Rams decline postseason invitations: 2015-16 season comes to an end

The Colorado State Rams men’s basketball season has officially come to an end, after declining invitations to participate in the College Basketball Invitational and Vegas 16 postseason tournaments, the school announced Monday morning.

Update, 3:40 p.m. MT: The Vegas 16 Tournament ended up being the “Vegas 8” as only eight teams agreed to take part in it all.

A statement from tournament organizer Brooks Downing:

“We had originally hoped to launch this new tournament with 16 teams, but only if we could secure top-quality programs,” said Brooks Downing, president of bd Global, the tournament organizer. “With highly unusual results in many of the conference tournaments, we were hesitant to just fill out the bracket with ‘available teams.’ So by choosing quality over quantity, we settled on eight teams, many of which were considered for an NIT berth, and all of which have had outstanding seasons they want to celebrate in our event.”

In a statement released by Assistant Director of Communications John A. Martin, Larry Eustachy justified his decision to turn down the invitations to the various tournaments.“This team has been through a lot this year, both in terms of injuries as well as situations beyond our control, so we decided it was best to conclude the season.” Eustachy said.

“We were playing our best basketball at the end of the year and just came up short of our ultimate goal,” the head coach continued. “We appreciate the opportunities those tournament committees gave us in extending invitations, but it just is not in the best interest of the overall program. We are excited for what this team can be next year and are going to start focusing on that after we give the players some time off.”

After finishing the 2015-16 season 18-16 overall, (8-10 in-conference), CSU made a run in the Mountain West tournament, defeating both San Jose State and Boise State, before ultimately losing to the Mountain West Tournament Champion Fresno State Bulldogs 64-56 in the semifinals.

The tournament, like the season, had a lot of ups and downs for the Rams. Probably the best jump shooting team in CSU history, the Rams 326 three pointers made was a school record. Seniors like Antwan Scott and Joe De Ciman played a part in the Rams’ success from three-point range and along with fellow seniors Fred Richardson III and Tiel Daniels down low, CSU had one of the most explosive offenses in the conference.

Turnover issues and inconstancies on the defensive side of the ball really held Colorado State back this season, but the future of the program is bright. This season concludes the best four-year period in CSU men’s basketball history, winning a school-record 87 games, and two postseason appearances over the last four seasons.

Moving forward, players like Prentiss Nixon and J.D. Paige should excite Ram fans, both of which contributed in big ways as true freshmen. Junior guard John Gillon and junior forward Emmanuel Omogbo will assumingly return as seniors to lead the team next year.

Under an experienced head coach like Eustachy and talented assistants Leonard Perry, and recently named top-recruiter Ross Hodge, the Rams will look to rebound in the 2016-17 season.