The Washington State men's basketball team has made seven appearances in the NCAA Tournaments starting in 1941.
The Coug squad would make their first appearance in the tournament only 2 years after the tournament's invention. In 1941, Washington State came into the big dance after winning the Pac-12 championship and earning an automatic bid into the tournament. WSU then made a deep run all the way to the Championship game, where they fell to Wisconsin 39-34.
Wazzu would then not make it to the tournament until almost 40 years later as a No. 5 seed, unfortunately the team's run came to a swift end after being eliminated in the first round against the No. 12 Penn 62-55.
Three years later the Cougs found themselves back in the NCAA tournament as an 8 seed, they advanced to the second round after beating Weber St. by ten points, 62-52. Their run came to an end against No. 1 seed Virginia in the second round.
In 1994 in the first time in 11 years Washington St. found themselves back in the big dance, their run didn't go far as Boston College beat the Cougs 67-64 in the first round.
From then on, Wazzu found themselves outside looking in when March rolled around. Their appearance drought ended in 2007. WSU came into the tournament as a #3 seed and opened with a win against #14 Oral Roberts. In the second round the Cougs dropped a 2OT hearbreaker to #6 Vanderbilt.
After 07 they didn't have to wait long to get back into the tournament. One year later in 2008 they entered the big dance as a top 4 seed. The Cougs advanced all the way to the Sweet Sixteen, where they fell to North Carolina 108-77.
Now in 2024, the Cougs have made it back to the NCAA tournament stage as a No. 7 seed and are fighting for their chance to move past the first round.
By the numbers
- 7 years overall
- 1 Sweet Sixteen appearance
- 1 championship appearance
- No national titles
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