COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The Colorado State University men's basketball team has been picked to finish sixth in the Preseason Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Coaches' Poll that was released by the league office on Monday.
In the poll voted on by the league's 15 head coaches, the ThunderWolves received 123 points to sit one point in front of No. 7 UCCS (122 points) and 19 points behind No. 5 Colorado Mesa, who earned 142 points and one first place vote. Colorado Mesa captured the regular season RMAC title and were the RMAC Tournament runners-ups last season as they finished with a 29-5 overall record.
Colorado School of Mines was tabbed as the preseason favorite to capture the RMAC title as the Orediggers earned 191 points and 11 of a possible 15 first place votes. MSU Denver was tabbed second as they earned 176 points and two first place votes, while Regis was tabbed third as they earned 160 points and the final first place vote.
Black Hills State, who went 17-12 overall last season, was tabbed fourth in the preseason poll as the Yellow Jackets earned 157 points, while Mesa was tabbed fifth.
Behind CSU Pueblo and UCCS in the poll at No. 8 was New Mexico Highlands as they earned 90 points, while defending RMAC Tournament Champions Fort Lewis, who was 29-4 last season and advanced to the semifinals of the NCAA Division II South Central Regional Tournament, was tabbed ninth as the Skyhawks earned 87 points.
South Dakota Mines was picked 10th with 85 points, while Western Colorado was tabbed 11th with 74 points and Westminster was 12th with 48 points.
The final three teams in the preseason poll were Adams State (47 points) at No. 13, Colorado Christian (41 points) was tabbed 14th and Chadron State (32 points) was tabbed 15th.
The No. 6 preseason prediction is the highest for the Pack since also being picked sixth in the 2017-18 Preseason RMAC Coaches poll. The 2017-18 team ended the season with a 12-16 overall record and finished 10th in the league with a 9-13 mark.
CSU Pueblo, who is coached by
Matt Hammer, welcome back three starters and seven other lettermen from last season's 14-15 team that advanced to the RMAC Tournament for the first time since 2017 as they finished in seventh place with a 10-12 league record. The Pack fell in the quarterfinals of the RMAC Tournament at No. 2 seeded Fort Lewis, 102-96.
Among the key returners for the Pack are senior forward
De'Shaun Cooper (Poway, Calif./Balboa School), senior guard
Armon Muldrew (Perris, Calif./San Bernardino Valley), fifth-year senior guard
Brevin Walter (Las Vegas, Nev./South Dakota Mines) and sophomore guard/forward
Corbin Garver (Colorado Springs, Colo./Air Academy).
Walter, who earned Honorable Mention All-RMAC honors last season, is the team's leading returning scorer from last season as he averaged 17.3 points per game and shot 41 percent from the field, 39 percent from the 3-point line and 89 percent at the free throw line, while Muldrew, who also earned Honorable Mention All-RMAC honors last season, was the No. 3 scorer last season as he averaged 13.8 points per game and shot 45 percent from the field and 37 percent from the 3-point line and Cooper was fourth in scoring (11.2 points per game) and second in rebounding (4.9 rebounds per game) and blocked a team-high 21 shots in 2023-24. Garver, who named to the Colorado Collegiate All-Freshman Team, averaged 7.1 points and 3.9 rebounds per game last season and closed out the season with a season-high 27 points in the Pack's RMAC Tournament quarterfinal loss to Fort Lewis.
In addition to three returning starters and seven other lettermen returning from last season, Hammer and his coaching staff have added seven newcomers to the roster, including four transfers and three high school players. The newcomers this season are junior guard
Kesean Bazile (Victorville, Calif./West Hills Lemoore), junior guard
Denim Johnson (Omaha. Neb./Trinity Valley Community College), junior forward
Victor Lado (Louisville, Ky./Vincennes University), redshirt sophomore guard/forward
Jaden Kennis (Windsor, Colo./MSU Denver), freshman guard
Jordan Blair (Keller, Texas/Keller), freshman guard
Max Howery (Colorado Springs, Colo./Air Academy) and freshman forward
Jake Lafferty (Bruner, Mo./Sparta).
CSU Pueblo will tune up for the 2024-25 season with an exhibition game on Tuesday, Oct. 29 in Salt Lake City, Utah, against Big 12 member University of Utah. Tip-off for the exhibition game is set for 7 p.m. MT in the Huntsman Center on the Utah campus.
Following the exhibition game with Utah, the Pack will open the regular season on Friday, Nov. 8 with a 1 p.m. home game in Massari Arena against Cameron, before hosting Midwestern State on Sunday, Nov. 10 at 1 p.m. Both of those games are part of the South Central Regional Crossover event.
The Pack's first RMAC contest of the season is scheduled for Thursday, Dec. 5 in Salt Lake City against Westminster University. Tip-off time is slated for 7:30 p.m.
