FORT COLLINS — Why Gopher broke, Kyle Jorgensen? NBA first-round draft picks since 2020 from CSU: Two. First-round draft picks since 2020 from the University of Minnesota: Zero.
“That’s the advice: (The NBA) will find you, no matter what,” Rams legend David Roddy, now a member of the Nuggets, told me at Moby Arena Saturday afternoon after we watched CSU’s eight-game win streak get snapped by Boise State, 78-67.
“So as long as you impact winning and impact the culture the way that we did our best to during my three years — and then Isaiah Stevens after that, and then Nique Clifford after that. So, yeah, just impacting winning and just changing the culture at (a place), the front offices appreciate that a little bit.”
Jorgensen is a 6-foot-9 forward, your classic stretch-4. He dropped 14 points, two treys and three blocks on the Broncos. He went into the weekend averaging 12 points, 4.3 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game. CSU is 17-8 when he plays, 3-3 when he doesn’t.
As a sophomore, Jorgensen is the kind of talent first-year coach Ali Farokhmanesh could build around, a big, strong dude with range, handles, and serious pro upside. Which is why the kid’s also reportedly on the radar of Power 4 programs who see a potential poach — including, possibly, one program from Jorgensen’s hometown of Minneapolis with a men’s hoops coach whose name rhymes with Piko Dedhed.
“I’ll be honest, I’m not hiding anything. It was tough (last year),” Jorgensen said when I approached him about an hour after the game. “(Staying) was the hardest decision to make last year. (The University of) Minnesota is 10 minutes from my house. That’s right there. So, it was tough. And it’s going to be tough.
“But, you know, I found a second home out here. My family loves it out here. I love it out here. I love the coaching staff. I love playing with these guys every day. Like I said, I don’t want to speak for the future, but I love it out here. I wouldn’t change it for the world.”
It’s a different world now for mid-majors — even bigger ones such as CSU. Different system. Different rules of engagement. Different money. Crazy money.
Minnesota or Iowa or Wisconsin could plop millions on the table for Jorgensen, right now, that the Rams simply can’t. Just as the Gophers could in luring Niko Medved home from FoCo a year ago. Big dogs eat the medium dogs. Medium dogs eat the little dogs. Little dogs reload. It’s the transfer portal circle of life.
Which is why I was curious to seek out Roddy, one of the biggest dawgs CSU hoops ever produced. Like Jorgensen, he’s a Minneapolis kid. Power 4 talent. Power 4 body. NBA skills.
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“Really, it’s about what you want,” Roddy stressed. “So my only hesitancy or caution (for Jorgensen) would be, ‘Is it going to help you achieve your dream quicker?’
“Because every basketball player wants to be in the NBA. So, if it’s a step up (in conferences) that you want so that you can achieve your NBA goal, then I’m all for it.
“But also, if staying here (at CSU), continuing to build the culture, continuing to reinstate the culture of basketball here — that matters just as much as if you’re going to go to a bigger school (where) maybe you’ll have a little bit less impact.”
On one hand, you’ve got the money. And the ability to test yourself against the absolute cream of the collegiate game.
On the other hand, big fishes from small ponds can also sink in an ocean of expectations and false promises.
Take Kyan Evans. One of last March’s Rams heroes, Evans took his services to North Carolina after Medved left. Coming into the weekend, the sharp-shooting guard has started 17 out of 30 games for the Tar Heels this season, shooting 31.1% on treys — all while averaging 4.4 points and 2.7 assists per game. Evans would’ve easily tripled those numbers had he stayed put and played his junior year in the Mountain West.
Take Drew Fielder. Please. Fielder, Boise State’s 6-foot-11 Dirk Nowitzki clone, twisted Jorgensen and his fellow Rams bigs into soft pretzels Saturday: 23 points, six boards, 10 makes on 15 field goal tries.
Unfortunately for Jorgensen, just about every Big Ten roster has a post player like Fielder — long, strong, quick pluggers with a hard elbow in your ribs and a soft touch at the rim. Actually, most starting Big Ten bigs would leave Fielder in the dust. Big Drew was a 6-point, 4-rebound-per-game guy in the Big East. He’s now averaging 14.5 points and six boards for Boise.
Bowen Born’s been there, too. He left Northern Iowa for CSU two years ago via the portal. He never looked back.
“It’s all just going to be what (Jorgensen) values,” Born, who sat courtside with Roddy, told me later. “And I think there’s good and bad to either decision.”
Coach Ali’s Rams, up and down through December and January, are 8-2 over their last 10 contests. Farokhmanesh is the first CSU coach to debut with a 20-win season (20-11) since Larry Eustachy in ’12-13. Born likes the Rams’ upside. Especially if Jorgensen returns.
“I think this is just an incredible group of people. And that translates to the entire program — that translates in that foundation,” Born said. “I think it’s only going to continue to grow. And next year, heading into the Pac-12, I think that’s something (where) they’re going to do really well in that conference, too.”
Medved never won eight Mountain West games in a row with the Rams. Neither did Eustachy.
They’ll fire triples through thick and thin, in sickness and in health. Once CSU’s collective defense and communication stepped up, so did the Rams’ record. Over that eight-game win streak, only two foes had shot better than 50% from the floor (UNLV, Air Force) and only one — the Zoomies — had connected at a 40% clip or better from beyond the arc.
Alas, Boise opened the tilt on a 6-0 run, and kept the Rams on the back foot most of the rest of the way, driving or kicking with impunity on the smaller CSU defenders.
Jase Butler’s layup with 7:46 until halftime gave the hosts their first lead on the afternoon, 21-20, but CSU went frigid after that. The Broncos closed the opening stanza on a 16-7 run, outscoring the Rams 9-2 over the final 4:13. Boise went into halftime trouncing the hosts in second-chance points (13-2) and on the boards (21-11).
“Ali always says, ‘You want to be playing your best basketball in March,'” Jorgensen said. “It did take a while to figure things out. With a new team like this, we don’t have tons of seniors that came to the program this year. We were relatively new. So it took time to figure stuff out.”
Jorgensen’s going to have more stuff to figure out. Big stuff.
“It’s definitely not a decision that’s easy for any 18-, 19-, or 20-year-old kid to make,” Roddy said. “There’s a lot of money involved now that makes it even more murky. But my only caution to him would be if it’s going to help better you as a basketball player. And as a human.”
The money may be greener on the other side of the fence. But soft grass to land on is never guaranteed. Ever.
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