How Colorado State turned poor start into an NCAA Tournament spot

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Ethan Morton praises ‘great group of people’ in CSU’s run to NCAA’s

Colorado State men’s basketball player Ethan Morton, a Purdue transfer, says this season will be one of his best basketball memories.

SEATTLE — Who saw this coming in mid-December?

The Colorado State men’s basketball team was 5-5 on Dec. 15 and the path to that record felt even worse than the results.

There was a brutal beatdown in Boulder to rival Colorado and devastating home loss to UC-Riverside thanks in large part to a half-court shot.

Three months later, the Rams are dancing and one of the popular national Cinderella picks of March Madness.

“Everyone here, we all believe that this is the most change a team that any of us have been a part of has ever happened,” CSU guard Kyan Evans said this week.

The eye test matches the bold statement from Evans. It’s been a stunning and total transformation. Here’s a look at the key moments along the way.

Colorado State’s path to rock bottom

Not only were there the large amount of losses early, but it was brutal how they happened. Almost everything went wrong. Offense is typically a Niko Medved staple, but this group sputtered.

“We were broken on offense,” Medved said of where the team was even in preseason workouts.

Even free throw shooting was poor in the first few games. The Rams were out-muscled on the glass and didn’t really defend well, either.

“Our first few games I feel like we would just get cooked in a ball screen 50% of the time,” CSU’s Ethan Morton said.

Not scoring, not rebounding and not defending? Well, that’s how you lose a lot of games early. And CSU did.

And they’re happy they did.

“I’m a believer in that. Sometimes you have to go through the losses and the tough times and the adversity to get to — that’s where the most growth happens,” Medved said. “And oh, man, ‘if you hadn’t lost that game early.’ But we did. Maybe we needed to to figure things out.”

Win at Nevada a key moment

The Rams were in the 2024 NCAA Tournament…

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Publish date : 2025-03-20 23:00:00

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