FORT COLLINS — Becky Hammon sure looks lonely up there.
“If No. 4 is not retired in men’s basketball, I don’t know what else you have to do,” CSU men’s basketball coach Niko Medved said Saturday of Isaiah Stevens, the rock of the Niko Era and the best point guard in Rams men’s history. “I mean, it’s not just being a Hall of Fame player. It’s being just above and beyond that — a once-in-a-lifetime kind of person.”
The next Stevens leaves CSU for a sweetheart NIL deal after Year 2. He hops to a Power 5 school after Year 3 to jack up his NBA draft stock.
The next Zay never looks back.
Which is why, when Stevens looks back, he should see his name and number hanging from the rafters at Moby Arena. A memento of an era that’s come and gone. A memorial to greatness. A tribute to Isaiah, the kid who finished what he started.
“He embraced it. He felt at home,” Barry Stevens, Zay’s father, told me as we watched CSU (21-9, 9-8 Mountain West) top rival Wyoming, 70-62. “And he adapted right away. And so everything has just worked out very well for him. Very well. It’s been a blessing.”
So was he. Nobody else should wear Stevens’ No. 4 at CSU because no one else will wear it the same way. Maybe ever. In an era of name, image, likeness payout wars, the transfer portal, COVID-19 and the rise of the G League, Zay was one of one. The Ram’s Ram. Stalwart and true to the last.
“He’s a unicorn,” Medved said of Stevens, CSU’s all-time leader in points and assists, adding 12 and two, respectively, to help the hosts snap a three-game losing skid.
“How cool is that, to have a legacy like that some place? And that doesn’t mean it’s right for every person. But boy, that’s pretty special stuff.”
Five years. One guy. One school. One jersey.
You got that spot near the roof picked out, Dad? What d’ya think? Left of Hammon? Or to the right?
Barry Stevens grinned at that one.
“Well,” he replied with a laugh, “we’ll let others decide that.”
Fair enough. So what say you, John Weber?
I caught up with CSU’s interim athletic director after the game in the hallway just outside the arena.
“Take off the administrator’s hat for a second,” I said. “As a Rams alum, don’t you want to see it?”
“As a Ram?” Weber asked with a smile.
I nodded.
He paused.
“Yes,” Weber said.
Ball’s in your court, John.
Although it’s Zay’s court, really. No CSU men’s hoops player scored more points in green and gold. Almost no one in the Rams’ modern era nailed bigger shots, consistently, when they mattered most.
Stevens was at his absolute best when Moby was quietest. When the skies were darkest.
Take Saturday. With 3:46 left in a game that, on paper, had no business being that close, the Rams led Wyoming by one, 61-60. A six-point lead for the hosts at the half and an 11-point cushion four minutes into the second stanza had gone up in smoke.
And then you-know-who took over. Zay Time. Again.
Stevens turned the corner on his man, beating him for a layup. 63-60.
Another corner turned, this one on the Pokes’ Mason Walters. Another deuce, this time with the and-one foul tacked on. 66-60.
With 52 seconds left, Stevens crashed the paint again and found Patrick Cartier cutting in from the right of the lane, feeding him for the easy two. 68-60. A 7-0 run out of nothing.
“When it’s time for him to get going, play calls kind of get a little more aggressive for him,” noted senior teammate Joel Scott, who poured in a game-high 20 points. “And it’s kind of fun, because everyone knows what he’s about to do. And no one can stop it.”
Stevens was due. Scott was due. Medved was due. Lordy, were Rammies fans due.
Five of CSU’s eight league losses have come by six points or fewer. Unlike the Nuggets, if the Rams do have an “on” switch, they’re still stumbling about a darkened room, stubbing toes, trying to find the blasted thing.
“I think honestly it’s just continuing to let the game flow as a point guard,” Stevens said. “Other people got it going on, like (Cartier) and Joe did (Saturday). And Nique (Clifford) had some things going his way. I’m not just going to try to force it, really put myself in the middle of that, because I’m feeling some kind of way about my performance.”
Nobody reads a room the way Zay does, on or off the court. All-time guard. Even better dude. Stevens didn’t just help ingratiate Clifford, a former CU rival and transfer, into the Rams’ fold last year. After every home game, win or lose, No. 4 also made it a point to reach out to Clifford’s parents in the stands.
“Isaiah makes sure that he comes and finds us,” Akai Clifford told me. “There has never been a time where he has not found us to say hello and give us love. And that tells me what kind of person he is and the kind of person he was, always — his mom and dad are the same way. They just show love.”
On Saturday, Moby showed it right back. With 3.6 seconds left, the game secured, Medved took Stevens off to a rousing ovation.
As fans waved tiny “THANK YOU 4” placards like lighters at a Lynyrd Skynyrd concert, Zay rode a wave of hugs back to the home bench.
“MVP! MVP! MVP!” they chanted.
Five years. One guy. One school. One jersey.
“You look up and go, ‘Wow, where did the time go?’” Barry Stevens reflected. “But it’s been a great ride.”
A legendary run. All the way to the rafters.
