- Joined
- May 8, 2002
- Posts
- 370,988
- Reaction score
- 43
Colorado State is making this feel like familiar territory.
The CSU men's basketball team is back in the NCAA Tournament for the second year in a row and third out of the last four.
The Rams were selected into the 68-team NCAA Tournament field on Selection Sunday, but they already knew they were headed for March Madness after winning the Mountain West championship.
CSU is a No. 12 seed and will play No. 5 Memphis in the first round. The game will be played in Seattle on Friday, March 21. Game time has not yet been announced.
A trip back to the Big Dance seemed hard to fathom as CSU started the 2024-25 season with a 5-5 record, including a home loss to UC-Riverside and blowout defeats to Ole Miss and Colorado.
CSU coach Niko Medved insisted from Day 1 that this group would make big improvements. In December, the Rams started to climb.
A Dec. 21 win at Nevada (picked No. 2 in the Mountain West in preseason) provided a glimpse that a corner was being turned. To a man, the Christmas-period is when this CSU team says they started to put it all together.
"I feel like just looking back, I remember Coach Medved saying before Christmas break, you know, this is where teams get better. Everybody makes the biggest jump around the Christmas break, and we really took that to heart and went in to work every day," CSU senior Jalen Lake said.
"We didn't look into the future. We didn't look behind us. We just kept focusing, trying to get better, what we could do each and every day. It just shows, we showed so much growth from top down. It's awesome."
A Dec. 31 game at San Jose State saw a lineup change to put it all into motion. The Rams have had the same starting five since with both bench and starters flourishing as each player found their role.
The calendar turned to 2025 and the Rams started to roll. CSU made a run at the regular season title, but fell just short.
Still, by the time March rolled around it was clear CSU was becoming a force. The Rams entered the Mountain West tournament winners of seven in a row.
Now it's 10 in a row with a conference title. The Rams have won 14 of their last 16. CSU was No. 207 in the NCAA's NET rankings on Dec. 1 and now the Rams are No. 47 and considered one of the hottest teams in the country.
A team picked to finish seventh in the Mountain West in the preseason poll will represent the league as its champion in the Big Dance.
The Rams were in the NCAA Tournament in both 2022 and 2024.
The 2022 team was a No. 6 seed. The 2024 team was picked into the First Four as a No. 10 seed. CSU beat Virginia in the First Four before falling to No. 7 Texas.
The 2025 appearance is the 13th NCAA Tournament appearance in CSU men's basketball history.
CSU is 5-13 in NCAA Tournament games, reaching the Elite Eight in 1969.
The 2024 First Four win was CSU's first March Madness victory since 2013.
Follow sports reporter Kevin Lytle on X and Instagram @Kevin_Lytle.
This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Colorado State's March Madness opponent is Memphis in 2025 NCAA bracket
Continue reading...
The CSU men's basketball team is back in the NCAA Tournament for the second year in a row and third out of the last four.
The Rams were selected into the 68-team NCAA Tournament field on Selection Sunday, but they already knew they were headed for March Madness after winning the Mountain West championship.
CSU is a No. 12 seed and will play No. 5 Memphis in the first round. The game will be played in Seattle on Friday, March 21. Game time has not yet been announced.
Colorado State's path to March Madness
A trip back to the Big Dance seemed hard to fathom as CSU started the 2024-25 season with a 5-5 record, including a home loss to UC-Riverside and blowout defeats to Ole Miss and Colorado.
CSU coach Niko Medved insisted from Day 1 that this group would make big improvements. In December, the Rams started to climb.
A Dec. 21 win at Nevada (picked No. 2 in the Mountain West in preseason) provided a glimpse that a corner was being turned. To a man, the Christmas-period is when this CSU team says they started to put it all together.
"I feel like just looking back, I remember Coach Medved saying before Christmas break, you know, this is where teams get better. Everybody makes the biggest jump around the Christmas break, and we really took that to heart and went in to work every day," CSU senior Jalen Lake said.
"We didn't look into the future. We didn't look behind us. We just kept focusing, trying to get better, what we could do each and every day. It just shows, we showed so much growth from top down. It's awesome."
A Dec. 31 game at San Jose State saw a lineup change to put it all into motion. The Rams have had the same starting five since with both bench and starters flourishing as each player found their role.
The calendar turned to 2025 and the Rams started to roll. CSU made a run at the regular season title, but fell just short.
Still, by the time March rolled around it was clear CSU was becoming a force. The Rams entered the Mountain West tournament winners of seven in a row.
Now it's 10 in a row with a conference title. The Rams have won 14 of their last 16. CSU was No. 207 in the NCAA's NET rankings on Dec. 1 and now the Rams are No. 47 and considered one of the hottest teams in the country.
A team picked to finish seventh in the Mountain West in the preseason poll will represent the league as its champion in the Big Dance.
Colorado State's NCAA Tournament history
The Rams were in the NCAA Tournament in both 2022 and 2024.
The 2022 team was a No. 6 seed. The 2024 team was picked into the First Four as a No. 10 seed. CSU beat Virginia in the First Four before falling to No. 7 Texas.
The 2025 appearance is the 13th NCAA Tournament appearance in CSU men's basketball history.
CSU is 5-13 in NCAA Tournament games, reaching the Elite Eight in 1969.
The 2024 First Four win was CSU's first March Madness victory since 2013.
Follow sports reporter Kevin Lytle on X and Instagram @Kevin_Lytle.
This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Colorado State's March Madness opponent is Memphis in 2025 NCAA bracket
Continue reading...
