Team preview: Washington State

Blue Ribbon Illustrated previews the 2004-05 college basketball season, exclusively on Insider.

Updated: October 20, 2004, 5:43 PM ET
Blue Ribbon Yearbook
Editor's Note: Insider has teamed with Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook, long known as the Bible of college basketball, to provide a comprehensive look at all 326 Division I teams.

COACH AND PROGRAM

Just nine games into non-conference play last year, Dick Bennett was already questioning his coaching comeback.

A comeback by Bennett's Washington State basketball team, however, didn't come until much later in the season.

After guiding Wisconsin to the 2000 Final Four and coaching three games the following season, Bennett walked away from the game, sighting burn out.

"I was tired, I needed a fresh start," he said. "I had spent 36 years coaching in one state. I had carried baggage from each job. I couldn't leave it behind because whatever I had done well or poorly in the previous job kind of followed me to the next job. The whole state was aware of what I could do and couldn't do and my past failings and my past successes. There is a grand truth that familiarity can breed contempt."


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