Colorado State University
The Rams have played just one game so far in the young 2015-16 college basketball season, but boy did it generate some buzz around Larry Eustachy’s club.
Northern Iowa ended the 2014-15 season ranked No. 11 in the AP Poll and soundly defeated Wyoming in the second round of the NCAA Tournament before falling to Elite Eight team Louisville.
Colorado State, whose NCAA tournament spot was usurped by Wyoming last year via the MW Tournament, and picked up a big non-conference road victory that earned them a vote in this week’s AP Poll.
“It was a huge win for the Rams,” says Notaro, “against a team who had won “19 or 20 in a row last year.”
(For the sake of accuracy, it was actually a 16-game win streak for the Panthers, but impressive nonetheless.)
And even though the Rams lost some key players from last year’s team that won 27 games, including J.J. Avila, Daniel Bejarano and Stanton Kidd, Notaro expects another big season for the boys in Fort Collins.
“Larry Eustachy’s teams always play hard, always play defense, and always rebounds,” he notes.
The only knock on CSU (and Eustachy), according to Notaro, is their usually “soft” schedule to begin the year – something he believes kept them out of the tournament last year. But Northern Iowa were no patsies and they face (usually) competitive teams in Loyola Marymount and Oakland (Mich.) in their next two contests. Notaro sees a positive in scheduling “beatable” teams early in the year.
“Kids around campus don’t care who you’re beating,” he says. “But they see an undefeated team or a team with a bunch of wins and they get excited.”
There seems to be plenty to be of excitement bubbling around the Rams again, who hope to return to the big dance after a two-year hiatus. The win against UNI has them on the right path, it seems.
Listen to the full conversation about the Rams and Buffs in the podcast below…
