The COVID-19 surge in the sports world is now playing havoc with the nationally-ranked CSU Rams men’s basketball team as well.
The athletic department announced early Friday afternoon that the game between the No. 23 Rams (10-0) and Tulsa on Saturday at the Hoops Hype XL Collegiate Basketball Showcase has been canceled because of “COVID-related concerns” within the CSU basketball program.
The game, which had been slated for a 2:30 p.m. tip in Fort Worth, Texas, will not be made up, the Rams said in a news release.
A department spokesman said the status of Tuesday’s tilt against No. 6 Alabama, which is scheduled to tip off at 5 p.m. local time in Birmingham, Ala., is to be determined.
The Rams had not yet left for Texas when the cancellation announcement was made.
CSU, which is coming off a 66-63 win over Mississippi State in Fort Worth this past weekend, is ranked No. 25 in the country by the NCAA’s new NET rankings metric and No. 38 in the country by KenPom.com. Losing the Alabama tilt would remove the biggest name — and toughest opponent to date — from the Rams’ non-conference schedule, as the Tide (8-2) head into the weekend ranked No. 19 in the NET and No. 13 by KenPom.com.
As of Friday afternoon, CSU was projected as a 7 seed in the 2022 NCAA men’s basketball tournament by CBS Sports bracketologist Jerry Palm and as an 8 seed by ESPN’s Joe Lunardi.
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