A new era begins at Colorado State and Ali Farokhmanesh is taking over the program at a great time. He was a big part of Niko Medved’s recent success as a member of his coaching staff and will lead this program into the Pac-12 next season. Last year’s Rams made their third trip to the Big Dance in four years and even won a first round game in the Tourney. The recent successes have been great for a program back on the rise, but can Farokhmanesh continue that trajectory?
A big part of last season’s success was the play of Nique Clifford, though he’s off to professional ball after brilliant work down the stretch with the Rams. A plethora of players entered the portal, leaving this new staff having to replace former starters like Kyan Evans and Jaylen Crocker-Johnson. Rising junior guard Rashaan Mbemba is the best returning player and will certainly assume a bigger role, but reinforcements are coming to Fort Collins.
It’ll be hard to replicate what Clifford meant to the program, though there are several new faces in this backcourt. Jase Butler comes from Washington and Brandon Rechsteiner was just at Virginia Tech while Josh Pascarelli became an All-MAAC player out at Marist. The Rams added size in Augustinas Kiudulas, a former VMI forward, but it’s their other frontcourt addition that should raise eyebrows.
When looking just at raw numbers, Carey Booth doesn’t really jump off the page. He’s a 6-10 forward from Colorado who was considered a Top 60 prospect when he began his collegiate career at Notre Dame. After decent production, putting up 6.4 points and 4.3 rebounds per night, Booth transferred to Illinois and simply wasn’t a factor last season as a sophomore. He was a backup player for the Fighting Illini, scoring just 26 points all season in a very minor role.
Now back in his home state, Booth has a real chance her to be a major player. He simply didn’t get the opportunities he was hoping for at Illinois, but we could see his numbers really explode given the opportunity available with the Rams. Expect him to be the starting power forward, with a chance to grow into an important scorer and rebounder in the coming months. We’re not saying he can replace the production of their outgoing stars, but he’s a bigger athlete than anyone from last season.
The reason this move matters is beyond raw stats; Booth fills a massive hole in this rotation. He’s got great unproven talent and will finally have his chance to prove himself at Colorado State this season. With the new backcourt talent in town, there are a lot of moving pieces in this program’s final MWC campaign and it’s hard to know just what to expect. If Booth breaks out as some expect, don’t be shocked to see the Rams back near the top of the league standings again.