Mile High Sports

Isaiah Stevens named Preseason Mountain West Player of the Year, Rams picked 5th

Rich Kurtzman
Isaiah Stevens flex against Air Force in 2022.

Isaiah Stevens flex against Air Force in 2022. Credit: Isaiah J. Downing, USA TODAY Sports.

The Colorado State Rams men’s and women’s teams have the best point guards in the conference, as Isaiah Stevens was named Preseason Mountain West Player of the Year.

On the women’s side, McKenna Hofschild was named Mountain West Preseason Player of the Year, too.

Stevens, who came back for his fifth season at Colorado State, is getting ready to lead a stacked roster with talented transfers as CSU looks to make a postseason run this year.

Isaiah Stevens is MW Preseason Player of the Year

Stevens is an elite point guard. Last year with Colorado State, he averaged 17.9 points, 6.7 assists and 3.4 rebounds per game. Stevens was the leading scorer of the team and his 6.7 assists per contest were fourth-best in the nation.

Also of note, his 3.07 assist-to-turnover ratio was sixth-best in the nation last year, and he also made a stellar 37.8% of his shots from downtown.

There’s no doubt that Stevens isn’t a one-trick pony; he can do a little of everything on the court. And that’s why he’s the Mountain West’s Preseason POY, the first-ever Rams player to earn the honor.

A quick highlight reel put together by Colorado State:

As he is the best player in the conference, it only makes sense that Stevens also made All-Mountain West, too.

Rams picked to finish fifth in Mountain West

No matter how great Stevens is, he and the Rams will be going up against one of the toughest basketball conferences in the nation this year.

First, there’s San Diego State. The Aztecs were the first MW team to make it to an NCAA National Championship Game last season. SDSU was rightly picked to win the conference.

In second is Boise State, just ahead of New Mexico. And then there’s Nevada in fourth, with Colorado State in fifth.

Last season, the Rams went 15-18 overall, and 6-12 in-conference.

This year, they’ll be looking to reach that 20-win mark, which CSU did the three years prior under head coach Niko Medved. And in 2021-22, Colorado State made their way to the NCAA Tournament. That year, the 25-win Rams played on the strength of not only Stevens, but David Roddy, too.

In 2023-24, Stevens will be joined by transfers Nique Clifford, Javonte Johnson and Joel Scott. In all likelihood, those three, experienced players will make up the starting five with Stevens and forward Patrick Cartier.

As far as individual marks go, Stevens became the all-time assist leader in Colorado State hoops history last year, and he could become the all-time scoring leader this season. If he can score 672 points, or 21.6 points per game, Stevens would become the scoring leader and pass Pat Durham (1980 total points).

Colorado State’s 2023-24 season begins on November 6 when the Rams welcome Louisiana Tech to Moby Arena for an 8 pm tip-off.

Exit mobile version