CSU looks to build on success
Despite key losses, Medved confident in early showing of transfers Cartier, Strong
With the start of the men’s basketball season now just a couple of weeks away, Colorado State University head coach Niko Medved is eager to get it going despite losing one would-be senior to the NBA and another to a foot injury that will force him to miss significant time.
Medved and the current Rams watched David Roddy’s NBA debut with the Memphis Grizzlies Wednesday night, happy for their former player and teammate to get a chance to show what he can do at that level. Medved was also clear Thursday during his session at Mountain West Conference media days that the injury to Isaiah Stevens that required surgery will keep the preseason All-mountain West player out more than just a few weeks.
There is hope he can return at some point late in the season.
A mix of returners, transfers and freshmen will look to build on the team’s success from a year ago when the Rams went 25-6 overall and 14-4 in the Mountain West. One of the players they will look to to fill a leadership role is senior John Tonje.
“John doesn’t really have to change anything he does,” Medved said. “He’s always been a guy that’s been a go-to guy for us, a guy that’s been aggressive offensively, a guy that’s a great leader, all those things. John’s role, I don’t even know if it will change a lot. John just does what he does. I think success finds him. He’s a great leader and we are so lucky to have a guy like him.”
Tonje averaged 9.1 points and three rebounds per game for the Rams. He played in 30 of CSU’S 31 games and started 12 of them. In his first start, he scored 31 points.
Medved said Tonje likely would have been the Mountain West’s
sixth man of the year if he hadn’t moved into the starting lineup for good in late January. In response to his coach’s assessment that success finds him, Tonje said it is just a process.
“It’s an everyday process,” Tonje said. “It’s not something you go into thinking about, accolades or anything like that. We go into practice every day, games, we approach it the same way. Success will find us.”
Medved also highlighted a couple of the team’s transfers, Patrick Cartier, a graduate student from Hillsdale College in Michigan and Josiah Strong, a graduate student from Illinois State.
Cartier left Hillsdale with the seventh-most points in program history (1,624) and the sixthmost assists (640). He led his team to the Division II Elite Eight last season.
“Pat is an old-school throwback player,” Medved said. “He’s got terrific hands. He can finish with either had around the basket. He’s not a guy that is great off of two feet, but he is strong, and he can seal. He was a guy that shot 60% from (inside the arc) at the Division II level. We have seen a similar thing from him here in practice. He’s got the ability to stretch the floor. He’s just an incredible kid. He has just fit in so well with us.”
Strong started 26 games for Illinois State last season, averaging 11.5 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game.
He chose CSU over California, Illinois State, Oklahoma, and Wake Forest. He played at Iowa Western and Navy before Illinois State.
Said Medved: “Josiah will primarily play an onguard spot, and honestly, the way we play, we really kind of have a positionless style. What Josiah brings us is a lot of experience. He’s played at the college level. He’s played at a high level. He’s produced at a high level. He’s just an exceptional young man. The other thing is is he’s really a good defender on the perimeter. I think he is going to bring us a lot of stability, a lot of shot making on defense as he continues to get more and more comfortable with our style and our system and his teammates. I think he’s got a chance to have a real impact for us.”
There are plenty of other players on the squad — both new and old — but Medved is confident his team can carry over last year’s success and build on it moving forward.
With some experience back and some strong transfers, the losses of key players shouldn’t take away from the team’s goals for the 2022-23 season.
That season officially begins Nov. 7 when the Rams host Gardner-webb at Moby Arena.
“I think that momentum is just what you do every day in the process that we’ve always tried to have and will continue to have,” Medved said. “We’ve got a great core of guys who have been here in the program and have a great understanding of how we like to do things and what it looks like to compete at a high level. I think you rely on those things to keep moving forward.
“I feel really good about the guys we have here in the program and the approach that they bring every day, and we just have to keep doing that. That’s what we have always tried to do so really nothing will change moving forward.”