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Colorado State men's basketball team drops, but remains in top-25 after first loss

kevin lytle, fort collins coloradoan
·2 min read

No longer unbeaten, but still ranked.

The Colorado State men's basketball team dropped in the top-25 polls this week following its first loss of the season.

CSU is now No. 17 in the latest AP poll and No. 18 in the USA Today Coaches poll released Monday.

The Rams were No. 12 in the Coaches poll and No. 13 in the AP poll last week for their highest rankings ever. CSU then took a close loss at home to Saint Mary's on Saturday.

CSU is idle midweek as the team focuses on finals and returns to game action at 4 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 17, at Moby Arena against CSU-Pueblo.

Looking at other key metrics

It's too early in the season to obsess too closely over metrics because they change wildly with key results (Saint Mary's went from No. 147 to 85 in NET with the win over CSU), but the broad look shows CSU is still very much in a strong position.

Here are some metrics as of Monday:

  • NET: One of the main metrics used to help guide the NCAA Tournament selection committee has CSU at No. 16. The Rams currently have five Quad 1 and Quad 2 wins.

  • KenPom: One of the most widely used advanced analytics has CSU at No. 26.

  • Strength of Record: ESPN ranks CSU's strength of record as No. 13 in the country.

Despite CSU's loss, the Rams had plenty of other good results over the weekend. Most notably, Washington beat No. 7 Gonzaga and Colorado beat No. 15 Miami. The Rams have wins over both Washington and Colorado, so their victories further enhance CSU's resume.

How teams CSU has beaten are faring

There's been a lot of talk about how good CSU's schedule is. Here's a look at how everyone CSU has beaten is faring:

  • Louisiana Tech (CSU home win, 81-73): 8-2

  • Wright State (CSU home win, 105-77): 4-5

  • Northern Colorado (CSU road win, 83-64): 4-4

  • Kansas City (CSU home win, 84-61): 4-6

  • Boston College (CSU neutral win, 86-74): 8-3

  • Creighton (CSU neutral win, 69-48): 8-1

  • Colorado (CSU home win, 88-83): 7-2

  • Washington (CSU neutral win, 86-81): 6-3

  • Denver (CSU home win, 90-80): 6-4

Follow sports reporter Kevin Lytle on Twitter and Instagram @Kevin_Lytle.

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Colorado State men's basketball team drops, but remains in top-25 after first loss