March Madness - GO CU?

The NCAA Tournament Selection Commitee apparently didn't think that the University of Colorado Men's basketball team was worthy of an invitation to the Big Dance. I guess a 7-20 record doesn't get you a ton of respect in the basketball world. So instead of being oddly envious of schools like Texas Tech or Oral Roberts University (no offense to any Red Raiders or...what is ORU's mascot...the Televangelists?) I thought this would be a good time to look at a true source of pride for fellow Buffaloes on the Hard Road, not the Hard Wood...well, except for maybe a wooden velodrome somewhere...and the dirt too...whatever:

UCLA is historically the most successful college basketball program, Notre Dame for football, North Carolina for soccer, UNLV for gamblers...you get my drift. Well, the University of Colorado is to cycling what those other schools are to whatever I just mentioned. Only better. Not that anyone really needs more reasons to come to Boulder, but if you happen to be a college-bound bike racer (preferably in-state) you have to have CU at the top of your list of schools. Consider the history of the program and the company you would be joining:

Since the first official Collegiate National Championships were held in 1987, the University of Colorado team has won 7 Overall Road, 4 Overall Mountain and 2 Overall Track Titles. There have been dozens of individual championships from the likes of John Stenner, Tim Peddie, Julie Furtado, Tyler Hamilton, Alex Candelario, JHK and many other former, current and future professionals. During the 1998-2000 seasons, the Buffs pulled off an unprecedented three-peat in the Division 1 Overall Road Team Championships, confirming the typical depth of talent to be found on campus in Boulder for the better part of 20 years. It is rare to have a class at CU that does not include the click-clack of students in cycling shoes or the wonders of helmet-head and sweat from the ride up The Hill. I miss college.

Unfortunately there is no NCAA Tournament bracket for collegiate cycling but if there was...Colorado would surely be a number one seed. And I just about guarantee we could make it to the Final Four at least. Take that Ohio State and Kansas.

By the way...Ohio State graduated 10% of all male basketball players from 1996-99. Oregon, Florida A&M and Eastern Kentucky graduated zero players in this time. Check out this article for some more disconcerting statistics. Now that is some March Madness right there. GO CU!!!