Last updated on February 24th, 2024 at 11:32 am
College basketball fans are arguing about this year’s best men’s basketball team. Some of the teams included in the debate are Connecticut, Purdue, and Houston. However, it seems like Washington State Basketball is proving to be the number-one squad in college basketball in 2023.
After their nail-biting 77-74 win against No. 4 Arizona, Washington State has a half-game lead in the Pac-12. According to pay per head bookie reports, the Cougars’ 21-6 record and 12-4 record is their best against the Wildcats this season since 2009–10. Their journey to the NCAA tournament has not been this long since 2008. Since the Pacific Coast Conference featured nine teams in 1941, when Idaho was one of them, they had a legitimate shot of winning the league title.
Fans of Left Coast Hoops may have anticipated a breakthrough a few seasons back. After winning 22 games, those Cougars made it to the semifinals of the NIT. On the other hand, this year’s group was barely mentioned, coming in at number ten in the league’s preseason vote.
Washington State Basketball on the Top
The Cougars’ top scorer and rebounder is Idaho transfer Isaac Jones, who averages 15.7 points per game (7.6). Jaylen Wells, a Division II import who scored 27 points against Arizona on Thursday, had an excellent season as a floor-stretching big and shot 45.9 percent from outside the arc. According to basketball news reports, he averaged 22.1 points per game for Sonoma State last year.
According to pay per head sources, the best backcourt option is Myles Rice, who averages 15.5 points and 3.7 assists per game while redshirting in 2021–22 and sitting out last year due to treatment for Hodgkin’s cancer. Andrej Jakimovski, a senior, is an additional option with his shooting ability; he averages double digits in points and serves as a fourth shooter.
Kyle Smith, an analytics whiz who has won in contexts where few coaches have recently been successful, is keeping an eye on everything. At Columbia, he had the best winning percentage of any Lions coach since 1958, with 101 victories and a CIT championship.