Stephens: Enjoy the glory days of CSU basketball

Take a moment to evaluate what CSU is doing right now.

Appreciate it.

These are the glory days of Colorado State University basketball.

It's a fortunate era for anyone to be a part of.

For the Rams' football program, which is in the midst of a resurgence, the glory days came in the 1990s under former coach Sonny Lubick, when they won five conference championships from 1994 to 2000. Basketball hasn't won a regular-season conference title since 1990 and has only five championships in its history (including the 2003 Mountain West tournament), yet this is the Rams' golden age.

Maybe that's inherently sad in its own right. But let's disregard the past.

CSU is in position to make its third trip to the NCAA tournament in four years — tying its best stretch in history — and that's worth celebrating, like a sold-out crowd of 8,745 did at Moby Arena on Saturday when the Rams beat San Diego State, 79-73.

"It's just terrific. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else; it's why I'm here," CSU guard Daniel Bejarano said Saturday. "We all want one thing. It's been good to me. We've had some ups and downs, but at the end of the day, we're here fighting every day."

CSU (18-2, 5-2 MW) needed that win. Literally. It was a necessity. Entering Saturday, the Rams had two games remaining against teams with an RPI in the top 50 — home and away versus San Diego State. They had to, at the very least, split the season series and to have some breathing room should they be on the bubble come Selection Sunday.

The win increased CSU's RPI from 34 to 29 and dropped the Aztecs a spot to No. 23. It was (and could remain) the team's lone stand-out victory of the season. And that's not necessarily a bad thing. CSU is the only team in the Mountain West without a bad loss (falling to a team with an RPI ranking of 101 or worse) and has four top 100 wins.

If they can keep that bullet on its NCAA-tournament resume (which means not losing to Fresno State, UNLV, Nevada, Utah State, Air Force or San Jose State), the Rams are a lock for their 11th trip to the Big Dance.

Looking back, there were strong points for CSU in the 1960s. From 1963 to 1966, it had three NCAA berths (no wins) and reached the Elite Eight in 1969. 1988's NIT consolation crown shouldn't be overlooked, nor should Western Athletic Conference titles in 1989 and 1990. But the game has changed, and CSU is playing its best basketball.

The best team the Rams ever put together was the 2012-13 edition, which finished second in the Mountain West and lost to eventual national champion Louisville in the second round of the NCAA tournament. During the middle of the season, some disputed that it truly was the all-time great team, but they conceded at year's end.

That team (Larry Eustachy's first with the program) won a school-record 26 games. This season's Rams could very well match that in the regular season alone.

It's easy to knock the Mountain West this season as being nowhere near as strong as what it was two years ago (the league's RPI is ranked 12th rather than No. 1), and that's true. But it doesn't take away from the success CSU has sustained.

Four postseason berths in the past five years. Eight sellouts since 2011. Four of the program's eight weeks ever in the top 25 have come since 2013.

These are the glory days of CSU basketball.

Appreciate them now. There's no telling how long they'll last.

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.