Come dancing
Come on, sister, have yourself a ball
Don’t be afraid to come dancing
It’s only natural

– Come Dancing, The Kinks

I was getting close to a Van Wilder number of years at Colorado State University when I found myself leaving the basement of the Student Center up an elevator to a higher floor. I’d had a couple too many at the Ramskellar, and wasn’t trusting myself on the stairs. Just before the elevator closed, someone else stepped in. I was trying to masque that I was a little wobbly, so I waited until the elevator closed to look up. And up. Annnnd up. And then my usual EQ sensibilities failed me. Let’s chalk it up to the beer. I said…

HOLY SHIT, YOU’RE PAT DURHAM!!!

The rest of the story is actually quite boring, just a sloshy fellow college kid trying to tell a trained athlete how much he admires him, and not worth telling. But the meeting also preceded the glory Durham would achieve later that same collegiate year… For those of you not steeped in past CSU Men’s Basketball culture, Pat Durham was a beast of the Colorado State hoops program, one that alongside Head Coach Boyd “Tiny” Grant and players like Joel Tribelhorn and an old high school friend named Eric Friehauf had carted the 1988-89 Rams so far as a second-round exit in the NCAA Tourney, the fourth-farthest they’ve ever made it into March Madness. It was also the first time they’d been in 20 years.

The moments the Rammies make it to the Big Dance are rare enough for us all that we tend to sear them into our memories. When Durham and the 89-90 Rams made the tourney, it was only the sixth time in school history. Since then, they have made it five more times, with a twelfth total trip all but assured after their surprisingly taut victory over lowly San Jose State on Wednesday. The 2023-24 Rams just achieved something only done a dozen times in 120 seasons played. One in ten. Something special.

And though they have made it so far as a Regional Final back in the 60’s, and a Regional Semi once before that, half of CSU’s tourney entries have ended in the first round. The lights are awfully big for every team that makes that stage, but especially those who aren’t as accustomed to the trip.

That’s not perfectly true for a lot of these Rams, though, as Head Coach Niko Medved got them to the tourney only two seasons ago. While there has been a lot of turnover in the team in the two years since, there are still important components, including star Isaiah Stevens, who had that experience a couple years back. That experience may push Medved, Stevens, and more to want a little more than just a ticket in the door.

This season’s Rams don’t seem as accepting of that “cannon fodder” idea as maybe some of their tourney predecessors might have been. They spent more time on the AP and Coaches polls this season than any team in the schools’ history, and have spent a good deal of the year with a chip on their shoulder. While the SJSU game came out a little closer than planned on Wednesday, the Rams then turned around and took it to 23rd-ranked Nevada, a team that beat them twice this season and shifted the national perspective on the Rams year. CSU had the Wolfpack down by 10 after the half, and nearly surrendered the entire lead early in H2 before waking up quickly and clawing their way back into the game. While the two teams battled back and forth, Nevada could never find their way all the way back, and CSU advances to the Mountain West Semifinals.

It’s just the sort of gritty performances a team might try to recall when they find themselves dancing. But be cautious when dancing with these Rams… you are going to pick up a bruise or three in the process.