Monday Morning Cup of Coffee: Where Does The 2021 Team Rank vs Other CSU Squads (And Other Stuff)

First of all, I’m really late getting my first cup of coffee this morning. Sleep patterns have been totally abused since the famous victory over Utah State on Thursday evening/early Friday morning.

So sit back and grab a cup. A large one for me.

If you have read my stuff over the last few years, you know that I’m a great believer in the stuff published at KenPom.com. For only $19.99 per year, I can get access to all kinds of great advanced statistics on teams and individual players.

So when discussing the Top CSU Mens Basketball Teams of the last decade or so, I’ll use those numbers as my baseline to discuss those teams and how the current team stacks up with Pomeroy rank in parentheses.

1. 2012-13 (22) – The standard of the last 10 years, the one every other team in recent history will be measured. NCAA at-Large, 2nd in the MWC regular season. An all-senior starting line-up with several All-MWC players and the 6th Man of the Year as well.The best rebounding team ever according to KenPom – second in the nation in Offensive Rebounding % and 1st in the nation in Defensive Rebounding percentage

2. 2014-15 (72) – The best team to never make an NCAA Tournament. The evening of that year’s NCAA Selection show was still the most painful evening of my fans career. I cannot imagine how much it hurt the payers and staff. Undefeated and ranked after 14 games, they went on to finish 26-5 in the regular season, and 2nd in the MWC at 13-5. All MWC players everywhere, 6th man of the year and their 7th best player was future MWC Player of the Year Gian Clavell. Absolutely loved that team was

3. 2020-21 (74) – Thats where this young team currently ranks. Young, talented, tons of upside. I’m not going to say anything more. we’re only halfway through the season – their story is still being written.

4. 2010-11 (77) – The most underrated team of the past decade. Few remember that they were well-positioned for an NCAA At-Large invite until a late season collapse. Led by a pair of great seniors in Andy Ogide and Travis Franklin and a loaded sophomore class that included future All-MWC’ers Dorian Green and 6th Man of the Year Pierce Hornung.

5. 2016-17 (86) – The Magnificent Seven. Decimated by academic issues and reduced to 7 players, this team figured out a way to use their talents to dumb games down effectively in order to overcome their lack of depth. 24-14 overall, a second place finish in the MWC at 13-5, and a loss in the MWC Tourney final. The single greatest season in recent years by PWC Player of the Year Gian Clavell.

6. 2011-12 (88) – Advanced analytics were not kind to this team. But analytics don’t measure heart and the RPI somehow recognized the quality of this team that earned an NCAA At-Large bid. Undersized with no one taller than 6’6” in the rotation, banged up throughout the year, they managed to pull off some outrageous wins at home over top teams like UNM, SDSU, and UNLV in conference and CU as well. 20-12 overall, 8-6 in the MWC.

7. 2019-20 (99) – Nico and the Youngsters. Led by the MWC’s all-time rebounding leader and double-double machine Nico Carvacho, this young group that featured 4 current starters of this year’s team (Stevens, Moore, Thistlewood, Roddy) went on to finish 20-12 and 11-7 in the MWC.

8. Everyone else.

Isaiah Stevens vs Gian Clavell

I noticed people trying to debate who was better on the RamNation.com message board.

I’m not going to debate that.

Both players are/were absolutely fantastic in their positions.

The first time I saw Gian Clavell play was at an intra-squad scrimmage as a JuCo transfer in that 2014-15 season. On a team full of talent, he was superior to all in creating his own shot.

We’ve had a lot of great All-MWC first-team players in the last several years but Clavell was the only one to be named MWC Player of the Year. He wasn’t just a great talent. He also played with a level of passion unmatched by anyone wearing a Ram uniform.

No game exemplified this more than the road game at San Diego State in 2017.

Trailing by 13 points early in the second half, Gian took over the game with a remarkable performance as he led the Rams to a 78-77 win. He scored 37 points on 14-23 shooting (4-6 from beyond the arc), most of which came against MWC Defensive Player of the Year Dakarai Allen. He also added 8 rebounds, 2 blocked shots, and a steal. Trailing by 1 with under 10 seconds to go, he went coast-to-coast through the entire SDSU team who knew he was going to have the ball. We rose just before the buzzer to score the game-winner on a remarkably athletic left-handed layup going over,around, and through the final two SDSU defenders.

Now on to Isaiah Stevens.

Only a sophomore, he has already established himself as one of the most gifted Rams in recent years.

I first saw him in a summer practice before his freshman season and you could see immediately that he was special. And it wasnt just his ballhandling, his shooting, his ability to score a variety of ways.  It was the way he commanded respect and demonstrated leadership with his decision-making and ability to control the tempo of everyone around him.

And so we first got an MWC Freshman of the Year player in his first season as he led the Rams to a surprising finish in the MWC, producing three game winners in the closing seconds, the most memorable being a length-of-the-court pull-up jumper as the shot clock expired vs Nevada.

His sophomore campaign is even stronger as he’s finding ways to not just improve on his scoring and passing skills, but also his leadership skills as well. His full story has yet to be written.

SO I choose not to pick one over the other. Rather, I choose to imagine what it would be like to feature a backcourt that had both players in the same backcourt.

Stevens as the primary ball handler and distributor. Clavell as the lethal off-the-ball scoring machine. Both late-clock studs who are capable of handling any time and distance challenges to score game winners.

A dream backcourt for sure.