The 20th win in college basketball used to be the benchmark necessary to reach to assure that a team would make it into the Big Dance. But the NCAA tournament has been more selective in recent years after teams either loaded up on too many cupcakes to reach the 20-win plateau or played in a few extra games in pre-season tournaments to give themselves a few more opportunities to reach the magic 20. In the case of the 14th-ranked Washington State University Cougar men's basketball team, reaching the 20th win will be a benchmark, for sure - no Cougar team has accomplished 1994 - but it will hardly guarantee anything. What Wazzu is more likely to be after when they entertain the Stanford Cardinal on Thursday in Beasley Coliseum in Pullman is their ninth win - in the Pac-10 conference.


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