College Hoops Team of the Week: Colorado State

Team of the Week: Colorado State

The Rams were pegged as a sleeper in the Mountain West prior to the start of the season, but after losing to Colorado and following that up with a loss at Illinois-Chicago, there were those (me!) who had their doubts about whether or not this group was actually going to be able to compete with the likes of UNLV, San Diego State and New Mexico. Well, CSU has won four straight games, since then, all of which were by at least 17 points, and capped the run off with a 36 point win over Virginia Tech on Sunday night.

Pierce Hornung was the best player for the Rams this week. In the three games, he averaged 17.3 points and 9.7 boards, a welcome offensive boost from a guy that wasn’t averaging double figures at the start of the week. Hornung and Minnesota transfer Colton Iverson make up one of the nation’s most underrated front lines.

Five Teams Deserving a Shoutout

Cincinnati: The Bearcats picked up a pair of solid wins this week. After knocking off intra-city rival Xavier in the first installment of the newly sanitized Crosstown Classic on Wednesday, Cincy erased a six point halftime deficit while running over Wright State. Cincinnati is one of just five undefeated teams left in the country, but we may not get a chance to fully gauge just how good Mick Cronin’s club is until they play New Mexico on Thursday and travel to Pitt next Monday night.

Kansas: I’ve been saying it for a while, but it’s now time to consider Kansas one of the nation’s elite. As in this is a top five team. Their defense is just as tough as always and anchored by the nation’s best shot blocker. Naadir Tharpe is morphing into a quality back up point guard. And Ben McLemore is ahead of the curve when it comes to being a dominant scorer and go-to guy. The Jayhawks are the truth.

Temple: The Owls may have lost to Canisius on Wednesday afternoon, but they more than made up for it on Saturday as Fran Dunphy led Temple to what may end up being the best win of the regular season: beating Syracuse in their de facto second home court. (Go ahead, Nunes Magician. Make fun of me for saying that.) Khalif Wyatt had 33 points in the win, but the MVP of the game may have been Rahlir Hollis-Jefferson, whose presence in Temple’s high-post offense was the biggest reason Temple was able to dissect the Syracuse zone.

UCLA: The Bruins won two games this week, but the most important win came on Saturday. That was against Fresno State, and while Fresno State isn’t exactly a juggernaut, it was the box score that mattered the most. Jordan Adams finished with 25 points, seven boards, five assists and five steals. Kyle Anderson had 20 points, 17 boards, seven assists, three blocks and two steals. Shabazz Muhammad had 27 points and seven boards, all of which came on the offensive end of the floor. That’s what Ben Howland expected out of those three.

UTEP: Tim Floyd’s UTEP Miners might turn out to be a force to be reckoned with this season. After Konner Tucker missed a wide-open three that would have won the game at the buzzer against UNLV, UTEP went out and won three games last week: they beat Oregon in triple overtime on Wednesday and followed that up with wins over Arkansas-Pine Bluff and Nebraska. Keep an eye on this group.

You can find Rob on twitter @RobDauster.