Is Colorado State underestimated?
Or worse, disrespected?
That was my reaction after this year’s March Madness bracket was revealed on Sunday.
I was puzzled when, going into the Mountain West Conference Tournament’s championship game, most “experts” were saying CSU had to beat Boise State to get into the NCAA field of 68.
Even though CSU had beaten Boise twice, including an 83-73 defeat at Boise in the last game of the regular season, those who claim to know bracketology best were saying that CSU, not Utah State or San Diego State, was on the NCAA tournament bubble.
In short, the only way the Rams would get into March Madness would be to claim the automatic NCAA bid that went to the winner of the MWC postseason tournament.
Even though CSU had won two of three against Utah State and split with SDSU, it was win or go home!
So that’s what they did.
Yet late Sunday, despite finishing second in the Mountain West Conference in addition to winning the MWC tournament championship, the Rams were seeded 12th.
That’s higher than Utah State (a 10th seed) or San Diego State, one of the No. 11 seeds in a First Four play-in game. (Boise was among the first four out.)
Utah State finished third in the conference and lost two of three games against CSU. SDSU tied for fourth in the conference and split two games with the Rams.
Go figure.
New Mexico, which beat CSU twice in winning the regular-season title but didn’t make the conference tournament title game, also received a 10th seed.
I can understand that.
As a result of all this, Utah State will play UCLA (7) in the first round, while SDSU’s Aztecs will play Ole Miss (6)—if they beat mediocre North Carolina in one of the play-in games on Tuesday. New Mexico faces Marquette, also a seventh seed.
CSU’s reward for winning the Mountain West tournament is fifth-seeded Memphis, winner of both the regular-season and tournament titles in the American Athletic Conference.
Ranked 16th nationally, the Tigers finished with a 29-5 overall record. They’re led by 6-footo-3 sophomore guard P.J. Haggerty, the American Athletic player of the year, who averages almost 22 points per game.
This suggests an intriguing match-up, with CSU’s Nique Clifford, also a guard but 6-6, who paces the Rams with averages of 19 points and 10 rebounds per game.
It should be a game worth watching for another reason.
Picked to finish seventh in the Mountain West in a preseason poll, CSU lived up to that lowly estimation at the outset, winning seven and losing six.
But their rout of Boise in the Mountain West title game gave the Rams an 18-3 record since New Year’s Eve. They’re one of the hottest teams in the NCAA field with nine wins in a row.
Memphis is on a run almost as good. The Tigers are 19-2 in the new year and have an eight-game winning streak.
Significantly, Memphis played the nonconference schedule rated fourth-best in the country and scored victories over five Madness teams: Missouri, UConn, Michigan State, Clemson and Mississippi.
That compensates for domination of a conference that didn’t produce any other March Madness participants.
Colorado State also played Ole Miss, and it would seem that results against this common opponent might suggest a likely outcome.
Ole Miss lost by 17 IN Memphis (87-70), but the Rebels beat Colorado State by 15 AT HOME (84-69).
Nevertheless, Memphis opened as a 2.5-point underdog to the higher-seeded Rams.
At least somebody recognizes they have a chance.
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CSU will meet Memphis Friday in Seattle.
In Denver the day before, eight teams will participate in one of the seven other sub-Regionals. That schedule includes:
Michigan (5) vs. UC San Diego (12)
Texas A & M (4) vs. Yale (13)
BYU (6) vs. Virginia Commonwealth (11)
Wisconsin (3) vs. Montana (14)—in Denver by virtue of beating Northern Colorado 91-83 in the finals of the Big Sky Conference tournament a week earlier.
Similar to Colorado State faithful, Michigan fans might be scratching their heads over the seedings of Michigan and Wisconsin.
Michigan finished third in the Big Ten; Wisconsin fourth. Michigan won the conference tournament, beating Wisconsin in Sunday’s title game, 59-53.
Go figure.
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Denny Dressman’s 17th book, a collaboration with Kansas City artist Anthony High titled Black Baseball’s Heyday – Capturing An Era in Art and Words, will be published in late June. You can write to Denny at dennydressman@comcast.net.