Fort Collins – As with any villain, Air Force forward Jacob Burtschi was glad to escape town before dark.
If the Air Force-Colorado State encounter had been a night game, Burtschi might have needed a disguise Saturday to safely get out of Moby Arena. Women, children – everybody wanted a piece of the bullish Air Force junior during a rough-and-tumble game against the Rams. But in the end, Burtschi got the last laugh.
He could talk of a potential bid to the NCAA Tournament that looms large in Air Force’s future if the Falcons continue to take care of business.
With Saturday’s 63-59 victory, the Falcons finished the regular season at a school-record 24-5 under first-year coach Jeff Bzdelik; they gained second place in the Mountain West Conference at 12-4; and they have nonleague wins against Miami, Saint Mary’s College, Lamar and Georgia Tech.
What more could the NCAA Tournament selectors want? Burtschi had that answer, too.
“Everyone knows we haven’t won a conference tournament game yet,” Burtschi said. “It’s all in our hands. It’s up to us, if we want to go to the tournament, we’ll take care of business. If not, I guess we’ll be sitting at home or going to the NIT. If we win one or two, I think we’re good, but you know what? We’ll let the selection committee worry about that on (March 12), and we’ll worry about who we have on Thursday.”
AFA will play sixth-seeded Utah (13-14, 6-10) at 7 p.m. Thursday in the quarterfinals.
“Air Force is an NCAA Tournament team. There is no question they deserve it,” CSU coach Dale Layer said. “They hit huge shots down the stretch. You have to give them great credit. They are very well-coached.”
Bzdelik was satisfied but humbled after guiding the Falcons to their best basketball record.
“I can’t say enough about these young men, period,” Bzdelik said. “The focus always should be on my players. They’ve gone through three coaching changes in three years. These young men are simply the very best. I applaud my team.”
Before attention turns to Thursday, a spirited exchange that occurred midway through the second half will claim the spotlight.
After officials called a turnover on CSU, Burtschi was animated as he started down to the other end of the court. Layer was on the court arguing with officials and got steamrolled by Burtschi, who was looking back as he ran down the floor.
“All of us coaches, including myself, spend too much time on the floor and out of the coaching box,” Bzdelik said. “If I do that, some one should run me over, too, if it happens accidentally.”
Irv Moss can be reached at 303-820-1296 or imoss@denverpost.com.
