Thames getting great attention

Mark Ziegler on Xavier Thames:

Xavier Thames is in his third season as SDSU’s starting point. This was the first time he played a conference opener healthy.

As a sophomore, he tweaked a knee in practice Dec. 21, sat out three games and, really, wasn’t the same for the rest of the season. He scored in double figures seven times in 12 games before the injury, and only twice in the next 12 games.

As a junior, he wrenched his back in the final nonconference game. He missed four games and didn’t start five others. It wasn’t until March that he put together back-to-back double-figure games again, and by then he had lost his fitness.

Here’s what happens when he’s healthy: 21.2 points, 15 of 24 on 3s (62.5 percent) in SDSU’s five games this season away from home. Colorado State coach Larry Eustachy called him the “early” MVP of the conference after a 23-point, five-steal game Wednesday. “There’s not a better player in the league than Thames,” Eustachy gushed. “We knew it. I think it showed last year. There were huge expectations for this team, and Thames was in and out of the lineup. Where they could have been an Elite Eight/Final Four team, he was never quite healthy and I think it showed. 

“He’s a special, special, special player.”