Wazzu is headed back to Las Vegas for the College Basketball Crown, a new postseason tournament that will begin on March 31.
The Cougars’ season came to an end in Las Vegas on March 10 in their loss to San Francisco during the West Coast Conference tournament quarterfinals. WSU defeated Loyola Marymount but could not get past the Dons.
A string of losses in January at the hands of Gonzaga, St. Mary’s, Oregon State, Santa Clara and Pacific took the Cougs out of contention for an at-large March Madness bid, but head coach David Riley said WSU would appreciate the opportunity to play in one of the three other postseason tournaments.
The National Invitational Tournament, known for it’s collection of high-quality mid-major’s, passed over WSU in favor of fellow WCC teams in San Francisco and Santa Clara. However, a new tournament, the College Basketball Crown, came calling, and WSU has accepted the invitation.
The College Basketball Crown is FOX’s venture into postseason hoops. Previously, the network did not have any postseason basketball, with the NCAA Tournament and NIT being split between TNT, TBS and ESPN. The 16-team field will compete at Las Vegas and the games will be nationally televised on FOX and FS1.
Unlike the NIT, which prioritized small-market teams in mid-major conferences, the CBC prioritized more brand-name schools that underperformed in power conferences. The field includes both PAC-12 schools in WSU and Oregon State, as well as future PAC-12 school Boise State, who came a game away from making the NCAA tournament.
The BIG 12 is represented by a trio of former PAC-12 schools in Utah, Colorado, and Arizona State. All three teams finished the season with losing records, an indication that FOX is incentivizing brand over the quality of competition. The BIG 10 is represented by USC and Nebraska. Other notable additions include Villanova (Big East), Georgetown (Big East) and Tulane (ACC).
WSU’s first-round matchup is against Georgetown. The Hoyas finished the year with a 17-15 record. Against the Big East, they went 8-12 and finished seventh. Their best win of the season came in December when they took down Creighton, a squad that went on to finish second in the Big East and was selected for March Madness.
Similar to WSU, the Hoyas started the season stronger than they finished. After hanging around in the Big East for most of the year, they lost five of their final six games, including an upset loss in round one of the Big East tournament at the hands of 10-seed DePaul.
The Cougars meanwhile, started the year 13-3 before a 3-10 stretch, marked by injuries which at one point whittled the team down to just eight healthy players, derailed their WCC title hopes. However, Wazzu did pull things together, winning their final two games and winning their first game in the WCC tournament before losing a competitive game to San Francisco.
WSU will be without guard Isaiah Watts, who announced Tuesday that he is entering the transfer portal. The rest of the team is healthy, and nobody else has announced plans to transfer. For now, the lineup will likely look the way it did in January when Watts was injured. Nate Calmese, Dane Erikstrup, Ethan Price, LeJuan Watts and Tomas Thrastarson will likely be the starting lineup, with ND Okafor, Rihards Vavers, Parker Gerrits and Kase Wynott coming off the bench.
For the seniors Erikstrup and Price, the tournament is a final chance to play together and with coach Riley, who has coached the duo for the past three years. Price has started every game in Riley’s collegiate head coach career.
WSU’s game against Georgetown will tip-off at 8 p.m. on March 31. If they win, they will face the winner of Nebraska vs Arizona State in the quarterfinals on April 2.
