Washington State Cougars

The Washington State Cougars is the athletic team of Washington State University. This team applies to any of the varsity teams of the Washington State University. This University is a member of the Pacific Ten Conference that participates in the NCAA Division I.

The Washington State Cougars is the second most famous popular sport, with its popularity increasing after the 2006-07 season. This team holds the doubtful record of participating in the lowest scoring championship basketball game, with losing to Wisconsin to 39-34 in the 1941 national championship game. However, in 1917, this team won their only basketball National Championship. Further, this team even played in late 70s when the head coach was George Raveling. During the same period, the Cougars were among the Pac 10 conference’s top teams. By 2004-05 season, due to large increase in student support, the team finished with a few wins of a .500 record. The coach, Dick Bennett retired at the end of 2005-06 season and was replaced by his son, Tony.

In 2007, the Cougars team appeared in the Associated Press Top 25 poll since 1983. They were picked to finish in the last position in the Pac 10 in a pre season media poll. Also, the team got picked as a three seed in the NCAA Tournament and won over Oral Roberts by 70-54 in the first round itself. However, they again lost to the Vanderbilt team in the seconf round with 78-74 in double overtime. After this season, Tony Bennett, the coach received the Naismith Coach of the year award, which is the highest honor for any college basketball coach.