‘Great milestone for our program’: Washington State, playing first postseason tournament in a decade, set to open NIT hosting Santa Clara

PULLMAN – Conference tournaments have ended, postseason brackets have been filled out and the Washington State Cougars are still alive. By any measure, that’s a sign of progress.

“You just have to become a program that’s accustomed to giving up spring break,” WSU coach Kyle Smith said Monday. “You keep pushing and you want to have your team ready to play in March, and be mentally fresh. This is a great step.”

WSU will compete in its first national tournament game in a decade when it hosts Santa Clara at 8 p.m. Tuesday in the first round of the NIT – the second-most prominent college hoops tourney.

“We’ll see how we react,” Smith continued. “Has the season gotten too long for us or is there an excitement that we have a chance to play in the postseason and advance? I think our group will be excited.”

In three seasons under Smith, the Cougs (19-14) have transformed from major-conference nobodies into postseason contenders. They rose steadily over the past two years and drew lofty expectations heading into this campaign.

Many pundits considered them a dark-horse NCAA Tournament qualifier. It was probably unfair to predict that kind of quantum leap so quickly from WSU, but the Cougars showed flashes of their potential this year and compiled their best conference finish (11-9) in over a decade. Reaching the NIT should be deemed a “great milestone for our program,” Smith said.

“I think it speaks volumes,” he added. “I think, in some regards, people’s expectations maybe got a little ahead of what we had accomplished, but that’s OK – that means people think we’re good. That’s kinda where you want to be. So, we’re trying to temper expectations with actual achievements.”

The Cougars, No. 61 in the NCAA’s NET rankings, open their sixth NIT appearance as a 4-seed against a high-powered West Coast Conference offense in Santa Clara (21-11).

The Broncos, No. 67 in the NET, logged wins over NCAA Tournament qualifiers TCU and Saint Mary’s and finished third in their conference before losing in the WCC Tournament semifinals to the 18th-ranked Gaels.

Under sixth-year coach Herb Sendek – a former nine-year coach at Arizona State – Santa Clara employs a fast-paced offense that ranks in the top 30 nationally in most stat columns.

“They have really good individual offensive talent,” Smith said.

Leading the squad is All-WCC guard Jalen Williams, who scores 18 points per game on over 50 percent shooting. Smith said the 6-foot-6 Williams will be “one of the best guards we’ve gone against this year.” Joining him on the all-conference first team is a skilled, ball-handling forward in Josip Vrankic, a fifth-year senior who registers 15.5 points and 5.5 rebounds per game.

Post Mouhamed Gueye would probably be WSU’s best defensive matchup option for Vrankic, but the 6-11 Cougar freshman has been nursing an ankle injury, which kept him sidelined during the team’s two-game stay at last week’s Pac-12 tournament in Las Vegas.

Smith expects Gueye to return “in some capacity.”

“He seems like he’s progressing the right way,” Smith said. “How much he’ll be able to play, we’ll see.”

The NIT bracket was revealed Sunday evening, leaving the teams with just one day to prepare.

“It’s that time of the year where it’s going to be who really wants it the most,” Smith said.

But Smith and Sendek won’t be going in blind. The two coached against each other in the WCC from 2016-19, while Smith was in charge at San Francisco. The Broncos also defeated the Cougs 70-62 in Santa Clara during Smith’s first season at WSU.

“We’ll have some familiarity. We played some really tough games, going back to the WCC, and expect nothing less,” Smith said.

“That helps both teams. I don’t know whose advantage it is.”WSU has participated in 12 national postseason tournaments in its history. Most recently, the Cougars lost in the 2012 CBI finals to Pitt. They advanced to the semifinal round of the NIT in 2011 and fell to Wichita State at Madison Square Garden in New York City – the host site for the final two rounds.

WSU comfortably secured a spot in this year’s NIT field. Yet despite the Cougs finishing tied for fifth in the Pac-12, there were varied opinions on whether they would receive a berth in the days leading up to Sunday’s selection show. A couple of respected mock-bracket sites had WSU just outside the 32-team NIT pool.

“We didn’t expect to host. We kept it real. We were really excited just to get in,” Smith said. “My wife caused me a lot of stress. I felt like (athletic director Pat Chun) had done a good job reaching out to people and I felt pretty comfortable with how our league was promoting our efforts and how the NIT would view our resume.

“Then my wife got online and got me in a tizzy.”

The Cougars gathered in a classroom on campus to learn their postseason fate. The WSU logo popped up on ESPN, and Smith described the team’s vibe as “appreciative” and “jubilant.” The Cougs, hoping for a return trip to NYC, jammed to Jay-Z’s “Empire State of Mind.”

“We’re not getting too far ahead of ourselves, but we’re excited,” Smith said. “You gotta be excited to play in the postseason, and we’re pretty thrilled.”

Smith in the postseason

Smith coached in four postseason tournaments at his past two stops – he led San Francisco to two CBI appearances and took Columbia to the CIT twice between 2010-16, winning the tourney in 2016.

An assistant under coach Randy Bennett at Saint Mary’s from 2001-10, Smith helped the Gaels to three NCAA Tournament berths and one NIT showing.

“It’s nice to be a part of the postseason fray again,” he said.

Saint Mary’s booted WSU from the 2009 NIT tourney with a 68-57 first-round result in Moraga, California. That Coug team featured Klay Thompson, Aron Baynes and Taylor Rochestie.

The Gaels, paced by future NBA standout Patty Mills and playing in front of a sellout at home, took down Stephen Curry’s Davidson in the next round before losing to San Diego State in the quarterfinals at a packed house in San Diego.

“It’s an awesome tournament because of these home environments,” Smith said. “It’ll be tricky with us being on spring break, but that’s what I remember. I wish the NCAA Tournament was like this because these games, these venues are thrilling.”