PULLMAN — Washington State’s season isn’t over just yet.
The Cougars have been selected to participate in the inaugural College Basketball Crown postseason tournament, set for March 31-April 6 in Las Vegas, the organization announced Monday. The 16-team field also includes Arizona State, Boise State, Butler, Cincinnati, Colorado, DePaul, Georgetown, George Washington, Nebraska, Oregon State, Tulane, UCF, USC, Utah and Villanova.
In the first round, WSU will take on Georgetown at 8 p.m. March 31 at MGM Grand Garden Arena on FS1.
The first round will take place March 31 and April 1, the quarterfinals on April 2 and 3, and the tournament will move to T-Mobile Arena for the semifinals and the title game, the latter of which is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. April 6 on Fox.
WSU, which bowed out of the WCC tournament with a quarterfinal loss to San Francisco on March 9, has collected a 19-14 record this season. The Cougars will match up against a Hoya team that has lost five of its last six games, including a loss to DePaul in the Big East Tournament’s first round.
“I think it’s an honor, whatever happens with tournaments, to be able to keep playing basketball,” Riley said after WSU’s loss in the WCC tournament. “That’s what I want my team to be built on. I think you see a lot of these programs that don’t wanna go to different deals, or don’t want to play hoops. We get to stay with a bunch of people that we love. We get to play another game and fight for another championship.
“That’s the kind of program that we want to build, and I think our guys are totally bought into that. They would be going, playing on a random Sunday, at the park or at the open gym. Like, let’s go do it together and do it on a stage.”
It’s the fourth straight postseason appearance for WSU, which made a run to the NIT semifinals in 2022, lost to Riley’s Eastern Washington club in the 2023 NIT first round and made the NCAA tournament second round last spring, snapping a 16-year big dance drought.
At the inaugural Crown, WSU could also clash with future Pac-12 member Boise State as well as conference returner Oregon State.
Also worth noting: The transfer portal opens on March 24, a full week before WSU’s first game in this tournament, meaning the Cougars could lose players to the portal before taking on Georgetown. After exiting the WCC tournament, freshman guard Tomas Thrastarson, sophomore wing Rihards Vavers and junior forward ND Okafor said they planned to stay at WSU.
Point guard Nate Calmese wasn’t asked in the same point-blank way, but after the game, he said he hadn’t thought much about his future and was focused on the WCC tournament. The team’s leading scorer and shot-creator, Calmese’s future at WSU looms large.
