Central cagers to be tested early

Wildcat men will be well paid for exhibitions against UW, BYU//

Tough economic times can make for tough competitive times for sports like Central Washington men’s basketball.

The Wildcats, part of an athletic department in need of money in the wake of substantial budget cuts, will open their season against defending Pacific-10 Conference champion Washington in Seattle on Nov. 4. On Nov. 10, coach Greg Sparling’s squad will travel to Provo, Utah to meet Brigham Young.

“It’s definitely an economic issue,” Sparling said Tuesday. “We’re fortunate that the University of Washington wants to play us, and also BYU gave us a very good guarantee. There’s no second guessing yourself. You just jump in and walk away with a lot of money.”

Sparling declined to specify how much money Central will get from either game. Both will be exhibitions, and will not count on either team’s season record.

Obviously, the Division II Wildcats will be prohibitive underdogs in both games.

“You have kids who maybe didn’t make it at the D-I level and see these guys on TV, now they get a chance to play against them,” Sparling said. “I’ve seen where Washington’s picked 15th in one of the polls and BYU’s going to be solid.

“As with any game, you want to come out healthy. So the whole thing for us will be to gear up for our final exhibition. The biggest thing when you play back-to-back against that caliber of team is you don’t want to get your confidence shaken.”

Central is waiting to finalize one more home game, Sparling said, and will release its entire schedule within the next few days.

He said UW assistant coach Jim Shaw approached him about the Husky game, and that CWU athletic director Jack Bishop had a contact at BYU that helped facilitate that game.

Central and Washington last met in 2002, in head coach Lorenzo Romar’s first game as the Huskies’ coach. The Wildcats played at Washington State in 2006, during then-head coach Tony Bennett’s first season as WSU’s head man. CWU lost both games.