PULLMAN, Wash. (AP) - An alphabetical guide to the Cougars' 2007-08 season, as No. 21 Washington State readies to play Winthrop in Thursday's first round of the NCAA tournament in Denver:

A: Aussie Aron Baynes, WSU's only inside force, who must pick up his slumping game if the Cougars expect to advance in the tournament.

B: Bennetts, coach Tony and his predecessor and father Dick, who came to WSU five years ago and revived the program. Tony is the defending AP coach of the year, and his 50-16 record in two seasons is unprecedented at WSU.

C: Consecutive NCAA tournament appearances, for the first time in the history of the Washington State (24-8) program.

D: Denver, Mile High city where the fourth-seeded Cougars play on Thursday, and where they are 1-1 all-time. They are 2-5 in the state of Colorado.

E: Eagles of Winthrop, (22-11) of Rock Hill, S.C., the 13th seed, which is making its eighth visit to the NCAAs in 10 years out of the Big South Conference.

F: Fans at Washington State, where average attendance of 9,237 per game was fourth in the Pac-10 and more than doubled the average from what it was before the Bennetts arrived.

G: Green Bay, the Wisconsin city where Tony Bennett was a high school and college basketball star and the leading 3-point shooter in NCAA history.

H: Harmeling, Daven, junior who is averaging 6 points per game and making .389 percent of his 3-pointers.

I: Idaho, whose three Division I teams - Idaho, Idaho State and Boise State - were all beaten by the Cougars this season.

J: Jenkins, Michael, leading scorer for Winthrop at 14.3 points per game.

K: Kyle Weaver, smooth and versatile guard who is the only Pac-10 player in history to post more than 1,000 points, 500 rebounds, 400 assists, 150 steals and 75 blocks in his career.

L: Low, Derrick, Samurai-bunned, leg-tattoed guard from Hawaii who leads the Cougs with 14.1 points per game.

M: Mississippi Valley State, which lost to the Cougars 71-26 early this season in Spokane in a blowout that had to be seen to be fully appreciated, yet somehow rebounded to make the NCAA tournament.

N: Notre Dame and George Mason, the other two teams playing at Denver.

O: One thousand career points, a milestone reached by Low and Weaver this season, becoming the 28th and 29th players in WSU history to do that.

P: Pac-10, which has nine teams in post-season play, including WSU, Arizona, UCLA, Oregon, Southern Cal and Stanford in the NCAAs, Arizona State and Cal in the NIT and Washington in the CBI. Only Oregon State will watch the games amid the comforts of home.

Q: Quinnett, Brian, former Cougar and NBA player who is often seen at games in Pullman.

R: Robbie Cowgill, skinny forward who along with Weaver and Low is part of the original recruiting class that revived Cougar basketball.

S: Six, the number of NCAA tournament appearances in WSU history, in 1941, 1980, 1983, 1994, 2007 and 2008, posting a 4-5 record.

T: Taylor Rochestie, junior guard who is voluntarily giving up his scholarship next year and paying his own way so the Cougars can sign a blue-chip recruit.

U: UCLA, the Pac-10 champion, which beat WSU twice this season and remains the only league team this batch of WSU seniors has never beaten.

V: Very good on the road, after the Cougars posted a 15-4 record away from Pullman. Only North Carolina, 18-0, and the top seed in WSU's bracket, is better away from home.

W: Where does basketball power reside in Washington? In the Eastern portion, where WSU and Gonzaga are both headed to the NCAA tournament, and Spokane high schools won the state titles in the largest boys and girls categories for the second straight year.


X: Xtremely good start for the Cougars, who opened 14-0, best since the 1917 national champions went 15-0.

Y: Your television set, where the Cougars have appeared at least 22 times this season.

Z: Zealand, New, country that the Cougars toured last summer, and where Tony Bennett was a player and coach.