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Tournament notes: CSU opens MWC tourney Thursday as No. 5 seed
March 9, 2010
Complete Release in PDF Format 2010 Conoco MWC Championships The Rams enter play at this week’s tournament as the No. 5 seed, after posting an overall record of 16-14 in the regular-season, including a 7-9 mark against the Mountain West Conference. Colorado State is slated to face the No. 4-seeded San Diego State Aztecs on Thursday in the quarterfinal round of the tournament. The game is slated to tip at 2:30 p.m. PT/3:30 p.m. MT from UNLV’s Thomas & Mack Center (18,500). The winner of Thursday’s matchup will then face off against the winner of the quarterfinal contest between No. 1-seeded New Mexico (28-3, 14-2 MWC), who is ranked eighth in both national polls, and either eighth-seeded Wyoming (10-20, 3-13 MWC) and last place Air Force (9-20, 1-15 MWC). Wyoming and Air Force open the men’s tournament Wednesday afternoon in the opening round game at 2 p.m. PT/3 p.m. MT. No. 2 BYU (28-4, 13-3) is ranked 14 and 15 in the AP and ESPN/USA Today top 25 polls, respectively, and faces No. 7 TCU (13-18, 5-11 MWC) in the first quarterfinal matchup of the opposite side of the bracket. Host UNLV (23-7, 21-5 MWC), the tourney’s No. 3 seed, and sixth-seeded Utah (14-16, 7-9 MWC) round out the tourney field. Semifinal matchups are scheduled for 6 p.m. PT/7 p.m. MT and 8:30 p.m. PT/9:30 p.m. MT on Friday, with the winners deciding the conference championship, and the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, with a 4 p.m. PT/5 p.m .MT matchup in Saturday’s title game. Follow the Rams Fans can listen to all of CSU’s games live on the Colorado State Sports Network. Jerry Schemmel will call all the action courtside. The games will be carried on flagship KLZ (560 AM) in Denver and on KCOL (600 AM), locally. Rams fans worldwide can listen via live streaming audio on CSURams.com/allaccess. Thursday’s quarterfinal matchup will be simulcast live on The Mtn. and CBS College, while Friday’s semifinal round will be broadcast on CBS College. Saturday’s championship game can be seen on Versus. All games will also be carried live on Sirius Satellite Radio. Gametracker live stats are available at CSURams.com. Down to the wire The Rams defeated No. 6-seeded Utah, 76-67, in front of the home crowd, to move into a tie for fifth place in the MWC standings with the Utes. Colorado State secured the higher seed by virtue of a pair of head-to-head victories over Utah during the regular season. CSU also defeated the Utes, 65-50, at the Jon M. Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City, Utah on Feb. 3. Sweet 16 The 16 wins doubled the Rams’ win total under the third-year head coach who has been rebuilding a program that was left with only one player with NCAA Divison I experience two seasons ago when he took over the reins. High “5”
Postseason implications Only a run to the MWC tournament championship would ensure the Rams of the league’s automatic bid, but a strong showing could help Colorado State reach one of three other postseason tournament - the National Invitation Tournament (NIT), the College Basketball Invitational (CBI), or the CollegeInsider.com Tournament (CIT). A postseason berth would be the first of any kind for the Rams since the 2002-03 season, when No. 6-seeded CSU won the tournament title by virtue of wins over No. 3 Wyoming (74-71), No. 2 BYU (86-80, OT) and No. 4 UNLV (62-61) strong performances from all-tourney team members Brian Greene, a senior forward, and MVP Matt Nelson, a sophomore center. The Rams are 3-9 all-time in eight appearances in the NCAA tournament, and have posted a 6-6 mark all-time in six appearances in the NIT. Colorado State has never appeared in either the CBI or CIT. The Rams vs... Air Force (1-1) Sweeping up the competition Colorado State had not swept two teams in the same season since 1999-2000, when the Rams also swept the Falcons and the Cowboys. This was the first time a CSU team had ever swept the regular-season series with three different MWC opponents. Lucky No. 7 Improved RPI
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