In the ever-evolving world of college basketball, teams are constantly in flux.
For Colorado State — who saw head coach Larry Eustachy resign after a lengthy “climate assessment” — the change of the guard at head coach to Niko Medved was bound to bring multiple changes to the roster.
And really, considering the coaching change, the flux in the roster hasn’t been too significant; with Prentiss Nixon and Raquan Mitchell leaving.
Nixon announced this morning on Twitter he will transfer to Iowa State University of the Big 12. Iowa State is the same school where Eustachy once coached and was fired for partying with coeds. Now, Eustachy’s former player — Nixon — will play for his former school. The Cyclones have gone to 19 NCAA Tournaments in their history, including six straight from 2011-2017. Nixon will have to sit out a year per transfer rules before being allowed to play in 2019-20 for his lone, redshirt senior season.
And while the Rams are losing their most prolific scorer from last year in Nixon, they are gaining Adam Thistlewood of Golden — a former Drake commit which Medved and his assistants got to come to Colorado State — as well as high school guard Kendle Moore.
This morning Moore announced on Twitter he’s committed to CSU after formerly being a Drake commit. Moore is a 5’10”, 160-pound guard out of Danville, IL and is a 2-star prospect according to Verbal Commits. According to the News-Gazette, Moore was named All-Area Player of the Year in 2017, scoring 21.5 points per game with 3.5 assists and 2.9 steals per contest that year. This year, he was again named Player of the Year and left Danville as the highest scorer all-time, with over 1,700 career points.
His highlight tape from 2017 shows Moore relentlessly driving the rack to fly past defenders and score with more in his face. He can finish with his right or left hand and will be a weapon for the Rams when they get out on the break this year, which Medved said we can expect. And Moore is deft at shooting the 3-ball as well, though it’s unknown whether he’ll be asked to play more a point or two-guard role.
Medved — who was an assistant to Tim Miles and Eustachy — was the head man at Drake in 2017-18 and Sorry – this audio content is no longer available., brought along assistants Ali Farokhmanesh, J.R. Blount and Dave Thorson from Drake. They’ve now flipped two former Drake commits to CSU, working to recruit in Colorado as well as across the country.
The staff has already taken a step forward in terms of recruiting and Medved was incredibly personable with fans during his introductory press conference, as well as making himself seen at the Green and Gold Game, Saturday. Connecting with the community was lacking in the last regime, and fans flocked to the new head coach as he welcomed their questions and comments.
Without a doubt, a new era of Colorado State basketball is currently underway.
