The Colorado St. rams Rams (4-2) will take on instate rival Colorado(4-2) at Moby Arena for early season bragging rights. Last year the Rams fell in overtime on the road and look to use the home court advantage to get the victory. This will be my last post as I am moving off to the Marines again. I am glad its a rival game like CU, I always hated CU the most. Let's get to the Rams.

The Rams when winning have done it though team offense and defense. There are no big stars on this team. They rebound very well for a small team. The Rams are packed with hustle players that Tim Miles gets the most of. It is probably the most exciting basketball team to root for since I moved to Fort Collins in 2007. They will be frustrating when they lose cause it will be obvious they are missing a big scorer, but the effort will stay the same. Two weeks ago against Stanford down late they stopped Stanford from scoring for 5+ minutes. The Rams couldn't capitalize by scoring their own points but it showed the no quit attitude. Hint Hint Rams Football.

Dorian Green, Wes Eikmeier, and Greg Smith all average above 10 points a game. Eikmeier leads the group at 17ppg. Pierce Hornung is averaging 2 steals and a block a game while shooing 61% from the field. Smith, Green, Hornung all come from the same recruiting class put together by Miles. Kaipo Sabas is starting to earn a few more minutes as a 3 point specialist going 8-10 the last two games.

This isn't the best Rams team ever, but they are fun to root for. If I can ask one little favor Rams, a thank you gift for blogging about you the last few years, beat the crap out of the Buffs! Go State!

As the Rams look at another possible 3 win season the question pops to Steve Fairchilds future.  Will he be the Rams Head Coach another year?  His 5 year contract is up following the 2012 season.  The injuries have been abundant this year and at critical positions.  After this week I believe running back will be the only position that hasn't lost a man to injury or suspension.  QB if Pete Thomas comes back.  OL has been torn apart, DL has lost everyone but CJ James at one point.  Only three opening day starters on defense have not missed a game, eight players total have started every game.  That means that 63% of Fairchild's starters have gone down for one reason or another at one point.  The patch job has not been pretty.  I will break it all down by recruiting, money, and on field product.

Recruiting is a toss up in some eyes.  I personally love the athleticism that Fairchild has brought to the program.  Nordly Capi and CJ James are great pass rushing DE's.  Chris Nwoke is the new Predator.  He did bring in faster then light Thomas Coffman, Tony Drake, and Lou Greenwood.  Don't forget his possibly two biggest recruits in giant DT Isiah Norton and high school famous Kapri Bibbs who had grade issues but are still reported to join CSU when possible.  Faichild brought in stud LB's Mike Orakpo and Shaq Barrett.  His offensive line is full of NFL pickups but not players which is good for CSU, Weston Richburg was a freshman All-American.  He pulled 4 star recruit Pete Thomas from Arizona St.  He pulled starting DT John Froland from Northwestern.  He pulled former fast man Tony Drake from Michigan.  The coaching staff deserves credit too, but Fairchild has targeted Texas, Florida, and California as areas to find athletes.  The talent level is higher then before and is growing each year despite losing records.  Fairchild gets a pass in recruting.

Catch the rest after the jump...

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The Rams won't be taking that plane trip to Madison Square Garden to eventually lose to Syracuse who will win the preseason tournament.  They had the lead early and slowly let it slip through the last 25 minutes of the game.  It was a home game for Stanford, they fought back and made shots when they needed to.  The Rams played well, the refs were bad as usual, college basketball is back!  The end score was a 12 point spread but the Rams were within 2 under 3 minutes left in the game. It was close, but the Rams couldn't hit shots down the stretch despite holding Stanford scoreless for 5 minutes down the stretch.

This isn't so much a recap as a first look at the Rams who I finally got to see on TV.  Below is a quick breakdown of what I saw.

The Rams will be alright, I expect about the same record as last year.  They played much more like a team as a few players have hit their junior seasons. 

The offense has some pros and cons without Andy Ogide.  Pro column gives us better ball movement.  Ogide could slow down the offense sometimes because of his looking for his shot.  The Rams looked more like a team then I have seen before.  Tim Miles is the real deal.  He got the players to buy into a scheme and that is never easy when you get a bunch of 18-21 year old men from all over the country.  Greg Smith did slow it down at points looking for his shot, but somebody has to shoot and at times it looked like others were scared to pull the trigger.  Smith also looked like he matured over the off season, something people forget that these kids are still growing into their bodies.  This is good news for the Rams.

The big con is that the Rams will struggle when their shots are not falling and lack a go to scorer.  Last night the Rams were around 25% shooting in the second half.  They just didn't have that go to scorer that puts an end to a scoring run by the opposing team.  Wes Eikmeier was close to that guy, but is also running the offense and can't just look for his shot.  I think Pierce Hornung could step up into this role somewhat as his FG% down low is very good.  They don't have the safety net when struggling to just dump it to Ogide and let him go to work.  They had make-able shots, Stanford's defense was good but not 25 percent good.

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This will be a quick season preview.  I got a lot going on in my life and with the Rams football falling apart and not being able to tune out professors by reading the Collegian sports section I am sadly behind on the state of Rams basketball.  I have seen Tim Miles in public a few times and became a giddy little school girl if that tells you how much I like Coach Miles and the basketball program turnaround he has accomplished.  Let's answer a few questions I am assuming you readers have...

1. How do the Rams replace Andy Ogide and Travis Franklin?

Well Franklin will be easy to replace as he checked out mid-season and it killed the Rams tournament hopes.(Editors Note, Franklin got drafted into the D-League despite checking out on Rams, no one knows why.)  Ogide will be the hard man to replace. Ogide really blossomed as a senior, and besides the awkward 3 point attempts was the Rams best player.  His inside presence was great.  The Rams finally had a player that could dominate both ends of the court, the best since Jason Smith. 

The Rams will try with redshirt freshman Chad Calcaterra. At 6-10 228 he should bring some athleticism down low.  If his frame starts getting beat up I expect Miles to go with Colton Iverson, the transfer.  At 6-10 261 he has the weight to throw around down low against bigger men.  Trevor Williams at 7-0 282 would seem the option but has gotten little time from Miles in his two years in the program.  Williams needs to man up and use his body to get playing time. Will Bell will help out, he got good minutes down the stretch last year and played bigger then his size.

2. How will the guards develop?

I think Jesse Carr, Wes Eikmeier, and Dorian Green will be the three guards that make the biggest impact.  They should at least.  Carr needs to stay healthy and find his shooting stroke that make him a Nebraska high school record holder.  Eikmeier needs to pick and choose his shoot selection, last year it was a lot of good judgement bad decision.  He needs to play better in key moments.  My bet is he leads the Rams in a few categories.  Green is Eikmeier a few years younger.  Shoot selection and creating an easier shot should be his goals.  Carr and Green will be the main distributors.

3. Will the Rams win 20 games?

Ehhh, no.  But they won't be bad.  The Rams have the toughest schedule they have maybe ever had.  The conference hasn't gotten worse either.  This will be Tim Miles biggest test.  Is he capable of reloading the cabinet with recruiting and can he get wins out of his players.  He is getting good CSU recruits, but not like he is stealing from Duke or UNC.  His legacy at CSU will be built in the next couple years once his freshman start graduating.

4. Is Tim Miles awesome?

Yes, yes he is... and Pierce Hornung deserves a shout out somewhere on this preview.  He was a surprise to some and not to others.  He plays hard but the MWC refs seem to hate him and he gets petty fouls.  He will be a big part of the Rams success if they do have success.

Just after I wrote up the Pete Thomas growth or lack of story I was going to write up a story backing Steve Fairchild and the reasons to keep him around.  That story is a bit harder to write after losses to UTEP and UNLV, my main points would remain valid but the argument is becoming one sided thanks to Fairchild's lack of action or changes.  Staying the course can be a great thing sometimes.  CSU AD, Paul Kowalczyk, said Fairchild won't be fired mid season and I think that's fair and true so let's hold off on those talks.

What about the program in the melting MWC though?  What about losing alumni support by the game?  What about the possible 78 team conference mergers or the MWC going poof all together?

Check after The Jump... for my crazy over the top way for CSU to get put in the best possible position they can!

Also let me know what you think CSU should do in the comment section.

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The Colorado State Rams sit at 3-4 and are looking on  the outs of a bowl game with some missed opportunities against a easy schedule.  The Rams will need to upset Wyoming and SDSU or Air Force to reach the magical 6 win mark.  They are favored against UNLV but at this point who knows.  The Rams were getting looked at as a 7 win team by some and now might be lucky to get 4.  The injuries have hurt, Mychal Sisson in particular.  Steve Fairchild is on the hot seat more then ever because of his love of the screen pass, I think he has another year at least with his recruiting starting to show up and Pete Thomas as an upper class man.  What is happening to Pete Thomas though?  

This was suppose to be his breakout year after he shook off the freshman jitters.  He was the only true freshman to start all his teams games last year.  A very good freshman year that saw some very good stats.  64.7% completion percentage with 221 yards per game.  Both of those were 2nd in the conference behind Andy Dalton and Ryan Lindley respectively.   His TD to INT ratio was the only bad mark on his record at 11-13.  Those freshman mistakes were suppose to disappear and turn into touchdowns.  Pete Thomas was primed to step up with his experience and a better grasp of the playbook.  So what happened?

Catch the rest after the jump...

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The Colorado State Rams will renew a WAC rivalry when they face off against the UTEP Miners.  Over at Miner Rush there is a great game preview so check that out.  That preview follows a more traditional look.  I am going to take a step back since we are at the half way mark and see where the Rams are compared to preseason expectations.

The Rams sit at 3-3 (1-1) at the six game mark putting them three wins away from a bowl game.  Let's go off my best case worst case preview early in the year.

My best case has the Rams at 5-1 coming off a Boise St loss either way.  My worst case had the Rams at 3-3 which is where the Rams are.  I had it a bit off with their losses coming from Boise St, Colorado, and Utah State.  I thought San Jose St was a sure win.  But I'll be damned if the Rams didn't want to tackle anyone that day and put up the stinker of the season.  Yes that was worse then getting beat by 50 by Boise St, ask Fresno State it happens.

How the Rams got too 3-3 though is a lot different then one would imagine.  The offense is average on its best drives and poor on most.  The defense is sacking every quarterback in sight, but can't tackle a running back to save a life.  Most expected Pete Thomas to break out, instead he is the master of the 3rd and 11 screen pass.  Most expected the pass rush to be a weakness, the Rams are getting 3.3 sacks a game.   The injuries are the elephant in the corner of the room.  The Rams have had a starters and backups dropping like flies.  The secondary seems to be the only unit not touched yet.  The linebackers and defensive line have been hit the hardest.  The offensive line lost Paul Madsen last week to not be out done in the training room.

My suggested changes for the Rams is to give the majority of carries to Chris Nwoke.  Raymond Carter should be a back up and limit his chances of fumbling.   Keep stretching the field, limit the screen passes to a couple a game instead of couple a drive.  Crockett Gillmore.   Use the team speed you have gotten through recruiting Florida and Texas. 

On defense just prey Austin Grey looks better then last week and that Mike Orakpo and Mychal Sisson get miracle cures and can get back on the field asap.

My worst case has the Rams winning one more game this year at UNLV and pulling to 4-8.  Best case puts them at 7-5 and a bowl game.  My prediction is 6-6 and still in line with my final realistic prediction, but they need to steal a win down in El Paso this weekend for that to come true.  The bowl dream isn't gone but its getting farther away with each hurt player and wasted offensive drive.

Once again I have decided what interesting facts I could find about the MWC.  They mean nothing in terms of skill or projecting teams, just interesting facts.

Nordly Capi leads the nation with 1.6 sacks a game, last time a MWC player did that was Jerry Hughes in 2008 with 1.15 a game. 

CSU is tied for 3rd in the nation in sacks with 19.  However they are nearly 50 sack yards behind Hawaii and Oklahoma who also have 19 sacks.  That is 23rd in sack yardage.

Boise St the highest scoring team in the MWC has missed the most PAT's with 5, while the bottom three scoring offenses UNM, UNLV, CSU have not missed at PAT yet.  

New Mexico opponents are a weak 40%(2-5) at kicking field goals against the Lobos, Oregon State opponents are 0-4 leading the nation.

Air Force opponents are 7-7 converting 4th downs against the Falcons.  The only other team allowing 100% is  Louisiana-Monroe (4-4).

UNLV has recovered all 7 of their opponents fumbles, Air Force only 1 of the 6 their opponents have coughed up.

Wyoming has only 5 punt returns this year, and average 1 yard per return. 

UNM Freshman Deon Long is 1st in the MWC and 10th in the nation in yards per play at 17.9YPP.

That's all I got for now.  A couple crazy ones, a couple not so much as things are starting to smooth out with a bigger sample size.

I was cruising though some MWC stat pages for fun and remembered that I can write on a blog about it so here are a few crazy findings of mine.  These are just interesting things, nothing to make a big deal about.

• CSU is #1 in total defense giving up 318 YPG.  On a per play basis they are also #1 with 5 yards per play, Boise is seconds at 5.4.  That is crazy considering years past.
• Boise State has not scored a field goal, Army is the only other team to have not scored a FG in the nation.
• Despite running the triple option run offense, Air Force is last in time of possession in the conference at 26:49.  Down about 4 minutes from last year.  They have been in the top half of the MWC the last 5 years.
• UNLV has recovered all 5 of their opponents fumbles, only North Texas at 6 has more while a 100% recovery rate.
• Meanwhile SDSU's opponents have fumbled a nation high 17 times in 4 games, they have only recovered 8 of those.
• UNLV has not kicked a touchback yet, they have kicked two out of bounds however.

These mean nothing really, I just thought they were interesting.  I may do this series again in a couple weeks and see if I can find anymore stats that pop out to me.

The Rams came back from their first loss of the season in a big way with a come from behind double overtime victory against Utah State.  The Aggies went for the two point conversion on the one yard line after their second overtime touchdown, Mike Orakpo made the big stop to seal the victory for the Rams.  The Rams scored the tying touchdown and two point conversion with less then a minute to play after trailing the whole game.  Crockett Gillmore and Chris Nwoke were the go to guys scoring all the Rams touchdowns and two point conversions.  Ben Deline nailed all his FG and PATs which proved to be a factor in winning.  The Rams had not won consecutive road games since 2003 when they beat California and then BYU five weeks later.

The Utah St Aggies didn't play their best game with 4 turnovers.  The Aggies out gained the Rams 367-232 in total yards, but two fumbled punts proved to be their undoing.  The Aggies put up another hefty 281 rushing yards for the game.  The Rams managed 124 yards on the ground, but a weak 2.6 yards per carry.  Watching the game you got the feeling it was more the Aggies losing then the Rams winning.  Which is true, but the Rams still took advantage of the mistakes and made the plays that the Aggies didn't.

The Rams offense came up big when it needed scoring touchdowns to tie the game, along with a two point conversion, and two touchdowns in overtime.  The defense bent but didn't break coming up with two forced fumbles and three sacks.  Nordly Capi had a tackle for a loss on the quarterback, it wasn't recorded as a sack on some stat sheets.  The CSURams.com webpage has him getting a sack  for number seven on the year, leading the nation.  The big play was Orakpo's tackle on Robert Turbin on the two point attempt from the one yard line after a penalty on Utah State's first attempt.  Turbin had burnt the Rams for 114 yards and four touchdowns.

The Rams are now half way to a bowl game at 3-1 and sit atop the Mountain West with TCU for the moment.  Forget the Utah St mistakes, the Rams made plays when they needed to and are sitting pretty at 3-1 instead of 2-2 on a losing streak.  This was the biggest win since 2009 when they beat CU at Folsum Field.  A Steve Fairchild twitter summed it up best, "What a game! I'm so happy for the kids because they kept believing. It's such a fun team to coach, especially when they believe." The Rams of old seem to give up. The Rams kept fighting in Logan, Utah last night and ruined a homecoming game while keeping their bowl dreams alive.  It was a good night to be a CSU Ram.

Next week the Rams get San Jose State at home.  The Rams get a bye week before they take on the possibly the highest ranked team to ever visit Fort Collins when Boise State rolls in on Oct 15th.

If you got time to waste check out the replay on ESPN.   At worst check out overtime cause it was very exciting.  As noted in the game thread it was the worst camera work I have ever seen, ever.  It looks like some guy was taping it under his jacket then made 12 copies of copies and then put it to broadcast.

All this conference jumping talk makes it feel like the off season.  I can't wait for Saturday and get some actual games to talk about.  The Utah State Aggies will take on the Colorado State Rams in Utah at Romney Stadium.  The Aggies come in at 1-1 and a onside kickoff away from 2-0 and being the talk of the town.  After the close loss to Auburn the Aggies destroyed Weber St two weeks ago and have been prepping for the Rams since.

The Rams(2-1, 1-0) are off a tough loss in the Rocky Mountain Showdown to Colorado.  CSU blocked a punt in CU territory and it turned in to a late first half TD for the Buffs some how.  True freshman Austin Grey got caught being a freshman and let in a TD pass.  Those two plays change and its a different game, let's hope the blocked punt gone wrong doesn't become a turning point in the season. 

The Aggies might be the best team the Rams have faced all season, CU is nothing special so don't make that argument.  The Aggies are allowing a meager 1.97 yards per carry, 6th in the nation.  They rush for 6.67 yards on offense.  No Aggie has an average less then 4 YPC.  That is crazy good.  That will allow Utah St to control the clock and allow exciting freshman quarterback Chuckie Keeton to make smart decisions.  It will attack the Rams defense who missed Mychal Sisson last week.

Shaquille Barret did a good job filling in at linebacker along with James Skelton, the speed was missing though.  I think Mike Orakpo missed Sisson the most as he was targeted and couldn't fly around per normal.  It is much easier to stop one fast LB then two fast LB's.  They will need help stopping the Aggie run game from the secondary and defensive line.  Nordly Capi who leads the nation with 5.5 sacks will need to show he can help stop the run.

On offense Pete Thomas needs help at receiver.  Thomas Coffman the speedy red-shirt freshman got some looks but couldn't get separation on any routes.  Marquise Law hasn't been good enough to demand the ball.  I still think Tj Borcky and Crocket Gillmore could be the solutions.  It also looks like they will gget Byron Steele back from suspension.  Most importantly the play calling needs to help Thomas out.  3rd and 9 is a tough down, but a screen pass isn't the only answer.  The Rams need to start getting risky.  They can lose safely or lose trying, they can't win safely though.  The Rams have called roughly 742 screen plays this year.

It will come down to the Aggies running all over the Rams or the Rams offense stepping up and getting some big strike plays.  Which ever team fails to do those things will lose.  Should be a good game for both teams to see where they are at on the early season.

My favorite game of the year!  The Border War is awesome and more likely winnable.  The Air Force game is a nice instate rival and conference game.  Nothing like playing the CU Buffs though.  The hate runs a little deeper.  The games have more energy.  The hits are bigger, the scores tighter, and the rivalry deeper. 

The CU Buffs come in at 0-2 and are coming off a tough loss to California in overtime.  The Rams come in at 2-0 but with a much easier schedule played.  Switch the schedules and you switch the records so we can throw those out. These games come down to the rivalry and are a toss up.  CU has a 60-20-2 advantage over history, but just a 7-5 advantage over the last 12 meetings. No doubt the size advantage goes to the Buffs on both sides of the ball, the growing athleticism of the Rams will have to shine if they want to win.

For the first time since 1988 the teams are not opening the schedule against each other.  That will only make the game better as the early season rust should be off by week 3. It should be a bit more crisp matchup as CSU isn't breaking in a new QB for the first time in 4 seasons.  The Buffs are a couple games into the Jon Embree Era and should start to pick things up.  It really is to bad Dan Hawkins left, he was a bad coach and it helped the Rams to a 2-3 record while starting 4 different QB's. 

Let's take a look at the CU Buffs after The Jump...

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The Colorado State Rams moved to 2-0, 1-0 in conference on the year with a 33-14 win.  The score isn't really the story since they were playing a FCS school who had lost to Lindenwood University.   The Rams dominated.  That was the game really.  The story is how the Rams played and why they did certain things.  If you just want a game recap then your not a smart person.  That would be a waste of time, the game was fairly boring and over in the 1st quarter.  The second half was a glorified practice to the Rams.  However, stick with me after The Jump and learn something about the CSU Rams.

Oh, this could be the worst game in CSU history(ish) if Mychal Sisson did break something in his leg.  My guess is yes he did.  My first thought was oh shit, my second one is hoping he gets a medical redshirt.  Uhhh, let's get past The Jump before I get depressed.

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The CSU Rams take on in-state foe Northern Colorado for the first time since 1986.  The Rams come in at 1-0 and first in the MWC since they are the only team with a win in conference.  The UNC Bears are 0-1 after falling to Lindenwood University in Greeley.  The Rams will be looking to take advantage of their early schedule and be 2-0 before their match up against Colorado next week.

The Rams are coming off their first road win since 2009.  It may have just been New Mexico but it was a road conference win and those are tough to come by.  The Rams were lead by their defense which seems like a new concept in Fort Collins.  Nordly Capi was an absolute beast, I am sure you have heard about his career day already.  Going into this game the Rams will look to get their run game and offense clicking a little better.  Despite the improved New Mexico defense the Rams did look like they left a few yards out on the field.

Let's get to know a little about the UNC Bears after The Jump.

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The Rams got out of New Mexico with their first road win since 2009 on the heels of Nordly Capi's record tying afternoon.  With four forced fumbles and 3 1/2 sacks Capi played a huge roll in the outcome of the game.  New Mexico lost two red zone opportunities to fumbles, one on the goal line. The other in the final seconds of the game which secured the victory for the Rams.

Tarean Austin threw for 179 yards on a 20 of 31 day.  He added a nice touchdown pass when transfer Lamaar Thomas beat E.B. Smith of the Rams.  Thomas just ran past Elijah Blu Smith to the end zone and Austin laid it in there.

Pete Thomas threw for 178 yards on a very efficient 22 of 26 day.  The Lobos 4-2-5 defense kept everything in front of him and limited deep opportunities.  Thomas did find Crockett Gillmore for a 33 yard touchdown pass.  Gillmore looked like a absolute beast out jumping and muscling which ever poor Lobo was covering him.

The Rams did miss two field goals making the game a bit closer then it should have been.  New Mexico did miss one also, very very badly. Comically bad.

There is your short recap, let's find out what we learned about these two teams after The Jump!

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The best part about this game for these two teams is that they are starting with a clean slate.  New Mexico was 1-11 with a lone win against Wyoming.  Colorado State was 3-9 for the second consecutive year.  Come Saturday they will both be tied for first in the league and get fresh starts.  Come Sunday one school will be feeling like this is their year while the other looks at another possible abomination of a season.

The Rams will see just how big a difference having a returning quarterback can be when Pete Thomas takes the snaps.  Tarean Austin will get his shot to lead the Lobos out of the dumps of the Mountain West, he was picked for his running ability.  Let's take a look at these match-ups for the defenses after The Jump...

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Easy, best case 13-0 worst case 0-12.  Just kidding, let's break down what can only be called a very friendly schedule week by week and give a best case worst case result and see where we end up.  These are depending on a clean bill of health.  Just scroll all the way to the bottom of The Jump if you want to skip the game by game, I will throw up a recap.

@ New Mexico

Best case- A win, an easy convincing win.  Pete Thomas shows he means business and the defense shows up.  The running game shows some life and gets a buzz going.

Worst case- A win.  They have to beat the Lobos, road game or not.  They lose this game and look at my 0-12 prediction and Steve Fairchild really needs to start prepping that resume.

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I have been putting this article off for awhile now, the CSU defense isn't exactly a fun topic.  The defense has been bad, bad, and worse lately.  I personally believe a lot of that is scheme and play calling and less actual talent.  The Rams are no Horned Frogs when it comes to personnel but they should be better then they have been of late.

The last time the Rams allowed less then 4500 yards on the season was back in 2006 with a very solid 3964 yards.  Twice in the last three years they have given up 5000+.  Their average yards given up per play is floating around 6, it doesn't take a math major to realize that's not a recipe for success.   The worst part is I don't see this changing at all since defensive coordinator Larry Kerr is still around and there have been no announced changes on scheme.

So I am going to rate the separate units and list a stand out player.  Catch it after The Jump!

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I will kick this off with some talk about Pete Thomas.  The caption holds true because Thomas is actually a man.  He is a myth because it has been so long since the Rams had a starting QB return.  He is a legend because he is awesome, I see him gunning down some all time CSU records.  If he just throws for his 2662 yards as he did as a freshman he would break the all time CSU passing mark by 3000 yards.  He should pass coach Fairchild for 10th all time somewhere around the 4-5th game this year.  According to CSURams.com he should be 5th all time for a single season for passing yards.  The Rams are in good hands with Thomas.

The Rams come into 2011 with their first returning starting quarterback since my first year at CSU.  I graduated almost a year ago.  The Rams had Caleb Hanie returning in 2007, Billy Farris in 2008, Grant Stucker in 2009, and Pete Thomas in 2010 as a true freshman.

Let's look and see if Thomas is in good hands with his supporting cast.

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Unlike many other conferences the MWC is pretty much set in its NCAA tournament bids.  BYU, SDSU, and UNLV are all getting a invite and have a decent idea what seeds they will be given.  That leaves the NIT, CBI, and CIT the opportunity to pick up some good teams out of the MWC.  I will break it down by tounament and what is expected to play out in the "other" postseasons.

NIT- National Invitational Tournament is a 32 team tournament and is known as the second best tournament  after the NCAA.  The selection process is driven by results and possible TV ratings so there isn't exactly a science to picking teams.  Higher seeded teams get to host games until the semi-finals.

CBI- College Basketball Invitational is a 16 team tournament and also allows teams to host games.  The twist the CBI throws in to get watchers is a best of three series once it comes down to the final two teams.  I personally love this feature as it takes out a fluke game by a team.  Imagine watching Duke and Butler a possible three times last year?  No way the NCAA would do this but its a nice twist for a lower rated tournament.

CIT- College Insiders Tournament will be a 24 team tournament after being a 16 team bracket in earlier years, the 2 its been around.  Not much history to this tournament but think of it as the 4th in line trophy for the winner.

Catch which MWC teams will end up in what tournament after the break.

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The New Mexico Lobos took their first big step in keeping their chances at a NCAA birth alive when they beat the CSU Rams 67-61 in the first round of the MWC tournament.  The Lobos were lead in scoring by Kendall Williams with 16 points and Drew Gordon added a double double with 13 points and rebounds.  The Lobos pulled away late on a big shot by Cameron Bairstow that put the Lobos up 4 with less the a minute to play.

The Rams were led by none other then Andy Ogide with 25 points and 11 rebounds.  Wes Eikmeier and Dorian Green added 14 and 13 points respectively.   The Rams had two starters in Travis Franklin and Greg Smith who failed to score a point and had as many turnovers and rebounds with three.

What I saw of the game was the final 4 minutes as I sat down at a bar after work.  From that point on you saw the disparity in the two teams.  The Rams were out rebounded, had more turnovers, and had less options on offense.  The Rams looked desperate on offense while the Lobos looked confident.  The huge shot by Bairstow was all that was right with the Lobos and wrong with the Rams down the stretch. 

The Lobos took a big step tonight and will need a huge one tomorrow as they face #1 BYU.  They did win the season series against BYU and would look prime for a NCAA tournament bid if they can beat them once more.

As for the Rams they look like a middle bid NIT team depending on how many regular season league winners get booted from their own conference tournaments and into the NIT.   Best case scenario the Rams get to host a game and pull in some revenue and make a run at the NIT for recruiting purposes.  They could be joined by the Lobos depending how their MWC tournament goes.

The Colorado State Rams and New Mexico Lobos are both in win or go home mode after disappointing losses down the stretch. Today they will match up as the four and five seeds in the MWC tournament in Las Vegas.  The Rams grabbed the four seed with a 19-11(9-7) record on the year with a 43rd ranking in the RPI.  The Lobos sit at 20-11(8-8) and are 71st in RPI.  New Mexico has been off the bubble talk since their second Utah loss.  The Rams have been put in the next, next four out in most brackets since their devastating loss to Air Force.

The Lobos took some hard losses, getting swept by Utah and two one possession games against UNLV have hurt their tournament chances.  The loss to Wyoming might be their most damaging in conference play.  The Lobos did have two huge wins against BYU, showing if they get past CSU a MWC tournament win isn't that crazy of a thought. The Lobos tournament resume is filled with ups and downs.  Losing to Wyoming and getting swept by Utah on one side.  Sweeping BYU and taking UNLV down to the last possession both games.

The Rams are a different story as they lack a good win.  Their best win on the year is at UNLV,  The Rams split the series with UNM, AFA, and failed to get a marquee win against SDSU or BYU in four chances.  The Rams are riding their strength of schedule right now, but that doesn't mean much when your 1-5 against top 25 opponents. 

Catch keys to the game after the jump...

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The Rams have two big chances to cement themselves in the NCAA tournament.  Neither are good odds, and tonight against BYU in Provo might be the longest shot of the two.  The Rams have always struggled with quick guards ala Jimmer. 

Jimmer has cooled down a bit, not posting a 30 point game in his last five contests.  He has averaged 25.2 points a game over that stretch.  If you can call that cooling down, milding down maybe?  The Cougars haven't played a close game in three weeks.  They had a game going against Utah but ended up winning by 13.  Their last win was a blow out down in Fort Worth against TCU.  BYU is hitting their stride at the right time, not much to talk about here until March 15th when the NCAA tournament starts up.

The Rams are still in by most tournament guesses even after a UNLV loss at home.  The win in Las Vegas is the only thing keeping them even near the bubble at the moment.  With a chance to beat BYU or SDSU on the road left the Rams have two marquee chances to get that invite to the NCAA tournament.  It would also get them the three seed in the MWC tournament if things play out as they should with UNLV.  That four seed in the MWC isn't looking to bad with UNM playing like they do on the road.  For the sake of Ram fans blood pressure a win at BYU or SDSU could help out a lot. 

The Rams got a no show from Travis Franklin last game.  That can't happen if the Rams want this game to be close or even watchable.  Pounding the ball down low and shooting better are the only ways the Rams make this game interesting. 

CSU was challenging for a NCAA tournament spot against UNLV.  They are fighting for that spot the rest of the season now.  A slip up guarantees them a NIT or CBI bid.

I feel like I don't do enough polls so here is one on the Rams chances...

If that headline looks familiar it is because I copied and pasted rebelfan1's title from his post earlier today.  The Rams sit in the same boat as the Rebels.  They play a bottom feeder with a season make or break game on the horizon Saturday when the Rebels and Rams face off at Moby Arena. 

The trick to the Rams game is the fact they are on the road.  The Rams have issues with quick point guards but with Ronnie Moss suspended it will make life a little easier. 

TCU is on an 8 game slide that started with a 79-69 loss in Fort Collins.  In those losses only two games have been single digit losses, they did take Air Force to overtime in a one point loss.

The Rams are on a cute two game streak after a buzzer beater loss to SDSU at home.  To prep for the Rebels the Rams have the capability to sit Wes Eikmeier who has been nursing a foot injury for a few weeks.  Eikmeier will be a big part of the Rams getting a NCAA bid, but playing him too soon could hurt the team more.

If the Rams are focused they should win down in Fort Worth.  Tim Miles can prove his coaching worth by getting the team focused on tonight's game.