Colorado State didn’t receive a single vote in the preseason Associated Press Top 25 poll, presumably because the Rams finished 110th at KenPom.com last season and were merely picked fifth in last month’s Mountain West Conference preseason poll.
They weren’t supposed to be good.
But they are — and Wednesday night provided the latest bit of evidence via an 88-83 victory over Colorado that pushed Colorado State’s record to 7-0. CSU has now beaten the schools ranked 16th (Creighton) and 35th (Colorado) at KenPom in back-to-back games. The five-point victory over the Buffaloes represented Colorado State’s first win over its in-state rival since 2017.
“[Beating Colorado] was probably one of the last things I had left on my bucket list,” Colorado State’s Isaiah Stevens told reporters afterward, according to The Denver Post. “To be able to get [a win over Colorado] in my last year [here] was pretty special.”
Stevens finished with 20 points and 11 assists against Colorado and is now averaging 17.9 points, 8.3 assists, 2.7 rebounds and 1.6 steals in 32.9 minutes per game. He’s the main reason the Rams are up to No. 11 in Thursday morning’s updated CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings.
It’s worth noting that the Rams have already improved a remarkable 49 spots at KenPom in just 24 days and are now projected by that algorithm to win at least a share of the Mountain West title. Colorado State will have a chance to add a fourth victory over a power-conference opponent on Saturday when the Rams play Washington in the Las Vegas Invitational.
Top 25 And 1 rankings
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