Rams one of two underdog seeds favored in NCAA Tournament’s first round

When the Colorado State Rams take the floor on Friday the number next to their team might say they’re the underdogs but the oddsmakers believe CSU is the better team in matching up with the Memphis Tigers.

As of Wednesday afternoon, No. 12 Colorado State is a -1.5 favorite to advance to the second round of the dance. The first-round contest of the NCAA Tournament pits the American Athletic Conference’s regular season and tournament champion No. 5 Memphis against the Moutain West Conference Tournament winners in the Rams. The only other worse-seeded team to be favored against their opponent is the No. 11 North Carolina Tar Heels against No. 6 Ole. Miss. The Tar Heels are coming off a 95-68 drubbing of San Diego State in the First Four after being controversially picked to make the dance with just one win over teams from the field.

Speaking of the Rebels, the Tigers had two standout wins this season—beating then No. 2-ranked UCONN and then No. 16-ranked Ole Miss during the non-conference slate. They were part of a 28-5 campaign as Penny Hardaway’s team makes a third-straight tournament. 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. Sophomore guard PJ Haggerty is one of the best scorers in the country, getting 22 a game.

While the Rams skip the First Four this season unlike last, the oddsmakers like them to win at least one game like they did a year ago when they beat No. 10 Virginia before falling two days later to Texas in the first round. CSU’s auto-bid from winning the Moutain West Conference Tournament meant that they went straight into Round 1, unlike the better-seed Tar Heels.

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 main draw, New Mexico and Utah State—each getting No. 10 seeds.

“We’ve just shown so much resilience,” Rams senior guard Jalen Lake told Denver 7. “A lot of people didn’t believe in us in the beginning because we didn’t start off so well, but just to show the growth and resilience that we have [is amazing].”

The Rams rebounded from early-season struggles, 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.