Dec. 9, 1999

Dec. 9 - FORT COLLINS - Ceedric Goodwyn expected to see a double-team in the first half Wednesday. Twelve points and 20 minutes later, he still was looking for Colorado to give him more attention.

Goodwyn still is waiting.

When he's not double-teamed, it's almost as if the muscular, 6foot-8 Goodwyn has the floor to himself. The Rams practice five on six, with the benefits paying off for Goodwyn and point guard Aki Palmer, who didn't commit a turnover for the second straight game.

After a cold start, Colorado State senior power forward Goodwyn finished with a season-high 25 points in a 79-57 win at Moby Arena. He took 23 shots, more than twice as many as anyone else.

"The first half, I was expecting a double-team from them, so I was waiting," Goodwyn said. "The second half, I knew they were going to come double-team me, so I took my time and didn't rush anything. I don't know why they didn't double me. They thought we had other shooters."

CU coach Ricardo Patton said the Buffs tried to double Goodwyn, but he passed his way out of it.

"Ceedric is a hard matchup for anyone. When you don't double-team him, he will have an opportunity to make a basket," CSU coach Ritchie McKay said. A bout with the flu kept him from looking too happy with the win that gave the Rams a four-sport sweep of the Buffs this fall.

"I don't know about bragging rights," Goodwyn said. "It's a big rivalry, but for us it was about getting our confidence going to play at Denver next week and the tournament in Hawaii. We've played tough teams. We went 0-3 on the road. We played a hard preseason schedule, but we need those tough teams for the Mountain West Conference.

"They were talking trash in the shoot-around. We just wanted to win because our backs were to the wall. We came back and proved we were the better team tonight."

Goodwyn denied the Rams returned any trash talk. The scoreboard said it all, he said of CSU's biggest lead of 30 points: "They said some words in the paper. That's fine. We just came out to play basketball, and we proved to them we could play."

CSU's script wasn't much different from the NIT win last March, at least as far as the inside game was concerned. Goodwyn dominated, and when he took a breather, David Fisher and Shawn Harris came off the bench. McKay credited the bench for the early lift after the starters were cold.

A soaring slam by Harris brought the Moby Arena crowd to life, and eight points by Goodwyn and John Sivesind put the Rams ahead for good.

As for the sweep of CU in football, women's basketball and vol leyball and now men's basketball, the bills will be on CSU athletic director Tim Weiser's desk any day.

Ever the team player, McKay said all the credit should go to Weiser.

Then he asked for a raise.