Colorado State vs Nevada Odds and Picks

• Colorado State will bring a five-game winning streak into its Mountain West regular-season finale at Nevada at 9 ET on Friday
• Nevada locked up the fifth seed and the last bye in the Mountain West tournament when San Diego State beat UNLV on Wednesday
• Check the odds, analysis and betting predictions below

Colorado State (17-4, 14-3 Mountain West) has won five straight as it enters the final game of the regular season at Nevada on Friday (9:00 pm ET). The Rams can lock up the No. 2 seed in the Mountain West tournament with a victory.

Nevada (14-9, 9-7) secured the fifth and final bye in the first round of the Mountain West tournament when No. 19 San Diego State won at UNLV on Wednesday.  The Wolf Pack have not played in a week after their scheduled game at San Jose State on Wednesday was canceled because of the virus.

Colorado State vs Nevada Odds

Odds from FanDuel on March 4.

Colorado State set a record for victories in a conference season when it beat undermanned New Mexico — six scholarship players, four walk-ons — 87-73 at home Wednesday. The Rams were 13-5 in both 2014-15 and 2016-17.

Nevada has been a go-with since a New Year’s Eve victory at New Mexico, going 14-3 ATS and 7-1 ATS in conference home games.

Rams’ David Roddy Has Emerged

Sophomore forward David Roddy was  one assist short of the first triple-double in Colorado State history in the victory over New Mexico finish with a stat-stuffing 12 points, 14 rebounds and nine assists. A couple of late misses from Roddy feeds kept it from happening.

Roddy, 6-foot-5 and 252 pounds, is averaging 16.1 points, 9.8 rebounds and 2.1 assists, and he has thrust himself into the Mountain West player of the year race with Nevada point guard Grant Sherfield, Utah State center Neemias Queta and Boise State guard Derrick Alston.

Roddy is averaging 17.6 rebounds and 10.4 rebounds in the last nine games staring with a victory over Utah State, and he has nine double-doubles, two in the last four games.

Since coach Niko Medved down-sized his lineup to put Roddy at the “four,” the Rams are 9-2. Six-6 wing Adam Thistlewood is averaging 10.7 points per game, one of four Rams in double figures, and he had 27 against New Mexico.

Nevada’s Sherfield a Sure Thing

Grant Sherfield’s reunion with coach Steve Alford has worked out well.

Sherfield committed to guard-friendly Alford and Pac-12 UCLA out of high school in Wichita, Kan., but Sherfield stayed home to play his freshman year at Wichita State after Alford was fired in Los Angeles.

Together again, the two have found a fit. Sherfield, 6-foot-2 is second in the Mountain West in scoring at 18.0 points per game and leads the league in assists (6.2 per game) and free throw percentage (87.0). He is 11th in NCAA Division I in assists, second among Power Six players.

Sherfield has been ably assisted by Desmond Cambridge, who is averaging xx.x points per game and has scored in double figures in 16 games

Colorado State and the Bubble

The best of the Rams’ three non-conference victories this season was at mid-major Santa Clara of the West Coasts Conference on Dec. 22, three days after they scored only 33 points at WCC St. Mary’s, so wins are at a premium.

Mountain West regular-season champion San Diego State is considered the league’s only lock for the NCAA tournament, with the Rams, Utah State and Boise State dancing around the cut line every night. Two projected brackets have Colorado State in the field, one as the winner of the league tournament.

The Rams are the only team in the league with victories against San Diego State, Utah State and Boise State, and they cleaned up against the second division, going 11-0 against the bottom six teams in the league.

This game, scheduled last week, will be the only meeting between Nevada and Colorado State. If the Rams win, they will be the only team to beat every league opponent this season.

The Wacky Mountain West race

Although Colorado State could finish with more victories on the floor than San Diego State,  the Aztecs won the league with their victory at UNLV on Wednesday.

Three things not to bring up socially:

1. Politics
2. Religion
3. At-large resumes of bubble teams during the first two weeks of March

— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) March 4, 2021

Here’s why. New Mexico backed out of a two-game, mid-February series against San Diego but did not cite coronavirus issues, so the Mountain West awarded the Aztecs two victories by forfeit. In the league’s eyes, the Aztecs are 16-3. Hence the title and top tournament seed.

Colorado State is on a good run and Nevada has nothing to play for after locking the final bye in Mountain West tournament. The Rams they are 6-2 on the Mountain West road, 5-3 ATS.

The pick: Colorado State (-110)