Heartbreaker: Colorado State One and Done in NCAA Tournament

And just like that, the excitement of the 2021-2022 season for the Colorado State University Men's Basketball team is over.

The #6 seeded Rams were beat by #11 seed Michigan 75-63 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, in fact, the very first game of this year's tournament. Not exactly a great way to kick off a St. Paddy's Day celebration in Fort Collins.

At the beginning of the game, it was clear that Colorado State was coming out to attack with big offense, ultimately making a whopping 35 3-point attempts in the game. And that strategy looked like a good one at first, too.

CSU started the game on fire, building up as much as a 15-point lead over the Wolverines, and led by seven at the break. But Michigan came out of the locker room to start the second half hot and quickly caught up to the Rams, who seemed to have a hard time capitalizing on the momentum they had in the first half. Coming into today, the Rams previously had an 18-1 record when leading at halftime this season.

In the end though, the size of Michigan proved too much for the Rams to hang in for the long haul. Unable to get inside most of the game, when the outside shots cooled, so did the Rams. David Roddy was held to just 13 points in the game, and ultimately fouled out at the end of the game trying to stop the clock. CSU were led in scoring by big forward Dischon Thomas, who scored 15, all from 3-pointers.

Michigan also played a pretty clean game with limited fouls, allowing just seven free throw attempts for the Rams. CSU, on the other hand, awarded Michigan 22 free throws, 19 of which were made, which made a huge difference in the final score.

Results from the NCAA Tournament or even the MWC Tournament notwithstanding, the Rams put together an exciting season that they can be proud of. Sad to say, it's over for another year.