When the Colorado State University Rams men's basketball team heads to Texas Christian University to take on the Horned Frogs in Fort Worth this weekend, they'll be taking the next step in an unlikely journey toward the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2003. "With four weeks remaining until tourney bids are extended, CSU is the most pleasant shock in the country's most surprising basketball league," writes Mark Kiszla of the Denver Post.

As the Post points out in a separate article, the state's other major basketball programs also have a shot at the tournament, though not as good as CSU's. The team's win last weekend over New Mexico puts the Rams at 17-7 (7-3 in conference play, third place in the Mountain West Conference). New Mexico is just one game behind them, and is eager to grab the third and likely final tournament-qualifying spot in the MWC. But perhaps our neighbors to the south aren't really much of a threat. "Their case is better than ours right now," New Mexico coach Steve Alford tells the Fort Collins Coloradoan of the Rams.