In a little under three months, the WSU men’s basketball team will begin Pac-12 play for the 2023—24 season. After completing an interesting out-of-conference gauntlet, the Cougs will play their final season in the Conference of Champions.
The team has been built in a number of different ways, but one consistent standard is that most of the new additions have not played at a Power Six program yet. In the Pac-12 portion of the season, that is all they will see.
Those new pieces will begin their new opportunity within a Power Six conference with a pair of away games just before the new year. First, the Cougs will travel to Utah and Colorado on Dec. 29 and Dec. 31.
Utah played the Cougs twice last season, with the first game being an absolute nail-biter that the Cougs lost in overtime and the second being a mostly uninteresting 16-point blowout by Utah. WSU only faced Colorado once last year, losing on a game-winning shot by KJ Simpson, who is still on the team.
These two games in the Rockies will be tough. Both opponents are good teams, and the Cougs did not win a single game against them last year. Hopefully, the new roster will be without some of the weaknesses that lost them those games last year.
After 2024 begins, the Cougs will come home to face the Oregon Schools. First will be Oregon State on Jan. 4. The Beavers played against WSU only once last year, and the Cougs managed an 80-62 blowout in that game.
Oregon managed to split the two games they played against the Cougs last year, with each team winning on their home court. The first of those matchups was the first Pac-12 game of the season for both teams, while the second came during the Cougs winning streak to reach .500 at the end of the year. They will travel up to Pullman on Jan. 6.
Week three has an interesting wrinkle to it this year, with every team in the conference facing single-play opponents at home and on the road. The first of these opponents is USC in Los Angeles. More on USC later.
The other week three game for the Cougs is a home game against Arizona. Arizona was ranked No. 5 last year when the Cougs beat them in what was one of the greatest wins in program history. It will be hard to repeat that, but it is worth noting that Arizona’s best player from last season, Ąžuolas Tubelis, is now in the NBA. It will be a very different set of matchups, and the Cougs have done it before. Why not win again?
Back to normal scheduling in week four, the Cougs will fly down to play the Bay Area teams. The Cougs did not lose any of their five games against Cal and Stanford last year, including a win over Cal in the opening round of the Pac-12 tournament. These should both be relatively easy wins.
Week five sees the Cougs at home against the mountain teams from earlier, Utah and Colorado. Colorado has won six of the last nine matchups of these teams, but in that time they have won only one game under the lights of Beasley.
Week six is the first rivalry week, meaning the Cougs play only one game: the Apple Cup. The Cougs swept the Apple Cup last year with ease.
Staying on the road, the Cougs will then head a few hours down I-5 to face the Oregon schools again in week seven. Following that, they will come home to face the Bay teams on the Palouse for week eight.
It is back out of town for week nine, as the Cougs will head down to Arizona and play both of the teams there. The return home following that road trip is circled on more than one calendar in Pullman and in Los Angeles, as USC comes to town.
What to say about USC? LeBron James Jr. is committed to play his freshman year of college hoops for the Trojans this season, although recent health complications will likely postpone his debut indefinitely. That would be the biggest storyline for USC coming to just about any college town, but not in Pullman. Not when DJ Rodman exists.
Last season, Rodman finished his fourth year as a Coug, and it looked like he was planning on graduating and moving on from basketball entirely. When he revealed his plan to return for a fifth year, Coug fans rejoiced.
It was, however, too good to be true. Rodman later announced he was entering the transfer portal and would be heading to Los Angeles to play for USC. This will be Rodman’s first and last game in Pullman as a non-Coug. It will be loud.
UCLA will also be in town for their only scheduled game against the Cougs. They beat WSU twice last year, with one game being a disastrous 76-52 thrashing of the Cougs. However, the other game ended with a difference of only one point. That is, mathematically speaking, the closest you can come to winning a game without winning it. The Cougs led for every single minute but the last one. Worth noting, the aforementioned Rodman missed the game-winner in that game.
Finally, the Cougs will end the season at home against UW for what might be the last Apple Cup game for a long time.
Following that final game of the Apple Cup, the Pac-12 tournament begins in Las Vegas. The Cougs are guaranteed a spot, but seeding is vital. The Cougar women’s basketball team won the whole thing last year. With this being more than likely the last time the tournament will ever be held, the Cougs will be looking to secure their first-ever men’s basketball championship under the current format.
Last season had ups and downs. This season will probably look a lot like that. The schedule is hard, as it always was in this conference. If they can hold up better in the early slate of conference games and finish as strong as they did last year, the Cougs have a chance to be truly special this year.
