Washington State Basketball: Cougars To Face No. 16 Gonzaga

Washington State men's basketball team has played six decent teams in this young season. The Cougars have looked good,  winning all six games and a tournament championship.

"It's time to step forward and face some good competition," said Coach Ken Bone on Tuesday morning during his news conference.

The very young Cougars have played very good basketball to begin the new season. With a new coach, a new system, and only one upper classman, few would have projected WSU to completely dominate a good San Diego Torero club in the Great Alaska Shootout Championship Game.

Wednesday night, Coach Bone and the Cougars will travel 73 miles north to Spokane to take on the No. 16 Gonzaga Bulldogs on their home court.

Wednesday night, the schedule gets very tough and won't get much easier until November of 2010.

Listening to Coach Bone talk Cougar basketball, he wouldn't have it any other way.

Make no mistake, Coach Bone is quietly confident his team will be prepared to take a step up in the quality of their opponents.

In his words, "I’m excited for our guys. I think it’s good. I think it’s exactly what we need. We’ve played some decent teams, but it’s time to take a step forward and face some good competition. Unfortunately we’re playing great competition. You know, that’s one of the reasons these guys go on to play college basketball. To play in venues like what Gonzaga has. There will be a great crowd. They’ll be hostile. That’s fun for guys. I’m excited they’re going to get a chance to play in front of a good crowd and find out what we’re made of at this point."

After the first six games, Washington State's play barely resembles the style of play fans have been accustomed to over the past few seasons. Sure, they still play tough defense, but the new version of crimson and gray are playing a different brand of offense. Coach Bone has his team looking to push the ball up court whenever possible and if players have an open look early in the shot clock, they take it.

No question the new brand of Cougar basketball will be put to the test in The Kennel facing an outstanding Gonzaga Bulldog club.

Regarding the competition, Coach Bone said, "They’re really good. There’s a reason why they are ranked sixteenth. Those big guys, (Robert Sacre and Elias Harris) that’s a huge reason why they are so good...because of their presence on both ends of the court. They will present some problems for us just like they do for everyone else. They just keep coming at you with their ‘bigs’ and their guards, but their ‘bigs’ are good."

When asked if there were lessons learned from playing San Diego who is coached by Bill Greer, a long time assistant for Coach Mark Few of Gonzaga, Coach Bone responded with, "I thought about that before playing (San Diego). It’s a chance to play against Bill (Greer) and knowing that he was at Gonzaga all those years. But there’s a little difference between Gonzaga and San Diego right now.

"There might be some similar stats. Some tendencies are the same. All in all, I don’t think we get a whole lot accomplished from thinking we’re playing a little better team than San Diego. (Gonzaga's) a lot better team. San Diego is good and Bill does a great job. And that night we played well and they didn’t. Gonzaga is a whole different monster."

Though the respect Coach Bone holds for the 'Zags is serious, he managed to lighten things up when responding to the cliché question about his freshmen point guards Reggie Moore and Xavier Thames feeling pressure from the intense atmosphere The Kennel will present Wednesday evening.

Coach Bone's thoughts are, "I’ll be disappointed if the crowd gets us to turn it over. That could happen. They don’t step out on the court, do they? They’re just loud. I hope they don’t get out there… If they’re loud and that bothers our players then that’s an even better learning experience. We’ll go into some other places that are loud this year and the guys are going to need to handle it.

"It’s all part of the learning process for the young guys. I know their crowd gets into it and that’s good for Gonzaga and that’s good for us. We’re trying to prepare ourselves for the Pac-10 season. Games against teams like Gonzaga and Kansas State do exactly that."

Just like Washington State, Gonzaga has a different look this season. The names have changed, but the team play remains. Coach Few has four players to lead a balanced scoring attack.

Matt Bouldin is back playing solid defense and scoring from everywhere on the court. He leads the 'Zags in scoring averaging 18.2 points, five rebounds, 4.2 assists per game, and he has the potential to go off for 30 points any night.

His mate in the back court, Steven Gray, is right there with Bouldin, scoring 16.4 points, pulling down 4.2 rebounds, and dishing off three assists per game. Robert Sacre and are a force in the front court scoring, 14.4 points and 12.6 points respectively per game.Elias Harris

According to Coach Bone, "They have a different team but following Gonzaga basketball for however many years, Mark’s been there eleven years now, it really doesn’t matter if they tweak this and tweak that. At the end of the day they’re really, really good.

"They have a great staff. Jerry Krause has been coaching for like 85 years now. If they get some big kids, and they have a better presence in the post, then they’re going to go to them. If they’re guard oriented, they’re going to go to their guards. If they have an Adam Morrison, they’re going to go to him."

For fans hoping to see the game Wednesday at 6:00 pm in Spokane, you better already have your tickets. Mentioning that the Bulldogs have sold out their home game is as obvious as the sun rising in the east and setting in the west. The game will be broadcast on FSN Northwest . If you want to hear the game called right, tune your radio to the Cougar Radio Network with Bud Nameck calling the play-by-play.

Originally published on Lew Wright's column on Examiner.com