DENVER — The end of an era.
Senior forward Adam Thistlewood has officially entered the transfer portal. The news was broken by Verbal Commits on Wednesday evening and was later confirmed by an inside source to DNVR.
One of the first players to sign with Colorado State under Niko Medved, Thistlewood, along with Kendle Moore, served as one of the key pieces in helping transform the program to its current successful state.
Over his four seasons in the program, Thistlewood logged 2,855 minutes on the floor for CSU and scored 885 points. With 171 made threes in his career, ‘AT’ ranks fifth all-time in program history — just ahead of J.D. Paige (167) and just behind Kendle Moore (172). His 460 attempts from deep ranks sixth all-time amongst all CSU shooters. Thistlewood is also a top 20 free throw shooter in CSU history at 80.9 percent (No. 15).
Unfortunately, due to nagging injuries and added depth to the roster, Thistlewood’s role decreased significantly in 2021-22. After playing close to 30 minutes a night in his first three seasons, Thistlewood averaged just 12.5 minutes per game this year. He scored just 58 points in 24 games of action as well.
While Ram Nation will likely feel conflicted about Thistlewood’s departure, the tough reality of the situation is that there just wouldn’t have been minutes for him next season. At least this way he can potentially wrap up his collegiate career at a spot where he will be able to get some decent playing — maybe even at a local school like Northern Colorado or the Colorado School of Mines.
The move also gives the Rams more flexibility in the transfer market, where the staff can pursue added depth for the front court, another guard and potentially a wing.
The future is incredibly bright for the Green & Gold and there are very intriguing options moving forward, but it’s definitely still sad to see a player like Thistlewood go. Looking at everything that he meant to the program, Thistlewood will undoubtedly go down as one of the more important players to ever come through Moby Arena.
