Latest loss doesn't hurt Colorado State's NCAA chances

Saturday night's loss at San Diego State didn't hurt the CSU men's basketball team's chances of making the NCAA tournament.

The Rams (21-5, 8-5 Mountain West) were projected as a No. 10 seed Monday by three of the leading analysts, and they moved up to No. 26 in the NCAA's Ratings Percentage Index.

ESPN's Joe Lunardi and USA Today's Shelby Mast both had the Rams' as a No. 10 seed in the East Region in new projections Monday, while CBS Sports' Jerry Palm had Colorado State University as the No. 10 seed in the West.

San Diego State (20-6, 10-3 MW) was the only other Mountain West team projected to make the tournament, as the No. 7 seed in the West in the USA Today projection and the No. 8 seed in the West in the ESPN and CBS Sports brackets.

The Aztecs, who were ranked No. 25 Monday in the USA Today Coaches Poll, defeated CSU 72-63 Saturday night in San Diego to take sole possession of the MW lead and earn a split with the Rams, who won an earlier matchup at Moby Arena 79-73. The Aztecs were second among other teams receiving votes in the Associated Press media poll with 64 points.

CSU received one vote in the coaches' poll, as did Boise State (18-7, 8-4), and no votes in the AP poll.

Seventy-seven of the 79 tournament projections on the BracketMatrix.com had CSU in the tournament with an average seed of 9.49. San Diego State made the tournament on all 79 projections with an average seed of 7.89. Boise State was in 25 of the brackets, with an average seed of 11.40.

CSU has five regular-season games remaining -- Wednesday at Fresno State (12-13, 7-5), at home Saturday against Air Force (12-13, 5-9) and Feb. 25 vs. San Jose State, at Nevada (8-16, 4-8) on March 4 and at Utah State (14-10, 7-5) on March 7.

Follow reporter Kelly Lyell at twitter.com/KellyLyell and facebook.com/KellyLyell.news

• Next up: CSU at Fresno State, 8 p.m. Wednesday, Save Mart Center, Fresno, California

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MW men's basketball standings

School Conf. Overall San Diego State 10-3 20-6 Wyoming 9-4 20-6 Boise State 8-4 18-7 CSU 8-5 21-5 Utah State 7-5 14-10 Fresno State 7-5 12-13 New Mexico 6-7 14-11 UNLV 5-7 14-11 Air Force 5-9 12-13 Nevada 4-8 8-16 San Jose State 0-12 2-22

Saturday's games

San Diego State 72, CSU 63

Air Force 76, UNLV 75

Wyoming 77, San Jose State 60

Fresno State 70, Boise State 64

Nevada 66, New Mexico 63

Tuesday's games

San Diego State at New Mexico, 7:30 p.m.

Wyoming at Nevada, 8 p.m.

Wednesday's games

CSU at Fresno State, 8 p.m.

Utah State at San Jose State, 8 p.m.

Boise State at UNLV, 9 p.m.