Isaiah Stevens gives CSU Rams plenty of confidence to make surprise run in Mountain West tournament
FORT COLLINS — Colorado State coach Niko Medved ended Tuesday’s practice with a clear message for his team: pack your suitcase full because he doesn’t plan on coming home until Sunday.
Despite heading into the Mountain West tournament as the No. 8 seed after the season hasn’t gone the way anyone expected, Medved is confident that his team has the capability to make another deep run in Las Vegas, especially this year of all years.
“There’s not one result that would surprise me this week,” Medved told The Gazette. “Anybody could beat anybody.”
Colorado State head coach Niko Medved smiles at his players during the first half of a game against Utah State on Saturday, Feb. 4, 2023 at Moby Arena in Fort Collins.
That includes on Wednesday afternoon when the Rams face 9-seed Fresno State to kick off the tournament.
The Bulldogs were the only team that CSU swept during conference play this season, but they know that doesn’t mean much now that the calendar has turned to March.
“We were fortunate to beat them twice, but now this is a new game,” Medved said. “They’ve had some great wins this year — they’re a lot like us that way. They’re talented, they’re tough defensively, they’re athletic. We’ve got our hands full.”
Still, Medved believes his team can “compete with anybody” and there’s a few reasons for that.
First, the Rams have what every team desperately wants at this point of the year — a star. Isaiah Stevens was named First Team All-Mountain West by the media on Tuesday and even received a vote for Player of the Year.
“It’s definitely nothing short of a blessing,” Stevens said. “Shout-out to my teammates: I couldn’t be there without them and my coaching staff for putting me in a position to go out there and just be me year after year, season after season. I’ve been able to be nothing short of who I wanted to be as a player, as Isaiah Stevens. Hopefully we’ve got some more games to play”
Colorado State senior guard Isaiah Stevens (4) defends an inbounds pass during the first half of a game against Fresno State on Saturday, Jan. 7, 2023 at Moby Arena in Fort Collins.
It was the fourth year in a row he’s earned all-conference honors and as the conference’s fourth-leading scorer and by far the leader in assists, he knows just how important it is to have one player capable of carrying a team for a few days in March.
“At this point, it’s who can be better for the 40 minutes,” Stevens said. “You might be the better team, but if a guy gets going, it can be extremely tough to stop in those kinds of settings. It’s going to be a special week in Vegas. These teams are extremely deep this year. It should be fun.”
Another reason why the Rams are feeling confident is that they’re finally healthy, somewhat. There hasn’t been a time all season where Medved has had his full arsenal of players, but they’ve had times with only seven healthy scholarship players for multiple games. For the last few weeks, though, he’s had a consistent group of nine players available and it’s led to a team that’s starting to play its best basketball at the right time.
“These last several weeks, we’ve had consistency in these guys and there’s a direct reflection on that,” Medved said. “I do think that’s been a real factor in us playing better.
“I think the team has taken a step forward. We’ve been close at home with some of these teams, we’ve beaten Wyoming. I just thought we took another step against New Mexico and hopefully that builds a little bit of confidence. Are we playing our best basketball? No, I wouldn’t say that, but we’re playing better than we’ve played all year. We need to play our best this week.”
Stevens still has the option to return for a fifth season thanks to the extra year granted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but he hasn’t made his mind up yet, meaning each game this week could be the last in a CSU uniform for someone who’s become a legendary player in the program’s history.
The same goes for fellow senior John Tonje, who’s second on the team in scoring and will need to play a key role for the Rams to have a shot at making a run.
Colorado State guard John Tonje (1) looks at the scoreboard during a stoppage in a play in a game against Weber State on Monday, Nov. 14, 2022 at Moby Arena in Fort Collins.
“I’ve been doing this for a while, so one thing I know is regardless of what happens next year, you’ll never have the same exact team,” Tonje said. “We’re just trying to embrace every day together and approach every day like it’s our last.”
Colorado State senior guard Isaiah Stevens argues with an official during a Feb. 24 game against Wyoming in Fort Collins.
