AIR FORCE ACADEMY —Texts, tweets and Facebook all contribute to the buzz that is slowly taking over in Fort Collins.
Players get comments, questions, congratulations and words of cautious optimism almost everywhere they go. The basketball team, which has endured a four-year rebuilding process, is on the doorstep of an NCAA Tournament bid.
Saturday’s 75-65 win at Air Force moved the Rams one step closer.
The victory eased the biggest red flag on CSU’s tournament résumé — a zero in the win column in conference road games.
“I think it was critical to getting into the NCAA Tournament,” said CSU coach Tim Miles of the win. “I think a road win was vital, I think another win was more vital. I don’t think it probably ends here. That’s the way it is this time of year.”
Colorado State finished the regular season with a 19-10 record, 8-6 in the Mountain West. CSU began the week with an RPI of 27, but with wins over No. 17 UNLV and Air Force that number is sure to improve. The Rams’ strength of schedule is in the top five in the nation. They have two wins over RPI top-25 teams and another over an RPI top-50 team. Each of those wins doubled as victories over ranked teams. They are 6-4 in the last 10 games.
Things are good.
But with the sometimes fickle NCAA Tournament selection committee, no one is taking any chances. These Rams want more wins.
“We’ve just got to keep going out there and taking it one game at a time and winning,” guard Dorian Green said. “You’ve just got to keep winning. You never know what’s going to happen. Somebody else might win. We’ve just got to go into the Mountain West Tournament with the mind-set that we’ve got to win all three to get in, just keep winning.”
Bubble teams across the country breathed a sigh of relief when No. 9 Murray State was able to rally and win the Ohio Valley Conference championship. Had the Racers lost, they likely would have gotten an at-large bid anyway, meaning two teams would have gone to the tournament from the OVC.
Wichita State’s loss in the Missouri Valley Conference semifinals does mean a bubble team should be worried. The 14th-ranked Shockers are expected to get an at-large bid, meaning the MVC is getting two teams in.
Miles has a more pressing concern — winning an MW Tournament title.
“Really, we haven’t put a trophy up in the men’s basketball office since 2003 and that’s what we want to go to Las Vegas for,” Miles said. “We’ve beaten every team there. And they’ve all beat us, except Air Force. So we’re going to have our work cut out for us, but with the faith that we know we can go in there and have a crack at this thing.”
Christopher Dempsey: 303-954-1279 or cdempsey@denverpost.com
