After successfully eliminating the University of Utah, the University of Colorado began to prepare for the final game against the University of New Mexico. The first round of knockout matches is on March 2, followed by the quarterfinals, semifinals and finals will be played on March 4th, 5th, and 6th.

Still, the schedule has been set, so it can't be changed, and the players and coaches of Colorado are left to scramble while they rush to prepare for the finals of the league tournament. They had anticipated their opponents, with Southern Methodist only finishing sixth in the Mountain Division and being lucky to reach the semifinals, while the University of New Mexico was a solid second-place finisher in the Pacific Division, so they certainly won't leave any room for their opponents in such a crucial match.

But the coaching staff at the University of New Mexico was confused, and they initially formulated tactics with the University of Utah as an imaginary enemy, waiting for the finals to send the opponent to explode on the spot. But they didn't expect that their final opponent was not the University of Utah, the boss of the Pacific Division, but the University of Colorado, the third place in the Mountain Division.

There is no doubt that all the so-called targeted tactics they had prepared were in vain, and to make matters worse, the coaching staff never paid attention to the Colorado State team, let alone understood the strengths and weaknesses of the opponent. The members of the coaching staff had to work overtime to watch all the footage of Colorado State that they could find.

However, it seemed that they started a little late, and all they could find were footage of the first few games of the season from Colorado State, but it was better for them than nothing, so they all gathered in the head coach's room to watch the tape. It's a pity that what they don't know is that there is a very obvious difference between the Colorado State in the early season and the Colorado State in the late season, and if they play according to the tactics of the Colorado State University in the early stage, then they will directly explode and ascend to the sky.

Targeted tactics are not something that can be mastered overnight, and even if they are mastered, they cannot be learned in a day. The only thing University of New Mexico head coach Dave Billes can do is find a way to restrain Colorado State and teach it to his players, and whether they can follow through on the field is a matter of whether they can do it.

On the contrary, the University of Colorado knows the University of New Mexico quite well, just look at their roster. Unlike Colorado State, which maintains at least one or two players registered as Cs, the University of New Mexico doesn't bother to draw a center at all, and they have a roster of forwards other than guards, and it's clear that they're also a team that likes to play small-ball.

If at the beginning of the season Colorado State was a little intimidated by teams that favored small-ball tactics, now they are confident about such teams. First of all, everyone plays small-ball tactics, and Ford, the center, can barely keep up with his teammates under Chang Wei's tutelage, and secondly, the physical fitness of the big Colorado players is the biggest weapon, as long as the opponent's physical fitness is brought to collapse, it is self-evident who can win the final victory.

So this time, the University of New Mexico, which prides itself on playing a fast-paced whirlwind, has encountered a team that is faster and crazier than them, and the pace of the game that the team has been insisting on is carried away by the opponent at the beginning. Billes is a team that believes in itself as the fastest team in the league and even the entire NCAA, but Colorado's speed has opened his eyes.

Truth be told, the offense and defensive speed of the University of New Mexico is normal, but this is a reflection of the inhuman performance of Colorado State. And the interior players at the University of New Mexico are even shorter next to Ford, so Colorado has a big advantage in rebounding. When a team rebounds better than you, is faster than you, and shoots more accurately than you, is it still reasonable for you not to lose? The answer was no, so the University of New Mexico was spent.

Rao was a University of New Mexico player who mustered up the courage to continue charging in the second half, and the gap in the execution of small-ball tactics also caused them to fall further and further behind. This result made Billes begin to doubt his life, he suspected that the team was practicing fake tactics, and everyone was also a small ball, why was the gap so big?

Billes was still feeling sorry for himself, and it was normal for Colorado State to lead by more than 20 points, after all, the University of New Mexico players were almost physically exhausted, and they looked at their opponents like they saw the devil. It's true that very few teams can stick to a quick offense and defense for an entire game, and the University of Colorado taught them a lesson.

With 5:26 left in the second half, Billes simply replaced all the starters and let the substitutes play the rest of the time. McKay was also very considerate to replace the substitutes, they are already like this, and it's not easy to chase and fight, right? Anyway, the team has already won the game in their hands, and the only thing to see is how many points the opponent can recover.

The final score was 97-88, and the University of New Mexico struggled to close the deficit to single digits, but to no avail, the Western Conference Athletic League won the championship firmly to the University of Colorado, and they qualified directly for the national championship.

After reaching the National Championships, McKay generously gave the players two days off to relax and prepare for the upcoming tournaments. Soon the round of 68 of this season's national championship will be announced, and of course the last eight teams will need to play first, and the winning four teams will be able to actually step onto the stage of the national championship. Of course, as the champion of the Western Conference of Athletics, Colorado State doesn't have to worry about these things, they just have to keep an eye on the official grouping.

Since all the order was made by the selection committee, as a minor league champion, Colorado was very embarrassed to be placed as the No. 9 seed in the East Division, which is already in the bottom half of the 16 teams. But it's a good idea to think about it, their opponent in the first round will be the No. 8 seed, and they have every chance of advancing to the second round, so after the initial anger, McKay also secretly hid in the office and laughed.

Top 16 in the East Region: Duke University, University of Miami, University of Cincinnati, University of Tennessee, University of Wisconsin, Temple University, University of Texas, College of Charleston, University of Colorado, Purdue, University of Kent, University of Southwest Missouri, University of Delaware, George Mason University, Lafayette University, Florida A&M University.