

The Cougars have garnered their share of national attention, and there’s a good argument to be made that they are the Cinderella story of this college basketball season. Picked to finish last this year after a 4-14 conference record last season, WSU hasn’t lost a game in regulation yet in 2007 – its only two defeats since New Year’s Day have come in overtime, both by three points. And only once this season, in an early December game at Utah, have the Cougars lost by more than three.

As a result, they find themselves in control of their own destiny. Road games at Oregon and Oregon State are on tap for this week, with the regular season ending at home next week against UCLA and USC.

“Every game left on our schedule is huge,” said head coach Tony Bennett, who is widely considered to be the top choice right now for national coach of the year honors.

“If someone’s going to beat us, fine. But let’s not give it up. We’ve come this far. Now there’s a little light at the end of the tunnel, and I think that also motivates us to keep going.”