csu is much improved this year, both on the floor and on the sidelines. waters was a terrific hire for that program. but make no mistake about it -- they laid a mammoth egg on saturday against butler. for the first time all season, they looked like the "old csu". everyone i talked to was surprised by their no-show against butler. heading into that game there was good reason to believe the vikings could compete and take that game to the wire. they were trading baskets throughout the first half but then just folded once butler hit them with a run. so that was a bit of a red flag considering that kansas state is going to bring a lot of pressure defense and force some csu turnovers. this game is going to be a big measuring stick for csu. the vikings were 13 point dogs at butler and failed miserably. now they come back a few nights later in a similar role (12 pt dogs). a bad loss here only spells trouble because they have ohio state up next. they dont want to be heading toward horizon play with 3 consecutive 20+ point losses (you almost have to assume the ohio state game is going to be a 20+ pt loss). csu better be prepared to play because even though huggins doesnt have his system entirely implemented, the pressure kansas state is going to throw on them is going to be more intense than anything theyve seen this year. i think we'll know in the first 10:00 if csu is going to hang around in single digits or get run off the floor. one thing csu does well is hit the glass, especially bullock, and theyre going to have to find a way to get offensive rebounds and some 2nd chance points because i doubt theyll be shooting their normal % from the floor (more specifically, the perimeter) tonight.
