WSU Men’s Basketball Will Play Kansas In 2012’s CBE

The Cougar men’s basketball program has found out that it will play Kansas in 2012 as part of the CBE Hall of Fame Classic on November 19. That game will be a semi-final in the short tourney and will be held in Kansas City’s Sprint Center, which hosts NCAA Tournament action on a regular basis. Each team will then play accordingly against the other semi-final contestants the next day, which are Saint Louis and Texas A&M.

In a unique setup, the CBE has all 4 semi-finalists host two games prior to the semi-finals at a neutral site (in this case K.C.), so WSU will play in presumably, two very winnable games at home earlier in the month. Kansas’ schedule, just released, pits them against Southeast Missouri St and UT Chattanooga. We are still waiting on Washington State’s schedule to release.

Royce Woolridge will get a cool opportunity to play against his old team here and Washington State will get the opportunity to knock off one of the youngest Kansas teams in recent memory, with 8 freshman on the squad. We always basically assume that KU is going to be a top #15 school throughout the season, but with such a young roster, you never know how the team will gel, especially early in the season. Hopefully Ken Bone gets the team going early on and a slightly older and experienced Cougar team with a dynamic Moore/Motum combo can take advantage of the youth to steal the game. Then of course we hope Kansas goes on and does really good things to help out our resume later in the year. It sounds like a bit of a pipe dream when you consider the performances of the recent past against big schools at neutral sites, but actually with the cards lining up the way they are it’s quite doable. At least in my mind it is!

Feb 25 2012; Pullman, WA, USA; Washington State Cougars guard Reggie Moore (1) puts up a shot against Washington Huskies guard Terrence Ross (31) during the first half at the Beasley Performing Arts Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: James Snook-US PRESSWIRE

GO COUGS!