Colorado State Rams men's basketball
2025–26 Colorado State Rams men's basketball team
University	Colorado State University
Head coach	Ali Farokhmanesh (1st season)
Conference	Mountain West (Pac-12 in 2026–27)
Location	Fort Collins, Colorado
Arena	Moby Arena (capacity: 8,083)
Nickname	Rams
Colors	Green and gold[1]
Uniforms
Home Away
NCAA tournament Elite Eight
1969
Other NCAA tournament results Sweet Sixteen 1954, 1969 Appearances 1954, 1963, 1965, 1966, 1969, 1989, 1990, 2003, 2012, 2013, 2022, 2024, 2025
Conference tournament champions
Mountain West 2003, 2025
Conference regular-season champions
WAC 1989, 1990 Skyline 1954, 1961

TheColorado State Rams men's basketball team representsColorado State University, located inFort Collins, in theU.S. state ofColorado, inNCAA Division Ibasketball competition. They play their home games at theMoby Arena and are members of theMountain West Conference. The Rams have appeared 13 times in the NCAA tournament, most recently in 2025. Colorado State will be joining thePac-12 for the 2026-27 season.

The men's basketball team at Colorado State University—then called Colorado Agricultural College—began competing in the 1901–02 season.^[2] The school became a member of theRocky Mountain Athletic Conference in the 1910–11 season, and followed most of the larger schools in that conference into theMountain States Conference in the 1938–39 season and stayed in the conference until 1961–62. Colorado State then joined theWestern Athletic Conference (WAC) in 1969–70. After 20 seasons in the WAC, Colorado State moved to its currentMountain West Conference (MWC) in 1999–00.^[2] Colorado State was an inaugural member of the MWC.^[3]

The Rams have appeared in 13NCAA Tournaments, with a combined record of 6–14.

The Rams have appeared in 10National Invitation Tournaments (NIT), with a combined record of 9–11.

The Rams have appeared in oneCollege Basketball Invitational (CBI) and lost the opener.

• March 13, 1969, in the "Sweet 16" round of theNCAA tournament: Colorado State beat in-state rival andAP #18^[4]Colorado 64–56.^[5]
• January 19, 1984, atMoby Arena: Colorado State beatAP #5UTEP 63–51.^[6]
• December 29, 1989, atMcNichols Sports Arena: Colorado State beat AP #24North Carolina 78–67 in the Mile High Classic, a four-team tournament in Denver also featuringColorado andMassachusetts. Colorado State beat Massachusetts the next night to win the tournament.^[7]
• December 22, 1999, at theCannon Activities Center atLaie, Hawaii: In a Pearl Harbor Classic tournament game, Colorado State upset AP #18UCLA 55–54. John Ford made a free throw with 23 seconds left that turned out to be the winning margin.^[8]
• December 30, 2003, atMoby Arena: Colorado State hostedAP #22^[9]Purdue. Down 4 points with 7 seconds left, Colorado State committed a foul. In the double bonus, Purdue missed both free throws. CSU scored a three pointer with 0.7 seconds left. The ensuing Purdue inbound pass was tipped; the ball fell into the hands of Michael Moris who shot the game winning three pointer at the buzzer. The game was not televised. CSU was awarded the points and won the game by two points.^[10][11]
• March 21, 2013, in the "Round of 64" of theNCAA tournament: Colorado State beat #9 seedMissouri 84–72 to advance to the Round of 32.^[12]
• January 2, 2021, atViejas Arena: Colorado State came back from a 26-point deficit to beatSan Diego State 70–67, the largest comeback inMountain West history.^[13]
• November 22, 2021, atSports and Fitness Center: After trailingNortheastern by 20 points early in the second half of the 2021Paradise Jam tournament championship game, the Rams put together a comeback and outscored the Huskies 47–17 in the final 17 minutes to win the game — and the tournament — 71–61.David Roddy, who scored 27 points — and averaged 31 points a game — was named theMVP of the tournament.^[14]
• November 23, 2023, atT-Mobile Center: Colorado State upsetAP #8Creighton 69–48 in theHall of Fame Classic championship game. It was the Rams first win over a top 10 opponent since upsetting AP #5UTEP in 1984.Isaiah Stevens, who scored 20 points, seven rebounds, and six assists – was named MVP of the tournament.
• March 15, 2025, at theThomas & Mack Center: Colorado State won its first Mountain West Conference title since 2003 69-56. Slated to finish No. 7 in the conference at the beginning of the season, CSU ended up sweeping three of the six teams seated above it throughout the season (Boise State,Nevada andUNLV).Nique Clifford — the MVP of the tournament — scored 24 points.^[15]
• March 21, 2025, in the "Round of 64" of theNCAA tournament: Colorado State beat #5 seed Memphis 78–70 to advance to the Round of 32.

Within theMountain West Conference, Colorado State has notable rivalries with these schools:

• Air Force: Colorado State has an in-state rivalry with theFalcons of theUnited States Air Force Academy inColorado Springs. As of the 2024–25 season, Colorado State leads the series 91–34.^[16][17]
• Utah State: Colorado State and theAggies ofUtah State University were rivals in theMountain States Conference from the 1939–40 to 1961–62 seasons. Beginning in the 2013–14 season, the two schools again competed in the same conference, theMountain West. Utah State has a 60–44 lead in the series as of the 2024–25 season.^[18][19]
• Wyoming: In a rivalry dubbed the "Border War",^[20] theCowboys of theUniversity of Wyoming have a 138–105 series lead over Colorado State as of the conclusion of the 2024–25 season.^[21][22][23]

Outside the MW, these are noted rivalries:

• Colorado: This in-statebasketball rivalry pits Colorado State againstColorado, a member of theBig 12 Conference. As of 2024, Colorado leads the series 94–41.^[24]
• Denver: Also in-state, this rivalry is against thePioneers of theUniversity of Denver, a member ofThe Summit League. Colorado State leads the all-time series 96–68 as of 2024.^[25][26]
• Northern Colorado: This rivalry pits Colorado State against theBears of theUniversity of Northern Colorado, a member of theBig Sky Conference inGreeley, another city in theNorthern Colorado region. Colorado State leads the series 70–38 as of 2023.^[27]

The following is alist of Colorado State Rams men's basketball head coaches. There have been 21 head coaches of theRams in their 122-season history.^[28]

Colorado State's current head coach isAli Farokhmanesh. He was hired as the Rams' head coach in March 2025, replacingNiko Medved who had accepted a Head Coaching position for theUniversity of Minnesota.^[29]

14 former Colorado State players have appeared in theNational Basketball Association orAmerican Basketball Association:

• John O'Boyle
• Lonnie Wright
• Bob Rule
• Dale Schlueter
• Rick Fisher
• Eddie Hughes
• Pat Durham
• Milt Palacio
• Jason Smith
• Stanton Kidd
• Gian Clavell
• David Roddy
• Isaiah Stevens
• Nique Clifford

• Official website

• Colorado State Rams men's basketball
• 1901 establishments in Colorado

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