CSU Rams Dance: Here’s when, where and who they will play
Mar 16, 2025, 4:38 PM | Updated: 4:40 pm
The Colorado State Rams are dancing, winning the Moutain West for the first time in 22 years on Saturday, and learning their destiny on Sunday.
The Rams are a 12 seed in the 2025 NCAA Tournament, where they will meet the fifth-seeded Memphis, who won the American in the West Region. The first-round game will be played on Friday in Seattle. The winner will meet the winner of Mayrland-Grand Canyon. The winner of that pod then will travel to Francisco, with the Final Four set for San Antonio.
Right after the Rams matchup was announced CBS Sports’ analyst Seth Davis liked the possibility of the Rams playing Cinderella.
#CSURams react to their #NCAA Tournament draw! #Stalwart pic.twitter.com/72jijs0xR1
— Sean Keeler (@SeanKeeler) March 16, 2025
Niko Medved’s squad will dance for the third time in his seven seasons in Fort Collins—with this one being the least likely.
The Rams struggled at the season’s outset, dropping most of their chances for big non-conference wins to bolster their NET ranking.
One particularly heartbreaking loss—a 77-75 home decision to UC Riverside—came after a last-second, half-court heave banked off the backboard to force overtime, just 2.8 seconds after CSU had hit the apparent game-winning three-pointer.
In mid-December, the Rams were 5-5; after a Dec. 28 home loss to eventual Mountain West regular-season champs New Mexico, the Rams were 7-6 and 1-1 in the conference.
Three days later, CSU won at San Jose State on New Year’s Eve, starting an 18-3 run with a 10-game winning streak that the Rams will carry into the Dance.
It’s the third-straight tournament for the Tigers under hoops legend Penny Hardaway. At 28-5, they ran through the American and won the conference tournament on Sunday. They beat then No. 2-ranked UCONN and then No. 16-ranked Ole Miss during the nonconference slate. Now they’ve won eight games in a row and haven’t been beaten in regulation since mid-January. While the team is tough and hot, the Tigers are dealing with an injury to the team’s veteran guard, Tyrese Hunter. Sophmore guard PJ Haggerty is one of the best scorers in the country, getting 22 a game.
Unlike last year, where the Rams started their tournament journey in the First Four as a No. 10 with a win over Virginia before falling two days later to Texas in the first round, CSU’s auto-bid from winning the Moutain West Conference Tournament means that they go straight into Round 1.
MWC Tournament MVP Nique Clifford leads the Rams. A senior from small 3-A Vanguard in Colorado Springs, Clifford is averaging 19 points, 9.7 rebounds and 4.4 assists a game on 51% shooting. The 6-foot-5 fifth-year guard transferred from Colorado and was a key figure in the Rams beating of the Cavaliers last March. The Rams don’t have a lot of size, but with Clifford and Jalen Lake they have steady veteran guard play. CSU shoots efficiently and plays strong defense, it’s what led them to a second-place finish in the Mountain West’s regular season. They’re joined by two other schools from the conference in the draw, New Mexico and Utah State—each getting No. 10 seeds.
THE BRACKET 🙌#MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/fo6lA8hJ7g
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 16, 2025
