Lyell: This could be best year ever to be a CSU fan

Has there been a better time to be a Ram fan?

• The CSU football team is 9-1 overall, 5-1 in the Mountain West, ranked No. 23 in the nation this week and riding an eight-game winning streak.

• The volleyball team is 24-2, ranked No. 9 in the country and headed to a sixth consecutive MW title with a two-match lead over second-place New Mexico with five matches remaining in the regular season.

• The women’s basketball team looks every bit as good, if not better, than the one coach Ryun Williams guided to the MW title a year ago. The Rams, who open the regular season at home Friday night against Hawaii, have four of five starters back from last season. They were the overwhelming favorite to win this year’s MW title, receiving 21 of a possible 28 first-place votes in a preseason poll of coaches and media.

• Preseason All-MW pick Daniel Bejarano returning to a men’s basketball squad that went 16-16 in a transition year last season under coach Larry Eustachy. The Rams showed in an 85-54 exhibition win Monday night over Fort Lewis that they’ve got a lot of new talent to pair with returning starters J.J. Avila, Joe De Ciman and Bejarano on a team that should contend for a conference title and berth in the NCAA tournament.

It’s rare for any college athletics program to have the kind of success the Rams are having in four major sports at the same time. It’s pretty much unheard of at Colorado State University, where top-25 rankings in football and NCAA berths in men’s and women’s basketball only come along once or twice in a decade.

There have been plenty of school years where two or even three of the Rams’ major sports programs made nice runs. But never have all four been as successful as they could be this year.

That’s right, could be.

As good as CSU’s teams are doing right now, there’s still a lot left for them to accomplish before we can really compare this school year’s successes to what the Rams did in 1998-99, 1999-2000, 2000-01 or 2002-03.

• In 1998-99, the women’s basketball team made a remarkable run to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament with All-American Becky Hammon leading the way. The Rams finished 33-3 overall and 14-0 in the Western Athletic Conference that year.

The football team went 8-4 that year but didn’t get to a bowl game; the volleyball team was 24-8, won a WAC Mountain Division title and lost in the second round of the NCAA tournament; and the men’s basketball team advanced to the quarterfinals of the National Invitation Tournament and went 19-11 overall.

• In 1999-2000, the volleyball team went 30-3 overall and advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament; and the football team went 8-4, won a share of the Mountain West title and lost to Southern Mississippi in the Liberty Bowl.

The women’s basketball team advanced to the semifinals of the WNIT to finish 23-10 that year, while the men’s basketball team went 18-12 and lost to Wyoming in the first round of the conference tournament.

• In 2000-01, the CSU football program finished with its highest national ranking, No. 14, after going 10-2, winning the MW title and defeating Louisville in the Liberty Bowl. The volleyball team won the MW title and again advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament to finish 32-5 overall.

The women’s basketball team went 25-7 and advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament, and the men’s basketball team went 15-13.

• And in 2002-03, the football team won a MW title and went 10-4, losing to TCU in the Liberty Bowl; the volleyball team went 14-0 in the MW and 30-5 overall after again advancing to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament.

The men’s basketball team finished fifth in the MW but made a remarkable run through the MW tournament to win the title and advance to the NCAA tournament, where it lost a first-round game to Duke to finish 19-14. And the women’s basketball team that year went 21-13 overall, 8-6 in the MW and advanced to the semifinals of the WNIT.

So there’s a lot of work ahead, not only for the football and volleyball teams but also the Rams’ men’s and women’s basketball teams, before we can call 2014-15 the best year yet by CSU’s major sports teams.

But the possibility certainly exists.

This could be the best year ever to be a Ram fan.

Sports reporter Kelly Lyell can be reached by email at KellyLyell@coloradoan.com. Follow him at twitter.com/KellyLyell and facebook.com/KellyLyell.news, and listen to him talk CSU sports at 11:35 a.m. Thursdays on KFKA radio (AM 1310).