DENVER — Saturday’s matchup between Colorado State and San Jose State is not one that you will hear the pundits mention as a game that hoops fans should watch. The Rams (12-1, 2-1) are 22-0 all-time against the Spartans (7-6, 0-1), so despite it being their only scheduled contest this season, it’s not one that typically moves the needle on a national level, which is why it’s streaming on Stadium and not on TV.
While most of the country may ignore the Rams-Spartans game in San Jose this weekend, those around the Mountain West know that it will be a long-awaited reunion between a pair of coaches with a ton of history.
#FlashbackFriday to when @coachNikoMedved and @CoachMiles were together at CSU!
Tomorrow's game they are on opposing benches!#TeamTogether pic.twitter.com/g4jSOsjza6
— Colorado State Men’s Basketball (@CSUMBasketball) January 14, 2022
Now in his first season at SJSU, Tim Miles was head coach of the Rams from 2007-2012. One of his lead assistants was current CSU men’s basketball head coach Niko Medved. His other was Craig Smith, who is now at Utah, following his successful stints at South Dakota and Utah State. Together the three of them took CSU and built the program from the ground up. After winning zero league games in the regular season in 2007-08, by 2011-12 the Rams were earning at-large bids in the NCAA Tournament.
Following a 20 win campaign and the school’s first NCAA Tournament bid in close to a decade in Miles’ final season in Fort Collins, the beloved quirky coach was hired away by the University of Nebraska, where he went 116-114 in seven years with the Huskers.
Medved, though, remained with CSU as an assistant under Larry Eustachy for the 2012-13 season, which is widely considered the best run from the Rams in the modern era, as CSU went 26-9 and advanced to the third round of March Madness before losing to the eventual national champions (Louisville). He then took his first head coaching position at Furman in 2013-14 and established a winning culture over four years there, before going to Drake for a season and then ultimately returning back to save CSU. So far Medved is 64-41 as head coach of the Green & Gold and has the Rams on pace to return to the NCAA Tournament once again.
Looking at the matchup on the court, CSU is currently 12 point favorites over SJSU. The Spartans have played hard for Miles this season and look like a team that could make some noise a couple of years down the road. But in 2021-22 this is a game that should be controlled by the Green & Gold. Obviously you have to respect all opponents, crazy upsets happen in college basketball every single day, so the Rams need to be wary of a group that would love to play spoilers against one of the conference’s top units. Now playing their fourth game off the COVID pause, though, this is a prime matchup for CSU to explode offensively like we saw in the early stages of this season.
The Spartans only allow 69 points per game on average, however, when they’ve faced stiffer competition they’ve tended to give up closer to 80. Ie. No. 8 Texas, Santa Clara and Fresno State. The Rams have been held under their season average in each of the last five games (79 PPG), but we have seen CSU throw 85+ on the board six times already in just 13 games.
If SJSU is going to have any chance of upsetting CSU on Saturday, the 3-point shot will likely play a big factor. Miles’ squad has shot about 40 percent from deep this season and they average 27 attempts from 3-point land a night, so they really like to let it fly. If they have an absurd shooting day, things could get interesting in a hurry, especially if the Rams continue to struggle from deep like the last couple of games.
Ultimately, though, this is a matchup that the Rams need to find a way to take care of business. There may be some weird emotions for each coach on the sideline and for the fans watching, but for the players this is just another league game. A road win over the Spartans probably wouldn’t do much for the national reputation, it would put the Rams at 3-1 in Mountain West play, though, with a winnable game against New Mexico around the corner.
