Colorado State Heads to the Basketball Travelers Tip-Off Tournament

The CSU Rams are heading to Oregon for the Basketball Travelers Tip-Off Tournament.  This will open their regular season play.  They have three games in three days.  I will preview UC-Davis Aggies, Winston-Salem Rams, and the host team Oregon Ducks. First lets check out how CSU did in their preseason to get some insight.

The suprise so far might be the minutes freshman guard Dorian Green is getting.  With Jesse Carr out with an injury there was a spot open and Green has taken full advantage.  He was the high scorer with 16 against Western State.  Harvey Perry was also back after missing the first preseason game and he scored 14.  So far CSU has dominated their small school opponents on the boards and in points.  The trick will be to see how they match up against bigger faster teams. 

UC-Davis

The UC Davis Aggies are picked to finish 6th in the Big West.  Both guards Joe Harden and Mark Payne are on the presseason all-conference teams so CSU's Green and Perry will have their hands full in their first action this year.  They don't have a distinct hight advantage that has hurt CSU over the past, this game should be an athletic showdown.

Winston-Salem
Coming in as a Independant team they have not been picked to do much of anything this year. They return their leading scorer from last year in senior guard Brian Fisher. This is a team the CSU Rams should be able to use their height on and control the boards.

Oregon
The host team Oregon has been picked to finish 7th in the Pac-10.  The Ducks will play an uptempo style of game and could be able to out athlete the Rams if the Rams don't stick to a game plan.  The Ducks will be relying on Tajuan Porter and possible stud freshman Jamil Wilson.  This will be the toughest game of the weekend for the Rams.

If CSU can come out of this with a 2-1 record they should be happy, UC-Davis is a team they need to beat if Tim Miles is going to stick around for much longer.  He is in his 3rd year of coaching and its time to see some results from his recruiting classes.  So far Green looks to be a great recruitment and it is show Tim Miles system is coming around.