The Colorado State men’s basketball team is on fire, at a perfect 8-0 after beating both Colorado and Washington last week, and they’ve climbed to No. 13 in the AP Top 25 poll.

The Rams’ No. 13 ranking is the highest in program history, beating out the previous No. 18 ranking from 70 years ago with the 1953-54 team.

After beating Creighton, CU, and Washington, there’s no doubt this CSU team can hang with the top-tier teams in the country. In fact, this is quite possibly the best Colorado State men’s basketball team in their history. Better than in 2012-13 and better than 2021-22.

Colorado State beat CU 88-83, defeated Washington 86-81 last week

Fresh off their win over No. 8 Creighton in the Hall of Fame Classic, CSU beat the rival CU Buffs at Moby Arena last Wednesday.

The Rams fought through the injury to Patrick Cartier as well as Jalen Lake’s broken finger to take a 15-point lead at halftime. Colorado, led by KJ Simpson and Cody Williams, fought back but could never get closer than within four points of the Rams.

While Simpson and Williams went off for the Buffs in the second half, Isaiah Stevens scored 18 of his 20 total points after the break. He added 11 assists and Colorado State finished with a stellar 50.9 field goal percentage.

Washington was another tough team with more height and length than the Rams, but CSU again prevailed. The Huskies led for the first eight minutes of the game, but Niko Medved’s team went on a 14-0 run to lead by 9 midway though the first half. Washington answered with a 7-0 run of their own and the game was back-and-forth until the break, with Colorado State up 44-41.

The second half was a tough, physical battle in which the Huskies led for the first 12 minutes, but Colorado State kept battling and took the lead with eight minutes to go. They eventually edged out Washington 86-81. Stevens had a less explosive game, with 12 points and 5 assists. But Josiah Strong was key throughout the game and was clutch down the stretch.

Joel Scott led all Rams with 17 points and he pushed through a smack to the eye from Franck Kepnang which resulted in swelling, but no foul call by the officials. He also hit a dagger 3-pointer to seal the win.

Of note for the win over Washington: The Rams won despite Nique Clifford being ejected due to a flagrant 2 foul early, and Patrick Cartier returned to action for 20 minutes of game time and scored 16.

Rams land in many basketball analysts rankings

Not only are the Rams the real deal, national analysts have been taking note.

Jon Rothstein said earlier this year Stevens is playing like an All-American, and he’s right. To wit, Stevens’ 7.9 assists per game are second-most in the nation right now.

Rothstein put out his top 45 teams today, and Colorado State came in at No. 9.

In Andy Katz’ Power 36, the Rams come in at No. 12.

Jonathon Warriner has Colorado State ranked No. 11:

Ken Pom says CSU is the 21st-best team in the nation while SRS ranks CSU 9th.

Finally, NET rankings, which replaced RPI in 2018, have the Rams at No. 7.

This week, No. 13 Colorado State faces Denver University (6-3) at 7 p.m. MT on Wednesday. Then, they play St. Mary’s (3-5) on Saturday with a 4:30 p.m. MT tip off.