I’m in the middle of a big cross-country move and have been in the weeds all week. So what have I missed over the last couple of days… Colton Iverson broke a rim, CSU beat down Fresneck, the football team finally recruited some receivers, and some guy named Timothy Coleman made the biggest mistake of his life.

Okay, with that out of the way; let’s take a look at how CSU’s OOC opponents did last week:

Team of the Week: Montana is still undefeated in conference after a 2-0 week, and their RPI finally improved. Montana’s problem is that the Big Sky is so weak that sometimes their RPI goes down, even after victories. This is one team that CSU fans really should be rooting for because they’re just outside the Top 100 and have a chance to run the table and crack it. RPI Forecast has them right in range.

Worst of the Week: I’m officially giving up on Virginia Tech. Erick Green is still getting his 25 points per game, but the one-man show doesn’t work in the ACC. They’ve lost two in a row and now Tech is home for a suddenly unstoppable Miami team, and then on the road to lose to a crappy UNC team in Chapel Hill.

Team To Watch: The bad loss is off CSU resume! Somehow Illinois-Chicago entered the Top 100 again. They have two winnable home games this week that could go a long way towards cementing their status in the Top 100.

We’ve been here before: The Rams have a big game on the road, the week is full of anticipation for a signature win, game tips off, and CSU immediately find themselves down 10.

CSU can’t afford to dig themselves a hole in this game because New Mexico has the top defense in the league. A massive comeback is not going to happen against these guys.

If the Rams need inspiration, we can look back six years ago (almost to the day). On January 26, 2007; Dale Layer took his team into The Pit to take on the 11-5 Lobos. The Rams got off to a quick start and dominated early thanks to 28 points and 11 rebounds from Jason Smith.

The score was 46-30 at half time. New Mexico would eventually go on a run in the second half, but it wasn’t enough. Final score: 88-79.

January 26, 2007. The last time CSU has won in The Pit. Somehow this team finished conference play at 6-10. The Dale Layer Era!

Quick facts about New Mexico:

• Alex Kirk has been missing practice and was hooked up to IV’s all week because of the flu. He is expected to play tonight. This makes me nervous.
• The origin of Albuquerque’s name is up for debate. Some say it is named after a Spanish town of the same name that was famous for their white oak trees. Others believe its name came from the Arabic word for “plum”. Neither explanation is very interesting.
• New Mexico is one of the worst shooting teams in the nation at 42% and second worst in the conference. They miss a lot of shots, leading to a ton of rebounds. Do you think Coach Eustachy pointed this out to the team at practice?

And finally, your Craft Brew Fact of the Game: On May 4th, The Pavilion (whatever that is) will host the Albuquerque Blues and Brews Festival. A bunch of the top breweries from the western US will be there and over 100 beers are available to sample. Proceeds go to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. For some reason Sam Adams was invited, but whatever.

This has been your Craft Brew Fact of the Game!

Follow me on Twitter @AlwaysSonnyInFC!

Another evening of Mountain West basketball and another nationally televised game between two RPI Top 25 schools. CBS Sports will also show SDSU at Nevada for a MWC Double-Header. CrackerCollegeHoops has his preview up and MWCConnection will probably have basketball stuff up later after they fully digest the MW’s new football divisions: Mountain and West. I was hoping for Fur Trappers and Prospectors, but Craig Thompson never returns my calls.

Tonight’s games:

Colorado State @ New Mexico- 8PM EST (CBS Sports)

Fresno @ Boise Tech- 8PM EST

SDSU @ Nevada- 10PM EST (CBS Sports)

Air Force will play an OOC game against New Orleans tonight for some reason.

Also, remember that Wyoming will be at UNLV on Thursday, a game that CBS Sports picked up as well.

The $40 Challenge!

Ouch. Very ouch. I figured I’d have an 0-4 week at some point; but I wasn’t even close. I was hypothetically upset for losing all my hypothetical bets. But it’s time to bounce  back. Here’s my bet card if gambling was legal:

I haven’t felt more comfortable with a pick than SDSU -5.5. They’ve played like garbage lately and they’ll make a statement tonight. Taking the points with CSU/New Mexico. I was going to go with Fresno and a backdoor cover at +11.5 but the line changed while I was placing my bet. Crazy or not, the 1 point swayed me to Boise. I’ve dipped below my original hypothetical $40; so I need a big night.

Current balance: $36.37

Current record: 8-8

I was watching Saturday night’s game with a couple friends who don’t see a lot of Mountain West basketball. I kept telling them that as long as CSU kept the game close, they’d win it down the stretch.

I’ll get into the video breakdown, but first my quick takes: Colton Iverson and Pierce Hornung are great, but CSU will only go as far as Dorian Green and Greg Smith take them; Khem Birch is as incredible a defender as Katin Reinhardt is a awful; the refs weren’t as bad as some Rebel fans would like you to believe; Anthony Marshall’s play down the stretch is somewhere between dumbfounding and infuriating; and UNLV might be the dumbest good team I’ve ever seen.

Now, to the videotape!

Continue reading →

An undefeated week that included a big win over UNLV has shot the Rams up eights spots to #17. They are now 1-1 against the Top 25 and 4-2 against the Top 100.

Here is how CSU’s non-con opponents did last week:

Team of the Week: About 65 miles south of Fort Collins, Denver is running roughshod over the WAC. After dropping their first WAC game in Ruston to Louisiana Tech, the Pioneers have won seven straight. Last week saw them crushing the two MWC-to-be teams; SJSU and Utah State. Denver has two road games coming up and is on the brink of breaking the Top 100.

Worst of the Week: After being my Team of the Week last week, Evansville got demolished in two MVC road games and fell out of the Top 100. Honorable mention goes to Washington who lost at home to freaking Utah.

Team to Watch This Week: Montana has a big game with Weber State coming up towards the end of the week. Both schools are undefeated in the Big Sky and riding 8-game winning streaks. This will be one of the few opportunities for Montana to improve their RPI.

The Running Rebels come to town to take on our Running Rams; and usually in this space I’d write some nonsense about the opposing team, but the bigger story tonight is the home win streak and the MOBY MADNESS.

The Rams pushed their school record home winning streak to 23 games after demolishing the Air Force Academy’s basketball team 79-40. God, I wish I was there just so I could yell: “WE’RE BEATING YOU TWO-FOLD!” throughout the game. Then people around me would think things like Who the hell uses the word ‘two-fold’?

The best news of the week is that the students are back in town and tickets are close to selling out. Tonight is the annual Moby White Out and anyone not wearing white will be expelled from the arena and shamed on CSU’s official Instagram account.

No, not that Moby

Gimmicks like these are fun when everyone plays along, so Moby better be whiter than a marshmallow in a Klan member’s mouth. It better be whiter than the front row of a Coldplay concert. It better be whiter than a Boulder drum circle. Whiter than the talent show at Provo High School. Whiter than a college student backpacking through Europe to find himself. Whiter than a Portland farmer’s market. It better be whiter than John Stockton’s shorts. Whiter than an NFL head coach. Whiter than John Tesh covering “Ice, Ice Baby”.

Do you catch my drift? Moby better be white.

Quick facts about UNLV:

• I wanted to talk about how UNLV hasn’t beat anyone good on the road in this bullet point, but then they had to go and beat San Diego State in Viejas. Overall they’re 4-2 on the road and won’t be intimidated by 9,000 white-clad folks.
• The Thomas & Mack is home to the NBA Summer League, which is probably the closest Anthony Marshall will ever get to the NBA.
• Stud freshman Anthony Bennett was a McDonald’s All-American in high school. I guess someone forgot to tell McDonald’s that HE’S CANADIAN! Go get him Birthers!
• With a massive front line of Bennett, Mike Moser and now Khem Birch; UNLV is 8th in the nation in rebounds per game. Watch the battle of the boards and see if CSU can sustain their typical dominance in that area against a great UNLV frontcourt.

And finally, your Craft Brew Fact of the Game: I haven’t tried any Las Vegas microbrews, but I’ve never heard anyone rave about them either; so I’m not sure if I’m missing much. What I do know is that The Pub at Monte Carlo has a drink menu with 300 beers. That’ll do pig. That’ll do.

This has been your Craft Brew Fact of the Game!

Follow me on Twitter @AlwaysSonnyInFC!

I hope everyone is having an incredible Saturday. The Rams are on national TV and I couldn’t be happier. At some point MWCConnection and CrackerCollegeHoops will have their previews up, but in the meantime you’re stuck with me.

Today’s games are:

Boise Tech at Air Force- 4PM EST

UNLV at CSU- 7PM EST

SDSU at Wyoming- 7:30PM EST

Nevada at Fresno- 10PM EST

UNLV/CSU will be on NBC Sports and the rest can probably be found on some illegal internet feed somewhere. Because heaven forbid the MWC put some kind of digital network together and charge subscriptions for fans to stream MW games on their laptops or mobile devices. No, because shady websites that flood my computer with pop-ups and viruses deserve to earn ad revenue instead.

You’ll have to trust me that UNLV/CSU is on NBC Sports. Still no mention of it on their Twitter feed. I guess they’re too busy promoting Ivy League hockey. Look out, ESPN! NBC Sports is coming for you!

The $40 Challenge!

I went 2-2 last week. Any hypothetical sports book takes out a hypothetical fee for every bet placed, so going 2-2 is actually a small loss. DAMN YOU CSU AND YOUR 39 POINT VICTORY!

If gambling were legal, my hypothetical bet card for today’s games would look like this:

I’m never betting on Nevada again and Fresno covers at home, Wyoming doesn’t score enough points, don’t know UNLV/CSU so I took the points, Air Force is the suck.

Current Balance: $56.37

Current Record: 8-4