Larry Eustachy’s NCAA tournament promise not totally insane

Larry Eustachy stood on the field in front of a capacity crowd at Hughes Stadium last week and made a bold proclamation.

“Tournament! Tournament this year!” he exclaimed.

Whaaaaat?

The coach of the CSU basketball team that went 27-7, had a top-30 RPI and missed the NCAA tournament a year ago thinks his new Rams can go dancing after losing their top three scorers and rebounders in J.J. Avila (16.7 ppg, 7.5 rpg), Daniel Bejarano (11.4, 7.2) and Stanton Kidd (11.6, 5.1)?

Pandering to your audience much, Larry?

That’s how it seemed as 32,546 Colorado State University fans roared when their fourth-year basketball coach was shown on the video board pulling off Ray-Bans better than Buddy Holly with a rare smile that stretched ear to ear.

When attending practice last week, the scene I expected was admittedly one of chaos: A fledgling team still trying to figure out Eustachy’s expectations during three hours of intense workouts, with players throwing insults each others way for making errors that lead to running suicides.

Instead there was order. Far from perfect, but practice resembled a group of guys who’d been working together for years. Given CSU only lost three contributing seniors from 2014-15, maybe that should be the expectation. Just don’t forget this is a new-look group with three freshmen and a pair of highly touted junior-college transfers.

CSU shot the ball well — better than last year when it was the second-highest scoring team in the Mountain West — and it rebounded and bruised inside the way you’d expect a Eustachy squad to do. Most importantly, it had leaders.

When redshirt freshman J.D. Page missed what appeared to be an open layup due to a late hip-check, it was Antwan Scott on the other end of the court looking at him and clapping his hands saying, “Hey, that’s OK. That’s why we’re out here, to learn from our mistakes.”

When John Gillon and Kimani Jackson weren’t on the same page, Little John grabbed Jackson, who towers more than 8 inches above him, by the jersey to explain what he’s supposed to do during that play, answering Eustachy’s call from the day earlier to act like a point guard.

Joe De Ciman did what Joe De Ciman does, quietly on his way to becoming CSU’s most underrated player four years running. And Tiel Daniels acted like he knows everything depends on him.

No matter which lineup CSU uses (and four guards will be common this season), the offense revolves around one dominant post player. Seven-foot All-American Colton Iverson was that guy in 2012-13, the past two seasons it was Avila and now, unless Emmanuel Omogbo ousts him, it’s Daniels.

Everyone except Daniels seemed to see the potential he had to take over games last year. He’s 6-foot-7, 234 pounds with strength no Mountain West opponent could guard, so they did the next best thing: They fouled him, sending him to the free-throw line where he shot 43.6 percent.

“People don’t get that my free throws were a bigger deal for me than everyone else. I was always in the gym working on it, but when I was in the game, I’d shy away from contact because I knew I’d get fouled,” said Daniels, a transfer from Southern Illinois who averaged 5.7 points and 4.8 rebounds with the Rams as a junior. “I’m not lying when I said I shot 5,000-10,000 free throws this summer. It’s just muscle memory. My form is completely different now and is more fluid.

“Free throws played a bigger role than people knew. I’m going to take over a lot more games this year.”

And he needs to. CSU will run plenty of four-guard rotations, but they need a true post, and the one-two punch Daniels and Omogbo, a 6-8, 210-pound JUCO All-American, could be unlike anything CSU has seen under Eustachy. The same goes for depth.

CSU was seven players deep in 2014-15. This winter, the backcourt is heavy with guards Scott, Gillon, De Ciman and Gian Clavell and wings Jackson and Fred Richardson III, who can do a little of everything. Add the post men and that’s eight players capable of starting, plus whatever the freshmen can provide.

A promise of the postseason seems counterintuitive with so much turnover from the last year’s second team out. But maybe Eustachy isn’t insane. The Rams have depth, scoring and a retooled post.

Why can this year’s team do what last year’s couldn’t?

“We have a lot of new guys who don’t know any better,” Daniels said.

For insight and analysis on athletics around Northern Colorado and the Mountain West, follow sports columnist Matt L. Stephens at twitter.com/mattstephens and facebook.com/stephensreporting.