Mountain West Blog

Funny video for Colorado State basketball. The Rams played this...

mattlstephens — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 16:42:12 -0700

Funny video for Colorado State basketball. The Rams played this on the video screen during its defeat of TCU on Saturday.

FIRE (Alarm) At The Pit Delays Game

mattlstephens — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 21:10:00 -0700

You’ll have a hard time finding a crazier first half than what we’re seeing at The Pit tonight between Colorado State and New Mexico.

First, there was a possession in which New Mexico scored a deep two-point basket, but upon further review, the Lobos had SIX players on the court, which earned them a team technical. CSU’s Dorian Green hit both free throws, but it was ruled that the prior basket with six players on the floor would still stand, so the New Mexico lead was 19-17 rather than 17 all.

Then here comes the real kicker.

With 1 second remaining in the first half, CSU senior forward Andre McFarland is fouled and goes to the line for two shots. He hits the first and New Mexico’s Steve Alford elects to use his first time out of the game — likely to draw up a play for a desperation three-pointer before half.

Well that play, along with McFarland’s second free throw, would have to wait because a fire alarm at University Arena went off so the entire building is being evacuated. This means EVERYONE: Players, coaches, fans, media — everyone.

This process will likely take at least 30 minutes to complete, then McFarland will shoot his free throw, then we’ll have half time.

Might as well switch to CBS College Sports for a while to watch San Diego State and UNLV, because this CSU vs. New Mexico game is on hiatus.

TCU Finishes 2010-11 Season Ranked No. 2 In AP Poll

mattlstephens — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 12:27:00 -0700

The final AP college football Top 25 Poll came out on Tuesday, and the Texas Christian Horned Frogs finished No. 2, behind only BCS National Champion Auburn. The Frogs received three first place votes.

Linked below is the final AP Top 25 via ESPN.com:

AP Top 25 - FINAL

BCS Champions Have Strong Mountain West Connection

mattlstephens — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 00:24:34 -0700

As the defenses rose to the challenge during Monday’s BCS National Championship Game in Glendale, Ariz., there was a certain defender for the Auburn Tigers who has a strong tie to the Mountain West Conference.

Auburn starting redshirt sophomore cornerback T’Sharvan Bell is the older brother of Colorado State corner Shaq Bell, who started nine games for the Rams as a true freshman in 2010 in place of Momo Thomas — who practically grew up in the same house with the Bell brothers in Central Florida.

T’Sharvan finished the 2010 season with 38 tackles, 1 interception and 4 pass breakups.

Shaq had 39 tackles for Colorado State this past season.

And as if there was any question, yes, Shaq was in Glendale watching his brother become a national champion, as Auburn squeaked by Oregon 22-19, sending the Ducks back to Eugene quietly into the desert night.

Austyn Carta-Samuels leaving Wyoming

mattlstephens — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 17:14:50 -0700

Austyn Carta-Samuels leaving Wyoming:

According to the Casper Star-Tribune, Wyoming Cowboys quarterback Austyn Carta-Samuels is leaving the football team.

A two-year starter, Carta-Samuels completed 59.6 percent of his passes for 3655 yards, 19 touchdowns and 13 interceptions in his career at UW. He has two wins over Border War rival Colorado State and led the Pokes to a New Mexico Bowl victory in 2009.

“There is a reason for it, but I don’t really want to get so much into that, I just want to stress that Laramie has been great to me,” Carta-Samuels said. “I had every intention of being a player there until I graduated.”

Rivals - TCU's Schlossnagle A "Coach To Watch"

mattlstephens — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 16:48:06 -0700

Rivals - TCU's Schlossnagle A "Coach To Watch":

For those who are unaware, Kendall Rogers of Yahoo!/Rivals.com is pretty much the all-knowing being on college baseball. If there’s anything you ever wanna know about the collegiate diamond, I suggest you go to collegebaseball.rivals.com for news, rankings and analysis before all other sources.

Anyhow, Rogers put a list together of his top 10 college baseball coaches to watch in 2011, and Texas Christian skipper Jim Schlossnagle was the first name listed.

Follow the link above for a good read on college baseball’s hottest coaches.

BYU's Top 10 Ranking Premature?

mattlstephens — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 15:37:00 -0700

For those who haven’t heard, the Brigham Young Cougars bounced into the top 10 in this week’s ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll (No. 11 in the latest AP). This now gives the Mountain West two teams in the top 10 with both the Cougars and then San Diego State at No. 6 (these are also the only MWC schools in the Top 25 - either poll - as UNLV dropped out this week).

While a congratulations should be handed to BYU, one can’t help but ask what the Cougars did to earn it?

Is Jimmer Fredette the best player in the country? This blog sure thinks so, but as a team BYU hasn’t shown much.

Yes, it has a 16-1 record and a 2-0 mark early in conference play, but BYU’s lone loss comes to a just above average UCLA squad at the John Wooden Classic, 86-79, and it’s hard to point out what exactly is this team’s strongest win of 2010-11.

Victories over in-state rival Utah State, UNLV, Arizona and future conference foe Saint Mary’s are all good wins, without question, but how BYU is ranked ahead of one of what looks to be the best Texas A&M team since Mark Turgeon took over is beyond me.

I’m really looking forward to seeing the Cougars test their road strength against a struggling Utah team on Tuesday. Never count out the rivalry factor.

Wyoming Upsets New Mexico At The Buzzer

mattlstephens — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 18:22:00 -0700

Wyoming junior guard Francisco Cruz’s put-back at the buzzer puts the Cowboys past New Mexico 67-66. The Lobos’ 7-game MWC road winning streak is over. Congratulations, Pokes!

TCU Gets Last Laugh On Ohio State

mattlstephens — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 13:02:16 -0700

TCU Gets Last Laugh On Ohio State:

I still think Gordon Gee Should offer a formal apology to TCU.

Colorado State’s Travis Franklin knows that when you go 7...

mattlstephens — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 12:50:44 -0700

Colorado State’s Travis Franklin knows that when you go 7 of 7 at the free throw line in a game your team won by 10, you’re allowed to dance.

I was watching the Cal vs. Arizona game Thursday night on FSN...

mattlstephens — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 23:00:12 -0700

I was watching the Cal vs. Arizona game Thursday night on FSN and thought it was too bad Jamelle Horne and Kyle Fogg didn’t play for Texas Christian. Throw an “R” in there and it would be perfect.

Air Force Picks Up A Huge Victory Over Utah

mattlstephens — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 23:04:00 -0700

I’m not going to lie, but when I checked the ESPN.com GameHQ this evening to catch up on the latest scores around the conference, I thought surely there was an error with what was listed.

There wasn’t.

For the first time since 2007-08, the Air Force Falcons have defeated a Mountain West opponent in the regular season other than Wyoming.

On Wednesday night at Clune Arena, Air Force (10-4, 1-0 MWC) turned heads in the MWC by defeating the Utah Utes (7-8, 0-1) 77-69. It was only the seventh time in program history that Air Force had won a conference opener and the Falcons’ first since 2006-07 (at Colorado State).

Air Force, led by Michael Lyons’ game-high 25 points, shot 52 percent from the field and out-rebounded the Utes 27-23.

You have to tip your hat to Jeff Reynolds’ team down around Colorado Springs. Expectations for Air Force weren’t high this season, especially after the Falcons scheduled cross-town schools Colorado-Colorado Springs (NCAA Division II) and Colorado College (D-III) as regular season opponents. Making matters worse, Air Force lost to Colorado College in overtime at Clune Arena.

Wednesday was the first time since 2006-07 that the Falcons defeated Utah, blowing out the Utes 69-43 in a season that Air Force made it to the NIT semifinals in New York City.

The past two seasons haven’t been good ones in terms of Runnin’ Utes men’s basketball and next season’s jump to the Pacific 12 could be a huge black eye for the program.

So the question now becomes, is Air Force a team hitting its stride, or was this upset just another nail in Utah head coach Jim Boylen’s coffin Salt Late City?

Dear UNLV basketball, this is why you box-out on...

mattlstephens — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 22:03:00 -0700

Dear UNLV basketball, this is why you box-out on defense.

Signed,

Basketball Coaching 101

"The officiating in this Brigham Young vs. UNLV game is terrible on both sides. It looks like an NBA..."

mattlstephens — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 21:38:00 -0700

“The officiating in this Brigham Young vs. UNLV game is terrible on both sides. It looks like an NBA game.”

Rivals - Colorado State avoids disaster against Wyoming

mattlstephens — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 22:07:25 -0700

Rivals - Colorado State avoids disaster against Wyoming:

The Colorado State Rivals.com does a brief blog breakdown of the Border War between CSU and Wyoming.

The Rams’ Adam Nigon led CSU with 21 points, all of which came from downtown. He’s a senior and Colorado native, so you had to expect him to be pumped for this game. Nigon is also a former walk-on.

Wyoming - 60
Colorado State - 73
FINAL

Border War - Colorado State vs. Wyoming

mattlstephens — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 12:35:00 -0700

It’s the first Mountain West match up of the 2010-11 season and it couldn’t be between two school that hated each other more, Colorado State and Wyoming.

This is the second consecutive season the two teams have opened up conference play against each other, the only difference is tonight’s game is in Fort Collins and 2010’s first match up was in Laramie.

If you don’t live in a metro area that has a MWC school or you don’t have DirecTV, good luck finding a place to watch this one (televised on The Mtn.), because most bars will likely have their TVs tuned to the Sugar Bowl.

However, you can listen to CSU’s radio broadcast for free (just click the “Listen Live” button on the right):

560 AM KLZ The Source

Colorado State Rams (10-4, 0-0 MWC)

Leading scorer: Andy Ogide (15.7 ppg)
Key wins: Ole Miss, Southern Miss

Wyoming Cowboys (7-7, 0-0)

Leading scorer: Desmar Jackson (15.5 ppg)
Key wins: None

Tip off is scheduled for 7 p.m., MT

Vegas Odds: Colorado State by 10.5

Mountain West Blog Prediction:

Wyoming - 60
Colorado State - 81

Colorado State Expecting Too Many Fans For Border War?

mattlstephens — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 21:21:00 -0700

Colorado State Expecting Too Many Fans For Border War?:

It’s the start of the Mountain West college basketball schedule, which can only mean one thing, another year of Colorado State’s athletic department apparently having no idea when students are on campus.

Even though classes for the Spring 2011 semester at CSU don’t begin until Jan. 18, the Rams have their big rivalry game against Wyoming scheduled for Tuesday (Jan. 4) at Moby Arena.

To compensate for the waves of fans CSU expects to attend, the athletic department is requesting fans who have already purchased tickets to enter through the lightly trafficked south concourse.

First, fans that arrive Tuesday with tickets in hand, especially those that arrive in the minutes before tipoff, are encouraged to avoid lines and enter the arena from the south concourse, across from the Rams’ softball field. Those fans with $1 ticket vouchers from the UNC win don’t need to wait to redeem their vouchers. They can do so at the McGraw Center ticket office during normal hours (8 a.m. to 5 p.m.) Monday or Tuesday.

I know it’s a big rivalry game, but Wyoming is an ~~embarrassment~~ disappointment to MWC men’s basketball (Air Force is truly an embarrassment). Last season’s Border War “Orange Out” in Fort Collins wasn’t even the most attended game.

CSU men’s basketball 2009-10 top attendances:

Colorado: 5293
Wyoming: 5277
New Mexico: 4303

Actually, the most fans that have been in Moby Arena for a sporting event in at least three years was the CSU volleyball team’s 2010 home-opener against Duke (6333).

Is CSU basketball on its way to the best season since 2003? Absolutely. The Rams are the team on the rise in the MWC. But I think the athletic department may be shooting a little high in terms of expected attendance with virtually no students on currently campus.

Another Big Win For TCU, Frogs Upset No. 15 Oklahoma

mattlstephens — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 20:44:00 -0700

Fresh of the football program’s 21-19 victory over Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl on Saturday, the Texas Christian women’s basketball team continued the celebration in Fort Worth by upsetting No. 15 Oklahoma 76-69 Sunday night.

Both Emily Carter and Helena Sverrisdottir had huge games for the Horned Frogs, scoring 26 and 24 points, respectively. Carter also had 8 rebounds and 2 blocks.

With the win, TCU finishes non-conference action with a record of 8-6 and will play its first Mountain West game on Wednesday at San Diego State.

Transferring Paid Off For Lepak

mattlstephens — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 17:05:00 -0700

Brian Lepak signed with Colorado State’s 2006 recruiting class as a 3-star offensive guard from Claremore High School, located just east of Tulsa, Okla.

After two seasons in Fort Collins, redshirting in 2006 and playing in all 12 games of the Rams’ 3-9 2007 season, Lepak decided to transfer to Oklahoma and went on to become a starting guard and center of the Sooners’ offensive line.

The former CSU Ram played his final game on Saturday night, helping protect quarterback Landry Jones as Oklahoma steamrolled Connecticut 48-20 in the Fiesta Bowl.

According to the Tulsa World, it was Lepak that helped dump the water cooler on Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops.

Just before the final gun, Stoops got an ice-water bath - and some emotional hugs - from senior offensive linemen Brian Lepak and Eric Mensik. Then came another trophy ceremony, and another team photo under the scoreboard.

Congratulations to Lepak on a solid college career.

Mountain West Bowl Schools Swapping Helmets

mattlstephens — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 13:58:05 -0700

Three out of four. That’s how many Mountain West Conference schools decided to mix it up in bowl games when it came to selecting what helmet to wear.

Air Force, Boise State and Texas Christian all did something a little different, though the Broncos also wore their one-sided helmet emblem in the Week 1 victory over Virginia Tech in Washington D.C.

Air Force

Two years in a row now have the Falcon decided to go with a different look in their bowl game. In the 2009 Armed Force Bowl against Houston, Air Force added a camo pattern to its blue lightning bolt. This season, Air Force went for the extreme patriotism look, making the lighting bolt filled with the stars and bars. The Falcons did the same to their uniforms, too.

Boise State

The Broncos broke out their Nike ProCombat uniforms as Boise State rolled past Air Force in this season’s Las Vegas bowl.

Texas Christian

TCU’s change wasn’t quite as noticeable, but the Horned Frogs cleverly added a rose in the mouth of their lovable toad. Personally, I was surprised TCU didn’t go with the metallic black helmets, but this was a nice change.

And yes, we’re counting Boise State as an MWC school and not Utah and Brigham Young.