Rams miss March Madness, take No. 1 seed in NIT

Scott Nies

March 15, 2021

Isaiah Stevens prepares to shoot after driving towards the basket — Isaiah Stevens (4) prepares to shoot after driving towards the basket, during the Air Force Reserve Mountain West men’s basketball tournament in Las Vegas. The University lost the game 62-50. (Devin Cornelius | The Collegian)

LAS VEGAS — Selection Sunday was a rollercoaster of emotions for the Colorado State University men’s basketball team.

After losing to Utah State University in the semifinal round of the Air Force Reserve Mountain West Men’s Basketball Championship, the Rams’ chances of making March Madness are very unlikely — but there is still a sliver of hope.

We get to go play basketball on national television,” –Niko Medved, head coach for CSU men’s basketball

Colorado State is in selection limbo as the second replacement team and will be moved into the 64-team competition pool should a team be forced to withdraw due to COVID-19 issues, according to NCAA rules.

A midnight-hour opportunity is very unlikely, so the Rams will turn to a different avenue of postseason competition in place of an NCAA bid. Narrowly missing out on the big dance puts Colorado State at the top of the competition for the National Invitation Tournament.

Niko Medved’s squad received a No. 1 seed bid and will play the No. 4 seeded University at Buffalo on March 19 in Denton, Texas.

Despite the NCAA snub, this young Ram team has all eyes set on their next postseason venture.

“We all wanted to play, you know, it’s just such a great experience being able to play past the season tournament,” Adam Thistlewood said in a team press conference. “Last year we got it taken away from us, we were all anxious to play then and you this year fingers crossed COVID(-19) doesn’t go two-for-two.”

For a young team, any type of single-elimination experience is valuable. Even more so when this team is ahead of where many thought they would be this early into the Medved era. The Rams are not graduating anyone, so next year it will be most certainly be a goal and likely an expectation of this team to make a deep postseason run.

However, the fact that they were competing on the edge of the NCAA bubble this year is very promising, and capping off an incredible season with a solid campaign in the NIT would be a significant milestone to end the season on.

How can these players get psyched up for the NIT after missing the NCAA? Medved has a very simple answer.

“We get to go play basketball on national television,” he said.

Scott Nies can be reached at sports@collegian.com or on Twitter @scott_nies98.

Leave a Comment

About the Contributor

Devin Cornelius, Digital Managing Editor

Devin Cornelius is the digital managing editor for The Collegian. He is a fifth-year computer science major from Austin, Texas. He moved to Colorado State University and started working for The Collegian in 2017 as a photographer. His passion for photography began in high school, so finding a photography job in college was one of his top priorities. He primarily takes sports photos, volleyball being his favorite to shoot. Having been on The Collegian staff for 4 1/2 years, he's watched the paper evolve from a daily to a weekly paper, and being involved in this transition is interesting and exciting. Although Cornelius is a computer science major, his time at The Collegian has been the most fulfilling experience in his college career — he has loved every second. From working 12-hour days to taking photos in Las Vegas for the Mountain West Conference, he cannot think of a better place to work. Working as a photographer for The Collegian pushed him outside of his comfort zone, taking him places that he never expected and making him the photographer he is today. As the digital managing editor, Cornelius oversees the photos, graphics and social media of The Collegian along with other small tech things. Working on the editorial staff with Katrina Leibee and Serena Bettis has been super fun and extremely rewarding, and together they have been pushing The Collegian toward being an alt-weekly. Outside of The Collegian, he enjoys playing volleyball, rugby, tumbling and a variety of video games. When in Austin, you can find him out on the lake, wake surfing, wake boarding and tubing. You can expect that Cornelius and the rest of The Collegian staff will do their best to provide you with interesting and exciting content.

Comments (0)

When commenting on The Collegian’s website, please be respectful of others and their viewpoints. The Collegian reviews all comments and reserves the right to reject comments from the website. Comments including any of the following will not be accepted. 1. No language attacking a protected group, including slurs or other profane language directed at a person’s race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, social class, age, physical or mental disability, ethnicity or nationality. 2. No factually inaccurate information, including misleading statements or incorrect data. 3. No abusive language or harassment of Collegian writers, editors or other commenters. 4. No threatening language that includes but is not limited to language inciting violence against an individual or group of people. 5. No links.

Share your thoughts...

All The Rocky Mountain Collegian Picks Reader Picks Sort: Newest