WSU Basketball | Will Cougs have a coming out party on Friday the 13th?

November 12, 10:54 PMWashington State Cougars ExaminerLew Wright

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Friday night has been months in the making for Washington State men's basketball. With a minimum of fanfare, a new head basketball coach will make his regular season debut for the Cougs.

Coach Ken Bone takes a very young WSU team into another season of Cougar basketball 7pm Friday night at Beasley Coliseum in Pullman.

Don't expect fireworks tomorrow night. There probably won't be 8x10 glossy photos of Coach Bone distributed to all those in attendance. Heck, the chances of a red carpet being rolled out are about the same as WSU's opponent, Mississippi Valley State, pulling off an upset victory.

There's good reason for the transition from the Bennett Ball era to a new era under the leadership of Ken Bone. Coach Bone is a father, a teacher and a man of great character. Throwing Ken Bone a wild celebration to mark this event would be about as useful as giving Warren Buffet an inside tip on a hot stock.

Where many college coaches today are all about projecting image, Coach Bone seems sincerely unimpressed with himself.

Make no mistake, Ken Bone is likely to not only continue but in all probability elevate Washington State men's basketball to new heights for as long as he chooses. He comes to WSU with impressive credentials. In his 12 seasons as the head coach at Seattle Pacific, his teams won roughly three out of every four times they took the court. In 2005 he took on the project of building a successful basketball program at Division I Portland State. His second season at PSU, the team won 60% of their games. The last two seasons, PSU won 70% of their games and were invited to the NCAA tournament.

Friday night is a big night for Cougar basketball.

For the third consecutive year, the Cougs will open their regular schedule against the Delta Devils of Mississippi Valley State. MVS is in the initial stages of establishing their own basketball program under second year head man, Coach Sean Woods. Although the Delta Devils finished last season with a humble 7-25 record, all seven of their wins came against Southwestern Athletic Conference opponents. A clear indicator that as the season wore on, Coach Woods' team improved. With three starters from last year's team returning, there is every reason to expect MVS to be a much better team this year.

Coach Woods' and his staff were very successful with their recruiting efforts. The class they have coming in this season is ranked in the Top 50 by HoopScoopOnline.com. New players to watch for MVS are Ricky Lamb and Michael Mayo. Lamb, a combo player, was ranked as one of  the Top 50 high school players in the state of Florida. Mayo is a junior college transfer who was deadly from three-point range while leading Cochise College in free throw shooting.

The Delta Devils top returning scorer is Shannon Behling, a small forward who averaged 10.4 points per game and 5.3 rebounds last season. Behling is expected to be a key player for MVS.

No more waiting.

The Zzu Crew will be out in full force. Once again Friel Court will be alive with the excitement that is Cougar basketball.

Thompson, Casto, Koprivica, Capers, Moore, Thames, Harthun, Lodwick and the rest of the 2009-2010 Washington State Cougars are ready to jump it up.

We are there!

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