WSU Men's Basketball | Cougars lose name game in early scheduling

One of the quaint aspects of college basketball is that it's a living, breathing travelogue. Almost nightly, the ESPN crawl features somebody (usually somebody getting beat about 125-61) you never heard of, except in an Adam Sandler movie.

Early in January, Oklahoma State hosts Rogers State. Missouri State, a program that has recently made itself famous for NCAA-tournament near-misses, played Harding last month. Southern Methodist played Paul Quinn (I thought that was a clothing line). Cincinnati has tuned itself for the Big East by hosting South Carolina Upstate (not to be confused with South Carolina Downwind).

This is all by way of introducing you to The Citadel, which faces Washington State on Thursday night in the annual Cougar Hardwood Classic. The Bulldogs opened with a record-setting victory over Daniel Webster (they put out a heck of a dictionary), and got their second win against Webber International University (not the barbecue people).

But this is not to bag on The Citadel, whose athletic director, Les Robinson, is a good man who succeeded Jim Valvano at North Carolina State, and as AD at the same school, did some heavy lifting on the NCAA basketball committee.

The Bulldogs (4-5), No. 329 in the Ratings Percentage Index computer, were kind enough to come west to meet the undefeated Cougars, which is more than can be said for the vast percentage of the 338 other teams in Division I hoops.

Tuesday, promoter John Hines said ticket sales have hit the 8,000 mark, which would far exceed either of the first two gates for this event. If the gate gets to five digits, that would be a worthy number for a WSU program that clearly is on firm footing but is still groping for the right scheduling matrix.

You're wondering: Why The Citadel, and why didn't the Cougars, with a veteran, proven team, load up more on their 2007-08 schedule?

After two years of the KeyArena game, WSU didn't re-up for another trip to Seattle until early 2007. By then, the Cougars were focused on what became a 26-8 season, delaying a real push for an opponent until spring.

"At first, we were not sure: Should we go to Seattle?" said WSU's second-year coach, Tony Bennett. "But I think it makes sense."

Hines thought he could fetch Alabama, but the Crimson Tide could only come in the third week of November, when KeyArena was booked. There were scattered other feelers, including one from Vanderbilt, but dates conflicted. Thus, The Citadel.

Hines has seen this before with WSU. When it was coached by Dick Bennett, other programs avoided the Cougars like a prostate exam. With the handoff from Dick to Tony, that perception hasn't entirely been erased. If you're the opponent, not only are you going to spend two hours grinding molars, but you're also very likely to lose.

So schools go find somebody like Rogers State.

For the Cougars, scheduling quality November and December games is like wrapping a holiday present wearing mittens. Teams don't exactly queue up to fly across time zones to Spokane and bus 80 miles to Pullman.

"That's a challenge," Bennett says.

So are dates, scraped bare by everything from the student exodus around Thanksgiving break to December graduation ceremonies in Beasley Coliseum to finals-week considerations.

This year, road games backed up on WSU. It was scheduled at Gonzaga and had commitments to return games at Boise State and Idaho State (part of a two-for-one arrangement). Then, as part of the Big 12/Pac-10 Hardwood Series, the Cougars were sent to Baylor.

That made it more understandable when WSU opted to pull out of the Great Alaska Shootout, where there was solid, but not overwhelming competition. Playing there would have meant seven games on the road, more than any upper-crust program schedules.

WSU replaced the shootout with a four-team, three-game event in Spokane over Thanksgiving weekend. If it wasn't a boffo lineup — Montana, Air Force and Mississippi Valley State — Spokane didn't exactly smother the Cougars in kisses, either. The games averaged less than 4,000 fans, giving them plenty of reason to second-guess themselves.

Asked whether, in the wake of their breakout season, the Cougars had been approached for a made-for-TV game, Bennett said there were conversations about a Georgetown matchup in the Pete Newell Challenge. But that didn't fly, and there's always this unspoken reality: Even as a top-10 program and a great story, the Cougars aren't a ratings grabber.

"This is a difficult place to schedule," Bennett said, adding, "I think our schedule this year is tougher than last year."

Looming over the issue, of course, is a monstrous Pac-10 schedule that deals WSU three opening road games and more than the usual treachery.

There's plenty of RPI boost on that agenda. Maybe even enough to get the Cougars to wondering: Where's Paul Quinn when you need him?

Bud Withers: 206-464-8281 or bwithers@seattletimes.com