Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Where Colorado State has improved
By Joe Kaiser
Colorado State has exceeded expectations this season in Larry Eustachy's first season in Fort Collins, and much of it stems from a big improvement made on one side of the ball.
Led by the interior toughness of seniors Colton Iverson and Pierce Hornung, the Rams are one of the surprise teams in the Mountain West this season. Ken Pomeroy points out on ESPN Insider today that they currently sit just one game behind conference-leading New Mexico with a favorable remaining schedule that includes a home date with the Lobos. How have the Rams done it?
"Much of the improvement over last season can be traced to the presence of Minnesota transfer Colton Iverson, who has contributed to a 2-point defense that has allowed just 43.7 percent (56th nationally) of attempts to be successful, down from 48.5 percent (199th) last season," he writes. "It also helps that opponents don't get the ball back after many of those misses because Colorado State leads the nation in defensive rebounding percentage. The Mountain West is still very much up for grabs, but CSU's chances have to be considered at least similar to any of the Big Three (New Mexico, San Diego State and UNLV)."
