FORT COLLINS — Colorado State has lived up to the preseason hype. At 16-1 the Rams have recorded the best start in program history and they are right in the thick of things as far as contending for the program’s first-ever regular season Mountain West title goes.
While it’s too early to start crowning anyone yet, the Rams still have a pair of games against a feisty group up in Wyoming, the second matchup with San Diego State and at least one game against both Boise State and Fresno State. Not to mention the trips to Utah State and Nevada won’t be a walk in the park either. So, just getting to the Mountain West Tournament and surviving the conference slate will be a gauntlet. As we all know, if CSU comes up short in too many of those premiere games, watching Selection Sunday will be a much more unnerving process than it is currently on pace to be.
It might be too early to open up the Gatorade jug and douse Niko Medved or anything like that, with what we’ve seen from the Green & Gold to this point, though, the 2021-22 Rams are well on their way to accomplishing something truly special.
What they’ve already done is impressive in itself. Wins over Creighton, Saint Mary’s and Mississippi State are nothing to scoff at. A regular season MTE title in the Virgin Islands doesn’t hurt the resume either. But if CSU can continue to rack up conference wins and end up on top of the standings come the second week of March, they will be in the conversation for the greatest Rams team ever. And that’s before postseason play even begins.
Right now it’s far too early to make that type of bold claim. It’s pretty hard not to start thinking about what could be, but as fun as this ride has been, the real journey is only just beginning. This group has the chance to establish legendary status, something very few CSU teams have done over the years. To be on par with some of the all-time greats, though, like the groups that made back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances in 1989 and 1990 or 2012 and 2013, the 2021-22 Rams have to first take care of business when it matters most.
Having gotten to witness this team and hear their responses through the highs and lows of the last couple of seasons, the great thing is that Ram Nation can expect the guys on the floor to keep focused on the mission at hand. They aren’t the type of team that starts feeling themselves too early. I highly doubt that legacy is a concern in the locker room, that’s something for people with more time on their hands like myself to worry about. After all, this is a roster that’s experienced primarily heartbreak in the Mountain West Tournament. They have already lived through being one of the first four left out of the 2021 NCAA Tournament. The Rams know what is a stake if they slip up.
No matter how the regular season standings play out in the end, it’s really cool to be able to reflect on where this program is currently at. The magic is back in Moby Arena in a way that we hadn’t seen in nearly a decade. And the excitement that this team brings to the community on a weekly basis is something that Ram Nation should truly cherish. Seasons like this are rare, teams like this are rare, we’re fortunate to get to watch the Rams battle it out every couple of days.
We’ll see what else this team has up their sleeves, as we enter the most challenging portion of the schedule. So far, though, the Rams have more than earned my trust. I expect this team to win, something I haven’t had the privilege of saying very often in my lifetime. I’m just excited to come along for the ride.
