Against Notre Dame, Washington State aims to atone for losses

DENVER — Maybe today is the day. Maybe it's when Washington State fans finally get their payback for something that happened more than four years ago. Maybe it's when this whole head-scratching WSU basketball renaissance comes full circle.

The Cougars face Notre Dame at 3:40 p.m. PDT in the NCAA second round, and among colleges that play the highest-level sports, you'll struggle to find two with vitals more disparate.

The Irish have their football TV contract with NBC that pays $9 million annually, while WSU passes the hat to try to keep its basketball coach. Notre Dame has its subway alumni, the Cougars have wheat-field alumni.

But on Sept. 6, 2003, the two schools were bound by a football game in South Bend, Ind., in which the Cougars led 19-0. Then the Irish, the heat and the humidity got to them, and they wilted and lost in overtime.

The Irish coach that day was Tyrone Willingham; the running back was Julius Jones, who just signed with the Seahawks.

For WSU fans, it was an opportunity forever lost. You only get so many chances at Notre Dame.

None of those folks had a clue what was happening back in Pullman that day. Dick Bennett, two months from starting his first season at WSU, brought several recruits — Derrick Low, Robbie Cowgill, Daven Harmeling, Chris Henry — to the site of his home being built, stood them among the footings and said, "The most important part of a good home is the foundation. A solid foundation. This is why we're recruiting you. Come help finish this home, and be the foundation."

They did, of course, which means today will either be an eerie kind of end to the grand Low-Cowgill-Kyle Weaver era of WSU basketball. Or it will be a completion of their assignment, and in some distant way, atonement for that disheartening football loss.

"We were in the Camp room, having pizzas, watching it on TV," recalled Harmeling on Friday, referring to a small auditorium in the athletic complex. "I was thinking, 'Notre Dame, this is pretty cool.' "

So it's cool for these guys to play Notre Dame, but playing is not going to be enough. This is the spot where the Cougars fell in double-overtime last year to Vanderbilt after leading a good bit of the way.

It stuck with nobody more than Harmeling, who could have won it with a corner three that rimmed out at the buzzer. Instead, the teams played on to two overtimes.

"I think about the game every day," Harmeling said. "Every day, several times a day. It's the thing that motivates you to put in all the extra work.

"It's crazy. You've worked literally for a year now to be back to this spot."

The other day, Taylor Rochestie saw a TV showing Vanderbilt's Derrick Byars blocking his shot in transition, another late attempt that would have won the 2007 game.

"I told Kyle [Weaver] before our practice today, 'We've still got a lot to prove,' " Rochestie said.

Current WSU coach Tony Bennett made that known as well, telling the Cougars not to be too celebratory after their 71-40 victory over Winthrop.

"Coach Tony talked about it," Rochestie said. "How excited we were [Thursday], and trying to remember the feeling after we lost to Vanderbilt.

"We don't want that to happen again."

Whether it does seems to hinge on how WSU deals with Big East player of the year Luke Harangody in the middle, and the Cougars' success at managing the pace.

"They've proven they're a very good defensive team," said Notre Dame forward Rob Kurz. "But we've proven all year long that we're one of the best offensive teams in the country."

Coach Mike Brey spoke confidently about the pace, saying, "I think we'll be comfortable either way."

That day back in 2003 was the only time the schools have met in football. Today will be their first meeting in basketball. The Cougars don't get chances like this that often, against Notre Dame or anybody else.

Methuselah's men

Brey on the Cougars: "One of the things that sets Washington State aside is how old they are. They've got men. They never really panic [individually] if they haven't made a shot for 10, 12, even 20 minutes. They keep doing what they do every possession, every play."

Notes

• WSU senior reserve Chris Henry said the team spent Tuesday evening at ESPN Zone. "It's pretty nice to be able to see the city life," he said. "We don't get that in Pullman, you know."

• As Brey was shortly into his scheduled media appearance Friday, a roar went up from an adjacent media workroom, causing him to ask, "Was that a Big East throw-in, or San Diego?" It was the winning shot by the Toreros' De'Jon Jackson, ousting Brey's Big East brethren, Connecticut.

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