Colorado State University Athletics
Senior Profile: Jamie Patrick
2/26/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Patrick Off The Court
FORT COLLINS, Colo. – For Colorado State’s senior guard Jamie Patrick, Hutchinson, Kan. was all she knew. Hutchinson is a small town of roughly 40,000, but Patrick is fast to note that it is quickly growing. Hailing from a small town, it can be hard to get noticed at the collegiate level, but for Patrick that wasn’t on her mind.
Like many high school kids, Patrick was a two-sport athlete, and like most of them, her favorite sport wavered depending on which one was in season at the moment. The Hutchinson native admits that she thinks she was probably a better volleyball player back in high school, but there weren’t any opportunities with volleyball at the next level. In fact, there weren’t any opportunities with basketball either for a long time.
It wasn’t until late in her senior year when Patrick was approached with an opportunity to continue her career. Hutchinson Community College was where her older sister played, so as Patrick tells it, she figures the school thought they might as well try their luck with another Patrick girl.
The move paid off for the school as Patrick left the school as the program’s all-time leading scorer and single-season scorer. Talking to Patrick though, you wouldn’t realize that she was a star player for her team, let alone that she held almost every single possible scoring record at the school when she left. She’s quick to detract attention from her, and even quicker to push her teammate’s into the spotlight.
“That team was really good,” Patrick says of her junior college team. “It was a bit like this team where we had so many good players and so many different girls that could score the ball. No one player really stood out.”
Despite the humility, Patrick began to stand out and colleges began approaching her about playing for them. She knew that she wanted to play for a winning program though, so that helped narrow down her list. Upon visiting Fort Collins and Colorado State’s campus, Patrick knew she had found her new home. She cancelled all of her remaining visits immediately, and began preparing for her future as a Ram.
At CSU, Patrick has helped propel the program to heights rarely seen across the nation. The Rams won a conference title in her first season with the team, when Patrick started the last 21 games for the team, and in her senior season, the team has broken numerous school records, earned a Top 25 ranking for the first time since 2002, and is on the verge of its third-straight Mountain West regular season title.
Mostly contributing as a scorer and a shooter her junior season, the senior guard transformed herself into a versatile two-way player during the offseason. She worked on her ball-handling and she put a great deal of effort into becoming an effective defensive player. So much so that she will earn some consideration for the Mountain West’s all-defensive team after regularly shutting down the opposition’s best scorer.
“Stepping into a leadership role was important for me,” Patrick said. “I had kind of been through what all the freshmen were going through last year when I was a junior, so I knew what that was like. I just wanted to be there for whoever needed me and show them the way.”
Patrick admits that she is a vocal leader and isn’t afraid to get on her teammates if they do something on the court, like passing on an open shot for instance. But it’s always with their best interest at heart and to get the most out of them for the team’s sake.
After all, it’s the team that is always the focus for CSU’s leading scorer. As far as her legacy is concerned, Patrick isn’t concerned about her individual accolades. Her legacy isn’t defined by her leaving the school in the top 10 all-time in 3-point makes, or by being the only player in that group to have not played for four years, but only two years. No individual stat could ever compete with the impact of the program and all of her teammates collectively in her mind.
“I hope that when I leave, people will think of our championships,” Patrick says. “Hopefully a three-peat, and then the pressure is on the next group to get the four-peat for us. I hope that attendance starts going up even more and people come out and support the program. If we were the start of that… That would be really cool.”
