CSU earns right for a shot at Cougars

Colorado State is proving why it is hard for a No. 1 seed to make it through a post-season tournament like the one going on this week in the Thomas & Mack.

First, the men defeated Wyoming in a play-in game, and afterwards, coach Tim Miles confidently talked like the match-ups with BYU’s personnel is one he looked forward to because he liked how it played out, “better” than others he could think of, is how Miles put it.

Second, the Ram women, defeated UNLV in Tuesday’s play-in game and then on Wednesday, upset No. 1 seed Utah, the No. 13 ranked team in the country. The CSU women, like the CSU men, had not won a league game all year and the women won only 3 games this season.

This Ram attack showed exactly why these tournaments are so unpredictable and what challenge is before Dave Rose and the Cougars here today when they play the Rams for the third time this season.

The No. 2 seed is actually the team that has won this tournament the most times, the No. 1 seed is second. It tends to work out that way, lesser teams play do-or-die and conference champions in the regular season find it hard to hone an edge and keep focus after hoisted up the trophy and cutting down nets with a sure NCAA tournament bid all but assured within days.

BYU should defeat CSU. The Cougars are a better team, have more weapons, more depth and have a more experienced coaching staff. But three in a row is tough, even if it the Rams, the last place team.

I rode from the Thomas & Mack back to the hotel with a senior CSU administrator. He said the CSU women had just played the best two games of their season – by far. I told him when I watched his women against the Utes, there was little question at all, the CSU women, on that night, looked clearly superior in every way to Elaine Elliott’s Utes. And they did.

This official said he learned today that Elliott had complained that CSU had an advantage because they had played UNLV on that floor and defeated them and the familiarity with the surroundings was an advantage. I don’t know what to make of that.

The regular season champion has made it to the finals five of eight years, winning the championship three times. BYU, SDSU and UNLV are the only teams to win a MWC regular season title and tournament crown in the same year, while the Aztecs are the only team to capture the tournament title after wining the regular season crown outright.

The No. 1 seed is 6-1 in quarterfinal play, 4-3 in semifinals and 2-2 in the championship game.