1982–83 Washington State Cougars men's basketball team

The 1982–83 Washington State Cougars men's basketball team represented Washington State University for the 1982–83 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. Led by eleventh-year head coach George Raveling, the Cougars were members of the Pacific-10 Conference and played their home games on campus at Beasley Coliseum in Pullman, Washington.

1982–83 Washington State Cougars men's basketball
NCAA tournament, Second round
Conference	Pacific-10
Record	23–7 (14–4 Pac-10)
Head coach	George Raveling (11th season)
Assistant coaches	Len Stevens Ron Righter
Home arena	Beasley Coliseum
Seasons ← 1981–82 1983–84 →

1982–83 Pacific-10 Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 7 UCLA	15	–	3		.833			23	–	6		.793
Washington State	14	–	4		.778			23	–	7		.767
Oregon State	12	–	6		.667			20	–	11		.645
Arizona State	12	–	6		.667			19	–	14		.576
USC	11	–	7		.611			17	–	11		.607
Washington	7	–	11		.389			16	–	15		.516
California	7	–	11		.389			14	–	14		.500
Stanford	6	–	12		.333			14	–	14		.500
Oregon	5	–	13		.278			9	–	18		.333
Arizona	1	–	17		.056			4	–	24		.143
As of April 15, 1983^[1] Rankings from AP Poll

The Cougars were 22–6 overall in the regular season and 14–4 in conference play; runner-up to UCLA, who they split with in the season series. There was no conference tournament this season; it debuted four years later. They had a chance to tie the Bruins for the title,^[2] but lost by a point to rival Washington in Seattle to end the regular season.^[3][4]

After missing it the previous two seasons, WSU was invited to the 52-team NCAA tournament and were seeded eighth in the West region; they met ninth seed Weber State, the Big Sky champion, in the first round in Boise. WSU's only two non-conference losses were to Big Sky teams, neighbor Idaho and Montana, both on the road in December. The Cougars defeated Weber by ten points.^[5][6]

The next opponent was the top seed in the West, #4 Virginia with center Ralph Sampson, who had a first-round bye. The Cougars stayed with the Cavaliers, but lost by five points.^[7][8]

Washington State's 23–7 record was their best in 42 years, since the national runner-up team of 1941 went 26–6.^[7]

Raveling was the Pac-10 coach of the year and the national runner-up for AP coach of the year.^[9] In early April, he left Pullman to succeed Lute Olsen at Iowa in the Big Ten Conference;^{[10][11][12][13]} assistant Len Stevens was quickly promoted to head coach.^[14][15]

A third-round selection the 1983 NBA draft, senior guard/forward Craig Ehlo had a fourteen-year career in the NBA.

WSU's next NCAA appearance was eleven years away in 1994, under head coach Kelvin Sampson.

The court surface at Beasley Coliseum was tartan (polyurethane) for its first decade and this was its final season;^[16] a traditional hardwood floor debuted at the start of the next season.^[17][18]

Postseason results

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
NCAA Tournament
Thu, March 17* 6:10 pm, CBS	(8W)	vs. (9W) Weber State First round	W 62–52	23–6	BSU Pavilion (11,200) Boise, Idaho
Sat, March 19* 11:10 am, CBS	(8W)	vs. (1W) No. 4 Virginia Second round	L 49–54	23–7	BSU Pavilion (12,177) Boise, Idaho
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Pacific time.

References

1. "2017-18 Men's Basketball Media Guide". Pac-12 Conference. p. 72. Retrieved February 16, 2018.
2. Devlin, Vince (March 12, 1983). "Cougs only want 1 win". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). p. 16.
3. Devlin, Vince (March 13, 1983). "Cougar hopes collapse". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). p. D1.
4. "Cougars lose so UCLA wins Pac-10 title despite losing". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). wire services. March 13, 1983. p. 5B.
5. Robinson, Doug (March 18, 1983). "WSU hands Weber an early exit". Deseret News. (Salt Lake City, Utah). p. 4B.
6. Devlin, Vince (March 18, 1983). "Cougs earn a crack at Ralph". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). p. 25.
7. Devlin, Vince (March 20, 1983). "Cavs find WSU no pushover". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). p. D1.
8. "Cavs oust Cougars". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). wire services. March 20, 1983. p. 7C.
9. "Lewis named top coach; Raveling finishes second". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. April 2, 1983. p. 13.
10. Brown, Bruce; Stewart, Chuck (April 4, 1983). "Raveling ponders offer". Spokane Chronicle. (Washington). p. 15.
11. Brown, Bruce (April 5, 1983). "Raveling answers Iowa call". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). p. 25.
12. "Raveling decides to leave Cougars". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). wire services. April 5, 1983. p. 1C.
13. Devlin, Vince (February 12, 1984). "Iowa: Nothing is un-Raveling - yet". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). p. D1.
14. "WSU names Len Stevens". Spokane Chronicle. (Washington). April 5, 1983. p. 17.
15. Grippi, Vince (April 6, 1983). "Stevens to coach Cougars". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). p. C1.
16. Zeigler, Mark (February 23, 1984). "Hoop crew hopes to tame WSU, but beating Cougars not easy". Stanford Daily. (California). (Stanford University). p. 6.
17. "Seattle Pacific at WSU: At a glance". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). December 1, 1983. p. 20.
18. "WSU sports new look, old results". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). December 2, 1983. p. 20.

External links

• Sports Reference – Washington State Cougars: 1982–83 basketball season