Nico Carvacho will always be remembered for his time rocking the green and gold of Colorado State University. Carvacho was at the top of the national leaderboard for rebounding with 12.9 rebounds per game as a junior. He also did his part as the key offensive threat for the CSU Rams, scoring on average 16.1 points per game. His reward for a dominant season was being selected for the 2018-19 first-team All-Mountain West Conference team.

Before the 2019-20 season, Carvacho placed his name into the 2019 Nation Basketball Association draft class. In previous years, this draft declaration would effectively take away the college athletic eligibility Carvacho had remaining, but thanks to the NCAA changing this rule, Carvacho was able to test the waters of the 2019 draft before his senior year of basketball at CSU.

Fans were grateful that Carvacho was returning for the 2019-20 season. Carvacho was an all-conference star that could clean the glass and be an absolute pest inside the key, a brick in the road towards the Mountain West Championship game. However, Carvacho’s production had an unfortunate drop-off. He finished the 2019-20 season averaging 10.8 rebounds per game and 12.9 points per game. His senior year was definitely not as electric as his junior campaign, but his efforts still managed to land him on the second-team All-Mountain West Conference team. 

After a drop-off in production, Carvacho’s draft stock took a downward trajectory. At the end of the 2020 draft, Carvacho found himself without a call from an NBA general manager. Thankfully, this was not the end of Carvacho’s career, as he has recently signed a contract to play in Europe in the Bulgarian first division for Rilski Sportist. The now former CSU basketball player is on to the next stage of his basketball career.

https://twitter.com/NicoCarvacho25/status/1304860083571118080

This won’t be Carvacho’s first time playing abroad. In 2013, Carvacho, a Chilean citizen, competed in Uruguay for Chile in the FIBA Americas Under-16 Championship. In 2014, he continued to represent Chile, this time in Germany in the Albert Schweitzer Tournament. He was also an all-tournament honorable mention in 2016 in the South American Basketball Championship hosted by Venezuela.

CSU Rams fans should be excited for the future of one of their fondest former Rams. Carvacho will bring excellent rebounding, rim protection and size to his new team. He is also an excellent passer for a big man, offering something that players haven’t seen much of from opposing bigs. Carvacho is posed to have a great start to his professional basketball career. With a bit of luck and a lot of hard work, Rams fans may see Carvacho make his way to the NBA in the future. 

Bailey Bassett can be reached at sports@collegian.com or on Twitter @baileybassett_.