FORT COLLINS, Colo. —It’s been 2,571 days since Colorado State men’s basketball lost to No. 1 Louisville in the third round of the 2013 NCAA Tournament.
Since falling to the eventual National Champions, the Rams have technically played in the postseason twice. In 2015 and 2017, CSU hosted NIT games at Moby Arena — but unfortunately, the green and gold didn’t make it past the second round in either appearance.
As we look forward to the 2020-21 season, there is hope that the Rams will end their March Madness drought before the streak reaches a full 3,000 days.
Niko Medved and his staff have built a roster that is athletic, skilled and capable of contending in the Mountain West. More importantly, after getting seven underclassmen a combined 4,258 minutes of action in 2019-20, the Rams should be that much more dangerous in the coming seasons.
The potential of CSU making a run at the NCAA Tournament is obviously exciting for all local hoops fans. Since seeing the Rams reach the big dance in both 2012 and 2013, the Colorado State faithful have been dying to see the squad play on the big stage again. But for one Rams fan on the other side of the country, seeing the green and gold return to March Madness would be particularly sweet.
Nicholas Tofflemeyer, a 17-year-old high school student in Troy, North Carolina, has been watching CSU games for much of his life. The son of an alum and a one-time Colorado resident, Tofflemeyer’s passion for watching the Rams stems from his family ties.
Tofflemeyer remembers watching the Border War as a young child and being heartbroken when Wyoming players celebrated with the Bronze Boot. He wishes that he could forget the miserable experience of attending the 2014 Las Vegas Bowl with his family. And like many of us, he can still feel the chill of being in Hughes Stadium for the 2016 finale against New Mexico.
Over the last year, though, Tofflemeyer has taken his CSU fandom to a new level with the the Daily Adam Thistlewood account on Instagram.
On April 7, 2019, Tofflemeyer, who was a sophomore in high school at the time, made his first official post on the account. With a photo of Adam Thistlewood from the forward’s freshman season, Tofflemeyer posted the following caption: “We winning it all next season, @CSUAthletics”.
Fast forward to 2020 and Tofflemeyer has now posted the same photo of Thistlewood every single day for the last calendar year. Occasionally his posts feature multiple photos, including something relevant to CSU Athletics or that day’s news cycle — but no matter what, they always include a young Thistlewood grinning from ear to ear in the ‘Orange Out’ threads.
“When I started it, I said that this is something that’s so obscure and has never been done on a scale like CSU, that I could see it getting a good response,” Tofflemeyer told DNVR Rams over the weekend.
According to Tofflemeyer, the first 100 days of running the account were the hardest for him. Everything from that point on has pretty much blurred together but just getting in a rhythm and creating an identity for the page was something that he had to get used to.
“A lot has happened in the last year,” Tofflemeyer said. “I mean looking back, you don’t realize how long a year really is.”
As Tofflemeyer explained, he sometimes likes to plan his posts out in advance but for the most part, he just tries to go with the flow. Things can be tricky at times — particularly in the offseason, when content ideas are more sporadic. Having a laid back approach, though, is what allows him to keep things fresh and not stress over operating the page.
While the process may seem exhausting to the average fan, the 17-year-old CSU die-hard in Troy, North Carolina, has vowed to continue the bit until the Rams reach the NCAA Tournament — or if that doesn’t happen, at least until Thistlewood graduates from CSU.
“It started out as a thing that I was just kinda messing around with but you eventually hit a point of no return,” Tofflemeyer said. “When Adam DM’d me, I was like, well I can’t stop now.”
Since their original DM exchange, Tofflemeyer and Thistlewood have actually developed a friendship that extends beyond hoops. In their most recent conversation, Tofflemeyer said that the two of them actually discussed Star Wars. One of the funnier moments of their relationship, though, actually came last offseason, when Tofflemeyer made Thistlewood a customized highlight video.
According to Tofflemeyer, Thistlewood was elated when he saw the project and joked that nobody other than his mom had ever made him a highlight tape. “That response killed me,” Tofflemeyer said.
When the Rams traveled to Cameron Indoor Arena last November, Nicholas, along with his younger brother David finally got the chance to meet Thistlewood and Nico Carvacho in person.
Despite being slightly overwhelmed by having cameras recording their interaction, Tofflemeyer said that getting to meet Thistlewood at the Duke game was the pinnacle of his Rams fandom and the most surreal thing to happen to him since starting the account.
“It was pretty cool,” Tofflemeyer said.
In the coming months, Tofflemeyer hopes to continue building momentum on the account, which currently has 215 followers. In the end, though, the project is more about connecting with the Rams community and sharing his passion for the green and gold.
“I could have just 12 followers but if they were all CSU basketball players, I’d be happy,” Tofflemeyer said.
Never in his wildest dreams did he think that starting this account would lead to friendships with current players or a chance to play in a Madden league with the ‘Big Chile’. But that’s the unique thing about the internet — it has a funny way of bringing of people together in unexpected ways.
