Colorado State University Athletics
CSU to host Drake in second annual MWC/MVC Challenge
4/13/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
April 13, 2010
By Danny Mattie
Athletic Media Relations
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- The Colorado State men's basketball team will host Missouri Valley Conference foe Drake University in December as part of the second annual MWC/MVC Challenge. The joint announcement was made by the league offices Tuesday.
The Rams and Bulldogs will meet at Moby Arena on Wednesday, Dec. 1, in what will mark the 10th all-time meeting between the schools and the first since 2004, a 76-69 Rams victory. CSU leads the all-time series, 5-4.
The announcement adds another marquee matchup to the Rams' non-conference schedule for 2010-11, which already features a Dec. 11 meeting with national power Kansas at the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo.
Colorado State finished the 2009-10 season, its best under third-year Head Coach Tim Miles, with a record of 16-16 (7-9 MWC), placing fifth in the conference behind NCAA tournament participants New Mexico, BYU, UNLV and San Diego State. The Rams' season concluded with an appearance in the 2010 College Basketball Invitational, the program's first postseason appearance since an NCAA berth in 2003.
Drake, under second-year head coach Mark Phelps, is coming off of a 14-19 season. The Bulldogs finished 7-11 in the Missouri Valley, but are just one season removed from back-to-back postseason appearances in the 2008 NCAA tournament and the 2009 CIT field.
All nine games will take place the week of Dec. 1-5. Other matchups: BYU at Creighton (Dec. 1), New Mexico at Southern Illinois (Dec. 1), UNLV at Illinois State (Dec. 1), Indiana State at Wyoming (Dec. 4), UNI at TCU (Dec. 4), Utah at Bradley (Dec. 4), Wichita State at San Diego State (Dec. 4), and Evansville at Air Force (Dec. 5).
The Mountain West has ranked among the Top 10 in the NCAA's final RPI report in 10 of the last 11 years, while the Valley has been among the Top 9 in each of the last six. Teams from the two leagues have squared off 47 times since the inception of the Mountain West in 1999, with MWC teams holding a 24-23 edge in those contests.
The Missouri Valley finished No. 7 in the 2010 Collegiate Basketball News RPI Report, while the Mountain West ranked No. 8. The leagues combined to place nine teams in the Top 100 of the RPI, including six in the Top 50. Three institutions (UNI-13; New Mexico-16; and BYU-22) finished in the 2009-10 final USA Today/ESPN Top 25 coaches poll. Those three were among just 10 teams nationally to win 30 games last season.
Colorado State suffered a 65-60 setback at Indiana State as part of the inaugural challenge, which the Missouri Valley captured, 5-4.
