Colorado St. Rams basketball coach Larry Eustachy built his Southern Miss Golden Eagles program on a foundation of junior college transfers, and recently talked about his desire to focus more on high school prospects for CSU, but 6-foot-10 junior-college transfer Gerson Santo is the first big player Eustachy has signed in the offseason. According to Kelly Lyell of the Coloradoan Santo was being courted by Illinois, Washington State, California and Utah, but he liked Eustachy and the direction the CSU program is headed:

"I saw the team, I saw the school, I saw the program, and I loved the people."

"I come from a junior-college program that's been winning right now, and I hate to lose," Santo said. "I think the coach and players there, they are winners."

Likewise, Eustachy was ecstatic to land Santo and had great things to say about the young big man:

"I think he was the best player, at this time, available in the country," Eustachy said. "... This just tells you why I took this job. If you can get someone on campus, and you have good connections with his people, you can sign anybody. It was a good fit for us and a good fit for him."

Eustachy was hired on April 12 to take over the Colorado State men's basketball program after Tim Miles left to become the head coach at Nebraska on March 23.

For more on CSU basketball, visit MWC blog Mountain West Connection and SB Nation Denver.