NCAA Basketball: BYU, Butler, and Ole Miss among 10 biggest surprises of 2023-24 season

3. Colorado State Rams

Colorado State took a dip last year, finishing 15-18 (6-12) in an injury-plagued season after making the NCAA Tournament as a six-seed just the year before.

Despite losing John Tonje to the transfer portal, Niko Medved’s Rams are vastly improved thanks to the outstanding play of Isaiah Stevens -- one of college basketball’s best point guards.

Stevens, who is averaging 17.7 Pts, 2.9 Rebs, and 7.3 Ast on the year, recently became Colorado State’s all-time leading scorer in their 76-67 win over Loyola Marymount. 

From the portal, Medved has added quality additions in Colorado transfer Nique Clifford (13.3 Pts, 6.3 Reb, 2.3 Ast) and Division II transfer Joel Scott (12.4 Pts, 6.1 Reb, 1.6 Ast), both of whom complement Stevens extremely well offensively.

Although the injury bug has hit the Rams again this season with Jalen Lake and Josiah Strong -- two of the team's best perimeter defenders -- being out for about a month (and continued), the Rams have taken care of business for the most part, standing at 11-1 with their lone loss coming to Saint Mary’s at home.

All in all, for a team picked to finish just fifth in the 2023-2024 MWC Preseason Poll that now has wins over Creighton, Colorado and Washington, it's been an extremely successful first two months for the Rams. The ceiling remains high in Fort Collins.