Perhaps the brightest spot from Colorado State's basketball team during the 2008-09 season was the emergence of true freshman point guard Jesse Carr.

Carr, the state of Nebraska's all-time leading three-point shooter, started 18 games for the Rams last year, was the team's eighth leading scorer with 8.8 points per game, led CSU in assists and always found a way to ignite his teammates with timely shots.

But towards the end of the season, Carr sustained an injury to his groin that slowed, and eventually stopped, his play.

With only three games left in the regular season for CSU, it looks like the redshirt will remain on Carr as he'll try to get prepped to play the entire season as an eligible sophomore in 2010-11.

"My groin is doing ok, it's definitely not where it needs to be to start doing everything in practice," Carr said. "I'm definitely still sitting out in practice with some stuff, but right now I'm just trying to be on the scout team and so far so good."

In light of Carr's injury, another true freshman point guard has stepped up for the Rams - Dorian Green of Lawrence, Kan. Carr says he's enjoyed seeing Green's success and is try to help the freshman all he can.

With his experience playing as a freshman last season, Carr also says he can help big men like 7-footer Trevor Williams, who is redshirting this year.

Despite not being able to suit up for Colorado State, aside from the four non-conference games he played in, Carr still feels he's a role player for the green and gold.

"I just kind of bring energy, especially when some of the practices start getting long," he said. "I just like to bring energy to the team and if I can be that guy, then that's what I'll do."

In those games against teams outside the Mountain West Conference, Carr scored 15 points in 36 minutes of play (3.8 ppg). He says there were points where he was optimistic about being able to take the redshirt off, but ultimately he just wasn't ready.

And while sitting on the bench during game time is one of the hardest things for Carr to do, especially after how well he performed last season, the Nebraska native knows it's for the best.

"It sucks. I wake up on game day and it's never quite the same as when I'm able to play," Carr said. "But the good thing is, I'll still have three years to play after this, but it's definitely hard."

Despite how tough it is for him, Carr is still rooting for the Rams to make a berth in a postseason tournament come March. Should they succeed, it would be Colorado State's first postseason appearance since the NCAA Tournament in 2003, which they were sent thanks to winning the MWC Championships.


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