Monmouth's King Rice wants hype surrounding his team to stop

With its big upset wins and even bigger bench celebrations, Monmouth has become America's team, but if it was up to coach King Rice, all the hype around his squad would stop.

The Hawks lost to Army on the road Monday night, and Rice hopes that'll put an end to the tournament buzz surrounding them.

"If everyone would stop talking about, 'We're so great, we should go to the tournament and we should be ranked," he told CBS Sports' Matt Norlander. "When I'm the coach, nobody's making the tournament today. There's high-major schools who are looking like they're going (to the NCAAs) now - and they're not going to make it. So, please, can everyone stop talking about how Monmouth is going to the tournament. We'll be in the tournament if we win our conference."

Even with the loss, Monmouth has an impressive resume with wins over Notre Dame, UCLA, Georgetown, and USC. Those results, coupled with the fame from their celebrated bench mob, put a target on the Hawks' back.

"Right now what we're seeing, every team it's their Super Bowl," Rice added.

With a conference loss to Canisius already in the books, Monmouth will have to wade through MAAC play unscathed if it hopes to be considered for an at-large bid come March.