A look at Colorado State’s NCAA Tournament resume and what needs to happen for the Rams to win the conference

DENVER — The final two weeks of the regular season are shaping up to be thrilling in the Mountain West Conference. 

With four teams regularly being projected into the NCAA Tournament field, this is the most national attention and respect that the league has received in about a decade. The race for the conference title is essentially wide open too, with a multitude of exciting games remaining between the contenders still to be played. 

We’ll see if four teams actually get to participate in March Madness or not, the remaining schedules are not easy for anyone, so we’ll have to monitor how everyone’s resumes hold up in the end. But from Colorado State’s perspective, even after being swept by UNLV, the Rams are still in a really good position to receive an invite to the big dance.

As of Tuesday, Feb. 22, Bracket Matrix shows CSU listed as a 7-seed. Not to mention that over the last two years, each of the top 41 teams in NET have received bids to the NCAA Tournament. CSU is currently ranked 31st in NET and owns a 9-3 record in games against Quad 1 or Quad 2 opponents.

Now, obviously losing out would change the argument, but if the Rams win even one of their remaining home games and survive Utah State on the road, they are going to get an at-large bid regardless of what happens in the conference tournament. If they go 1-2, winning a game or two in Las Vegas will likely become more important. Alas, we’ll just have to wait and see. At the moment though, the Rams are sitting pretty. 

Mountain West Standings (Feb. 22)

1. Boise State (21-6, 12-2) 
2. Wyoming (22-4, 11-2)
3. San Diego State (17-6, 9-3)
4. Colorado State (21-4, 11-4)
5. UNLV (16-11, 8-6)
6. Fresno State (16-10, 6-7)
7. Nevada (12-13, 6-8)
8. Utah State (15-13, 6-9)
9. New Mexico (11-16, 3-10)
10. Air Force (10-15, 3-11)
11. San Jose State (8-19, 1-14)

As far as CSU’s Mountain West championship hopes are concerned, the Rams’ chances definitely took a hit with Saturday’s loss to the Rebels. That said, while it is a bit of a longshot — DraftKings has the odds listed at +2,500 — CSU does still have a path to the title and it’s really not as crazy as you might think. 

Now two games back in the standings with only three games to play in the regular season, the Rams are not in a position where they can control their own fate. In order to win at least a share of the conference, CSU will need to win out against Wyoming, Utah State and Boise State, but they will also need each of the top 3 teams to lose an additional league game. 

What allows you to keep hope as a Ram fan is the fact that everyone’s remaining schedule is challenging and there are a lot of opportunities for the Aztecs, Broncos and Cowboys to pick up those needed losses in their respective head-to-head contests. Remaining games against teams like Nevada, UNLV and Fresno State won’t be easy for the teams presently in front of CSU either. 

Wyoming 

At CSU (Feb. 23)

Vs Nevada (Feb. 26)

Vs SDSU (Feb. 28)

At UNLV (Mar. 2)

Vs Fresno State (Mar. 5)

Boise State 

Vs SDSU (Feb. 22)

At UNLV (Feb. 26)

Vs Nevada (Mar. 1)

At CSU (Mar. 5)

San Diego State 

At Boise State (Feb. 22)

Vs San Jose State (Feb. 25)

At Wyoming (Feb. 28)

Vs Fresno State (Mar. 3)

At Nevada (Mar. 5)

Ultimately the only aspect out of all of this that the Rams have control over is their own schedule. If CSU doesn’t win its final three games then other than seeding for the Mountain West Tournament, what happens with the teams presently ahead of CSU won’t matter all that much. If the Rams do win the Border War, though, things are going to get really interesting in this league down the stretch. 

Buckle up Ram Nation. It’s only February.