Colorado State easily became one of the most shocking snubs in NCAA Tournament history on Sunday when the Rams and their 26-6 record were left out of the national championship race. Head coach Larry Eustachy was borderline speechless after receiving the bad news.
“I don’t want to say something that I’m going to regret,” he said in a two-minute press conference after the selection committee revealed the final bracket. “They’re devastated, and they should be, because they’re certainly an NCAA tournament team.”
Eustachy took no questions from reporters and did not make any of his players available, but some of them expressed their opinions on Twitter.
I don't understand…what did we do wrong
— Dantiel Daniels (@_Tiel_) March 15, 2015
Colorado State was ranked No. 28 in the final RPI standings of the year. As Matt Stephens of The Coloradoan noted, the Rams became the highest ranked team in the RPI to ever be left out of the 68-team NCAA Tournament field.
“The disappointment is that you’ve got 12 players in there crying,” Eustachy said. “We’re certainly one of the best 68 teams in the country. Obviously the committee didn’t feel that way, and our team moves on.”
UCLA, which finished 49th in RPI and went 3-15 against teams ranked in the RPI top 50, made the tournament with a 20-13 record. Most feel that Colorado State — which did not play a team in the RPI top 25 — had a far superior resume to the Bruins.
Eustachy is the same coach who has dealt with some hateful chants directed toward him during games, so he knows plenty about dealing with frustration. Still, there isn’t much you can say to a team that lost only six games but was somehow left out of the NCAA Tournament field.
