March 15, 2010

Complete Release in PDF Format

Colorado State at Morehead State | 2010 CBI - Opening Round
March 17 | Morehead, Ky. | Ellis T. Johnson Arena (6,500)

Television
Network: HDNet
Play-by-Play: Kenny Rice
Color Analyst: Wayne Chapman
Channel: Comcast (664), DirecTV (79/306), DISH Network (9422)

Radio
Network: Colorado State Sports Network
Play-by-Play: Jerry Schemmel
Flagship: KLZ (560 AM)

Online
Live Statistics: CSURams.com
Streaming Audio: CSURams.com/allaccess
Streaming Video: None

Rams open CBI Wednesday at Morehead State
The Colorado State men's basketball team will compete in its first postseason tournament since 2003, opening play in the 16-team College Basketball Invitational on Wednesday night.   

The Rams (16-15) are coming off of their best season under third-year Head Coach Tim Miles and will travel to Morehead, Ky., to face off against Ohio Valley Conference foe Morehead State.  Tipoff is set for  7 p.m. MT in the at Johnson Arena.

Morehead State (23-10) finished second in its conference with a 15-3 regular-season record and lost in the OVC championship contest to Murray State March 6.

Also included in the tournament field are: Akron, Boston, Charleston, Duquesne, Eastern Kentucky, George Washington, Green Bay, Hofstra, Indiana State, IUPUI, Oregon State, Princeton, St. Louis and Virginia Commonwealth.

Follow the Rams
CSU's game will be televised live on HDNet, available locally on specific HD packages offered by Comcast (Channel 664), DirecTV (channels 79 and 306), and DISH Network (Channel 9422). Fans should look for the game's availability in their area by visiting www.hd.net. 

Kenny Rice (play-by-play) and Wayne Chapman (color analyst) will broadcast Wednesday's game vs. Morehead State. 

Fans can listen to the game on the Colorado State Sports Network. Jerry Schemmel will call all the action courtside. The game 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.

Live statistics are available by clicking the "Live Stats" link on the men's basketball schedule page at CSURams.com. 

Looking ahead
The 2010 CBI continues March 22 and March 24 with the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds, respectively.  The "Championship Series," a best-of-three format, is slated for games on March 29 and 31, with the final game (if necessary) scheduled for April 2.  All of the semifinal and championship games will also be televised on HDNet.

About Morehead State
Morehead State enters the 2010 CBI with an overall record of 23-10, including a 15-3 mark in the Ohio Valley Conference.  The Eagles finished second in the OVC standings and narrowly missed out on an a second-consecutive NCAA tourney bid, falling 62-51 to eventual champion Murray State in the OVC tournament.   

MSU is led by junior Kenneth Faried, a 6-8 center from Newark, N.J.  Faried, the OVC Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year, averages 16.6 points and 13 rebounds per game for the Eagles.  Nationally, Faried ranks second in both rebounding and double-doubles (23), while his 1.9 blocks per game are good for 58th in NCAA Division I. 

Senior Maze Stallworth, a second-team all-OVC selection, ranks second on the team in scoring at 12.4 points per game.  He leads the team with 85 three-pointers on the year. 

Delmonte Harper, a junior guard, also averages double-figures scoring for MSU, pouring in 12.1 points per game.  He is also one of two players to have racked up more than 100 assists on the season, entering Wednesday's game with 102 to his credit.  Senior guard Brandon Shingles leads the team with 148 assists on the season. 

As a team, Morehead State ranks among the nation's top rebounding programs, pulling down 37.1 boards per game, and holding opponents to just 29.1.  The team is fourth in the nation in rebounding margin (+8.0).  The Eagles average 71.0 points per game, and defensively hold opponents to just more than 62 points per contest.  The team also ranks 13th in the nation in steals per game, forcing 8.9 per game. 

Head Coach Donnie Tyndall is in his fourth season at Morehead State, his alma mater (1993), where he has compiled a record of 70-59 at the helm of the Eagles program.  In 2009, Tyndall led MSU to the NCAA tourney where they defeated Alabama State, 58-43, in the play-in game, before falling 74-54 to Elite 8 participant and top-seeded Lousiville. 

Back in the postseason
Wednesday's game will mark Colorado State's first postseason appearance since 2003, and the team's first appearance in the three-year-old College Basketball Invitational.  Overall, it marks CSU's 15th postseason appearance.

The Rams are 3-9 all-time in eight appearances in the NCAA tournament, including their last appearance in 2003.  CSU is 6-6 all-time in the National Invitation Tournament (NIT), having last appeared in 1999. 

CBI the first step
When Colorado State Head Coach Tim Miles came to CSU three seasons ago, he clearly stated his goals for the program were to compete in postseason competition and win when they got there.  With Sunday's announcement that the team had accepted a bid to the CBI, the Rams took the first step toward becoming a perennial postseason contender. 

Of the 16 teams to compete in the CBI in 2009, nine of those programs will go on to compete in either the NCAA or National Invitation tournaments this season.

UTEP (C-USA/at-large), Richmond (A-10/at-large), Vermont (America East/automatic) and Houston (C-USA/automatic) each earned berths in the NCAA field of 65. 

Northeastern, Wichita State, Troy, St. John's and Nevada will all compete in the NIT. 

In addition, three teams that played in the inaugural CBI in 2008 went on to earn NCAA or NIT postseason berths in 2009.   Utah (MWC/automatic) and Washington (Pac-10/at-large) played in the NCAA tourney, while  Tulsa participated in the NIT. 

MWC in the CBI
Colorado State becomes the third Mountain West Conference program to compete in the CBI in the tournament's three-year history.  Utah was the first school to participate in 2008, scoring an 81-69 opening-round victory over UTEP before falling, 69-60 to eventual champion Tulsa in the quarterfinals.  Wyoming dropped a 64-62 decision to Northeastern in the opening round of the 2009 CBI. 

Sweet 16
The Colorado State men's basketball team reached 16 wins in the final game of the regular season vs. Utah, ensuring that the Rams would finish the 2009-10 season with a record of no worse than .500, becoming the first of Tim Miles' teams at CSU to do so. 

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 Division I experience two seasons ago when he took over the reins.

Postseason players
Colorado State is one of five teams from the Mountain West Conference to make postseason play in 2010.  New Mexico, BYU, UNLV and San Diego State all made the field of 65 for the NCAA tournament, marking the first time in MWC history that four teams will compete for the national title.  Colorado State is the only other team to continue its season.

The Rams vs. the field
Colorado State is a combined 10-10 all-time against teams playing in the 2010 CBI tournament, including previous matchups with Duquesne (0-1), Eastern Kentucky (2-1), Green Bay (2-2), Indiana State (1-2), IUPUI (1-1), Oregon State (4-2) and St. Louis (1-1).  The Rams have never faced first-round opponent Morehead State, Akron, Boston, Charleston, George Washington, Hofstra, Princeton or Virginia Commonwealth.  Here is a breakdown of CSU's record vs. each of the programs in this year's CBI tournament. 

Sweeping up the competition
Colorado State's win vs. Utah, a 76-67 victory in the team's regular-season finale on March 6, marked the Rams' third regular-season sweep of a conference opponent this season.  The Rams also swept rivals Wyoming and Air Force. 

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
The CSU men's basketball team improved from four MWC victories last season to finish with a 7-9 mark in 2010.  The seven league wins are the most conference wins in a season by the Rams since the team won eight during the 1999-2000 season.

Improved RPI
Colorado State enters play this week with  an RPI of 119, which ranked fifth in the MWC behind New Mexico (10), San Diego State (18), BYU (23), and UNLV (48), and ahead of Utah (157), TCU (188), Wyoming (228), and Air Force (245). 

The Rams' number is a marked improvement over 2008-09, when CSU finished 217th.  In Head Coach Tim Miles first season, CSU closed the year at No. 273.  Under Miles' watch, the Rams' RPI has improved by an average of 77 places each of his two seasons.   

Rams' 20-point games
Junior G Adam Nigon tallied a career-high 23 points, carrying CSU to a near upset of No. 10/12 New Mexico on Feb. 23.  Nigon's 20-point scoring effort marked the 10th such game by a Rams player this season.  The following is a list of CSU's 20-point scoring games for 2009-10 entering play at the MWC tournament:

• Andy Ogide (24), vs. UC Davis (11-13-09)
• Andre McFarland (20), vs. UC Davis (11-13-09)
• Travis Franklin (24), vs. San Francisco (11-29-09)
• Travis Franklin (22), vs. Colorado (12-10-09)
• Dorian Green (21), vs. Colorado (12-10-09)
• Travis Franklin (22), vs. Northern Arizona (12-20-09)
• Andy Ogide (22), at Wyoming (1-6-10)
• Dorian Green (20), vs. UNLV (1-20-10)
• Travis Franklin (20), vs. Wyoming (2-6-10)
• Adam Nigon (23), vs. No. 10/12 New Mexico (2-23-10)

Miles garners postseason honor
Third-year Head Coach Tim Miles was honored March 9, when he was named the Mountain West Conference Coach of the Year by CollegeInsider.com. 

Miles, who took over the program in 2007, has taken the Rams from seven wins in his first season and nine wins in Year 2, to 16 victories so far in 2009-10. 

Miles also guided the Rams to their best record (7-9) and finish (fifth) in the Mountain West Conference since the league's inaugural campaign, 1999-2000, and has the team on the verge of its first postseason bid in seven seasons. 

Ogide earns all-MWC second team
Colorado State's Andy Ogide was selected Monday afternoon as a member of the Mountain West all-conference second team as voted on by the head coaches of the nine member institutions and selected media from around the conference.  Ogide, a junior forward, earned second-team all-conference honors, after leading Colorado State to a 16-14 overall record, a 7-9 mark in the Mountain West Conference, and a fifth-place finish in the league standings. 

It marked the first-career all-conference honor for Ogide, who transferred to Colorado State after spending his freshman season at Mississippi.   

A native of Marietta, Ga., Ogide paced Colorado State in scoring and rebounding, averaging 12.3 points and 7.2 boards per game in Mountain West Conference action.  He finished the season as one of just three players in the conference, along with league Player of the Year Darrington Hobson (New Mexico) and Freshman of the Year Kawhi Leonard (San Diego State) to average more than 12 points and seven rebounds per game in league games.  Both Hobson and Leonard were selected to the first team. 

He becomes the Rams' first second-team all-MWC selection since guard Marcus Walker in 2008, and the first all-MWC post player for the Rams since Jason Smith was named to the first team as a junior in 2007.