It’s not often Washington State basketball is this good. With so much still unknown, we should all relish in their unexpected appearance.
She held my hand for the first time there.
I can’t remember if it was on the way to, or in our seats, at Beasley Coliseum- but I felt the hand tuck into mine. I tried to poker face my way through a heart pounding inadvisably fast, but soon we could at least pay attention to a barrage of buckets from Kyle Weaver, brick after brick from O.J. Mayo, and deafening chants of “O.J.’s GUILTY” any time he picked up a foul.
We’d both been awake for 28 or so hours by the time we walked to my apartment. She kissed me. We put an old episode of Family Guy and fell asleep about four seconds after the intro ended.
As I write this 16 years later, I’m watching her chase our daughter around the yard at our home.
When the Cougs are good at basketball, there’s a reason why it fills my heart to the brim.
It’s really, really hard to have a good basketball team in Pullman. Maybe more than any other sports, men’s or women’s. That’s not to say good teams come and go like the tides in other sports but remember back to your days in school, no matter how long ago, and you can probably remember at least one sport that went toe-to-toe with the best in the conference.
Football, baseball, volleyball, soccer, rowing. All dominate from at least time-to-time.
Basketball? Not so much.
They did plenty of winning under Fred Bohler and Jack Friel, including a national championship in 1917, but frequent trips to the postseason were not something the program enjoyed. Prior to Dick Bennett’s arrival in Pullman, the team had only been to the NCAA Tournament four times, and only once had they made multiple trips under the same coach (George Raveling in 1980 and 1983).
There were still great names to come out of the program. Steve Puidokas, Craig Ehlo, Mark Hendrickson, James Donaldson, Ike Fontaine, and Don Collins to name just a few. But postseason success just wasn’t something with a long history for the Washington State basketball program.
It’s why, with two straight tournament appearances under Tony Bennett, our era of Washington State fans are still the only that think “basketball” first when it comes to who you remember being the program when you were in school.
We spent hours bundled up in the freezing cold, waiting in line to get into Beasley two hours before tip. We ran extension cords longer than OHSA approved lengths into the building to power not heat lamps, but televisions and N64s. We studied in the wind, we threw snowballs at opposing team busses, we saved up all the voice we could to make Beasley the most intimidating environment in the Pac-10. There was truly just one row of taped off chairs separating players from the students. Someone, and it’s impossible to say who, was nearly kicked out of a game at the request of Kevin Love’s dad. But again, who’s to say who?
Those tournament runs were so special. Even with a gut-punching double OT loss to the Vanderbilt Commodores in 2007, I looked forward to the next season so much. They dispatched the Winthrop Eagles with ease, made even easier work of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, a feat Digger Phelps is surely still shaken by to this day. They drew North Carolina’s bracket in Charlotte, something no one was overcoming but hot damn, they’d made it to the Sweet 16. Who knew what could be next?
Well, we all know.
Everything had to come together this year. In the modern age of college athletics, Washington State is at even more of a disadvantage, because the old “Best Way to Make Runs to the Tournament” of building a team through good recruiting, spending years learning excellent offensive and defensive systems, is a thing of the past.
D.J. Rodman? Gone. T.J. Bamba? Philly bound. Mo Gueye? Off to the NBA.
How the hell do you replace all of that talent and have any hope of breaking the longest NCAA tournament drought in the Power Five?
Boy, did Kyle Smith ever do it.
This team is full of so many wonderful stories. Myles Rice returning from chemo. Jaylen Wells going from overlooked Division II All-American to a three point sniper. Isaac Jones becoming one of the best big men in the conference. Isaiah Watts, Oscar Cluff, and Rueben Chinyelu all making massive contributions.
It just doesn’t come together like this very often for Washington State.
Even if it only lasts a couple of hours tonight, I’m going to relish the hell out of it. This team had no business being this good; no business challenging for the regular season conference championship all the way to the final weekend. And yet, they did.
Could appearances in the Big Dance become more regular at Washington State? It sounds like Pat Chun is trying to make sure they are. But with our future still in such flux, even with a temporary home through 2026, you would do well to relish in this.
Relish in the fade up from black on the commercial break with the CBS theme smashing your speakers. Relish the tip off. Relish a deep Jaylen three, Myles slashing to the bucket, Isaac rattling the rim, Isaiah tenaciously chasing on the defensive end.
Relish just how special this really is for Washington State. With everything, and I do truly mean everything, going against them this year, this squad put together the best season in more than 15 years and made their way to the greatest single-elimination tournament anywhere on earth.
No matter what, I’m so damn proud of this team, coaches, and players alike. You gave us something I’d missed so desperately.
It will be the only day I insist she wear what I say: “Go Cougs” shirt, she says. She’ll have her waffle while I brush her hair; pigtails or a ponytail afterwards I hope. Dad still hasn’t perfected the braid.
We’ll walk out to the car to go to school and work. Her mom will take my hand. And I’ll remember where I was the first time she did that, and where we are now.
We’ll sit and watch together tonight, never having imagined that the next time I watched the Cougars play in the NCAA Tournament, my daughter would be there to watch it with me.