Year-in-review: Why Adam Thistlewood is paramount to CSU's winning culture

FORT COLLINS, CO. — The term “culture” gets thrown around quite a bit in the world of college basketball. Teams that consistently reach the postseason are considered to have a winning culture, while teams that come up short, more times than not are labeled with the dreaded losing culture. 

Obviously, this is an oversimplified way of viewing things. There are plenty of coaches that do all the right things when it comes to creating an environment that is theoretically conducive to winning. For example: communicating well, recruiting talent, leading by example, etc. And for any number of reasons, things just don’t work out for them. On the flip side, there are also coaches that seemingly do all the wrong things, yet find success in spite of it. 

The truth is that there isn’t a singular path to success in college hoops. Some schools survive on talent alone. Others buy their way to victory with elaborate resources, brand recognition, or desirable campus locations. Every now and then a team might simply just get lucky and go on a strange run. Most programs have to build a winner over time, though — partially with talent itself — but also, factors like teamwork, chemistry and repetition. 

That’s what makes basketball a beautiful game. On any given day it can be the superstar or super team that steps up and wins a game, but over the course of a season, or multiple seasons, it generally takes more than just a dominant individual or two to consistently come out on top. It takes all the things listed above, but also a sense of selflessness — a willingness to put the team’s success over all else. If individual glory comes along the way, that’s just a bonus, because in the end all that matters is winning. It takes a mindset of individual accountability, and a desire to fulfill one’s role for the greater good of the team. 

When coaches find skilled players that are willing to genuinely embrace that team-first mentality, that’s when greatness can be achieved. Just look at Gonzaga, a small Jesuit school in Washington has now made multiple national title games in the last decade, and most recently landed the No. 1 recruit in the entire country. But that didn’t happen overnight. Gonzaga had to climb its way to the top with elite coaching, a standard of excellence that took years to cultivate, and an ability to identify talented players that were willing to buy in wholeheartedly. 

Over the last couple of seasons, Colorado State has been in a state of transition under Niko Medved. Coming off of a difficult final year under Larry Eustachy, Steve Barnes, and finally Jase Herl, Medved had to deal with roster turnover, while also trying to build up a locker room that was more or less broken. 

The Rams won just 12 games in Year 1. However, they have since followed it up with back-to-back 20 win campaigns. How? Well, talent for one thing, but a big reason why Medved and Co. have been able to drastically improve things so quickly is they haven’t just brought in skilled players, they’ve added the “right players”. One of the best examples of this is Adam Thistlewood, the 6-foot-6 forward from Golden, CO. 

Originally committed to Medved at Drake, Thistlewood, alongside Kendle Moore, has been helping to build up the program for three years now. Since being thrown into the fire as a true freshman in 2018-19, “AT” has averaged 28.7 minutes per game over the course of his career. During that time he has shot 44 percent from the field, 38 percent from 3-point range, and 81 percent from the free throw line. 

As a junior in 2020-21, Thistlewood had extreme highs and lows offensively. He had monster performances like against Boise State on Jan. 29, when he scored 24 points and finished the evening 56 percent from beyond the arc and 75 percent from the floor. He also had a career-high 27 points in just 22 minutes in the beatdown of New Mexico on Mar. 03. On that night, Thistlewood was an insane 11-of-13 from the field (85 percent), including 5-of-7 from 3-point range (71 percent). 

The tough part for Thistlewood this season was he was just wildly inconsistent as a shooter. There were 10 games in which he finished with 10 or more points, but there were also eight games where he tallied 5 or less points. What was especially concerning was after having a career night in the win over the Lobos in the final home game of the season, Thistlewood shot just 25 percent from deep over the course of the final seven games, including the Mountain West Tournament and NIT. 

Obviously, it’s less than ideal to have one of your best shooters go ice cold in the most important stretches of the year. And moving forward, it would be nice to see Thistlewood come through in the clutch a little bit more consistently. The thing that makes him so endearing to the staff, though, is that even when the shots aren’t falling, there is never a time where Thistlewood is not giving it his all in every aspect of the game; particularly on the defensive end, where “AT” has legitimately become one of the most reliable players on the team. 

Over the last three seasons, Thistlewood has improved his defensive rating by 15.2 points per 100 possessions, meaning that over the course of 100 offensive possessions from opposing teams, he is now allowing roughly 15 less points on average than he did as a freshman. Considering Thistlewood’s responsibilities have only increased, and he is now frequently tasked with guarding the opposing team’s best scorer on the wing, it’s extremely impressive how much he’s grown on the defensive side. His efforts are not always obvious if you’re just glossing over a boxscore, but his impact was significant and a big reason why CSU had a top 50 ranking in adjusted defense (Kenpom) for much of the campaign. *The Rams finished No. 72 in adjusted defense according to Ken Pomeroy. 

While it certainly helps to have bonafide superstars like Isaiah Stevens and David Roddy on the roster, without Thistlewood, Moore, John Tonje, etc. being willing to sacrifice individual shine at times and just serve their roles on the floor, the Rams would not have been contending for a Mountain West Championship this past season. It takes a village. More importantly, it takes great leadership, and Thistlewood is one of the most respected leaders on the roster. 

For whatever it’s worth, I can’t wait to see what Thistlewood has in store for Ram Nation in Year 4. Something tells me he is going to thrive in a season with more traditional circumstances. When it comes to being a 3-point shooter, consistency and establishing a rhythm are paramount. Coming off of an offseason where guys didn’t have access to gyms, and then having multiple lengthy pauses in the season, did the man absolutely no favors at all. Give him a chance to redeem himself and I bet you he won’t disappoint.