Colorado State Basketball: Tournament Potential Hinges on Dorian Green’s Health

In today’s turbulent college basketball climate, the stability at point guard in Fort Collins has been refreshingly unorthodox.

As of Tuesday, Colorado State hadn’t opened a game without Dorian Green on the floor in four years. The last time someone other than No. 22 dictated the Rams offense, Tim Miles was frantically trying to navigate through a dismal nine-win season.

Feb 23, 2013; Fort Collins, CO, USA; Colorado State Rams guard Dorian Green (22) controls the basketball during the first half against the New Mexico Lobos at Moby Arena. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

On Wednesday, Colorado State fans were reminded just how difficult life without Green had been. The senior floor general, who has started a program-record 127 games, missed his first career start Wednesday night in the quarterfinals of the Mountain West Conference tournament. His absence was heartfelt.

Playing without their backcourt ace against a defensively stout Fresno State outfit, the Rams limped out of the gates offensively and never caught their stride. Larry Eustachy’s usually fluid offense was out of sync for most of the night, fruitlessly searching for ways to get the ball inside to Colton Iverson or over to Wes Eikmeier at his hotspots on the perimeter. That task is not so easy without Green pulling the strings.

One of the nation’s best offenses in terms of scoring efficiency, Colorado State hit just 19 of its 46 field goal attempts (41-percent) without Green, who sat out the game with a sprained right ankle suffered in Saturday’s regular-season finale. Green hadn’t practiced Monday and was shut down during a one-hour session on Tuesday after feeling discomfort in the joint. His status for the rest of the tournament — Colorado State resumes action Friday in the semifinals against third-seeded UNLV — remains dubious.

Surrogate combo guard Jon Octeus went the full 40 minutes without committing a turnover in Green’s place, an unheralded footnote that helped the Rams edge the Bulldogs by six. No matter, that short-term fix is not a sustainable solution for a  team with reasonable Sweet 16 — and possibly beyond — aspirations. Octeus had only logged 30+ minutes twice before in his collegiate career, and his season-long struggles finding his outside shot don’t appear to be nearing a resolution.

Above all, Green’s absence adversely relegates Eikmeier to primary ball-handling responsibilities, which he assumed in a pinch on Wednesday. Even if the sophomore Octeus can hold his own as an off-ball guard, the Rams flourish most with Eikmeier weaving around off-ball screens and finding open space to catch and shoot. Eikmeier’s off-ball to on-ball role reversal effectively [i.e., ineffectively] throws the CSU half-court attack out of kilter. Turning a sharpshooter into a passive ball distributor is never good, especially for a team that struggles from long distance.

Green’s court presence alone restores Colorado State’s machine-like offense to its operative ways. Even on nights when his shot isn’t falling, the veteran point guard can still be a positive asset by facilitating the sets and helping Iveson, Eikmeier, Greg Smith and Pierce Hornung find their grooves. This role-specific dynamic, as critical to CSU’s success as offensive rebounding, requires Green, not Eikmeier, Octeus or any inferior substitute, to handle the ball.

The very man who galvanized the hoops scene along the Front Range has the opportunity to guide the Rams to Atlanta if he can return to the court at full strength. Dorian Green’s health alone may well account for the difference between a sleeper Final Four team and early-round tournament fodder.

Fair or not, Colorado State’s NCAA tournament upside hinges gingerly on the tender ankle of the program’s longest tenured starter. That the program is even in this position to begin with is a wonder all thanks to the hobbled hero himself.