Colorado State University Athletics
Senior Profile: Alana Arias
2/28/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Arias Off The Court
FORT COLLINS, Colo. – For senior forward Alana Arias, the NBA was the only thing she had heard of growing up in Brazil. It wasn’t until she moved to Virginia for the end of high school that she realized that collegiate basketball was a big deal for everyone.
Skipping her junior year of high school, Arias graduated from school at an extremely young age and didn’t attract too many big offers from schools. Her coach at the time advised her to go the junior college route to further develop her game and make a name for herself at that level. And make a name for herself is exactly what Arias did.
Arias utilized her freshman year to continue to adjust to the American style of play and develop her individual moves more, and by her sophomore year, when her team was nationally ranked and playing in big tournaments in front of coaches from across the country, she was ready for them to take notice.
Enter Colorado State assistant coach Tim Moser, who came to some of the team’s practices to watch a different girl on the team. It didn’t take long, however, for Moser’s attention to turn towards Arias, a skilled post player with soft touch around the rim and quick feet. The two of them instantly bonded, allowing CSU to get the inside track on Arias even though she hadn’t been familiar with the program or school beforehand.
Arias took a visit and instantly committed to the school, preparing for her new role with a new team. Always having been a star player on her team, Arias was committing to a school fresh off of a regular season conference championship with an already established rotation and starters.
“At first it was kind of hard, not going to lie,” Arias said of coming off the bench. “But that’s also part of why I wanted to come here. I knew I could play a lot and make a big impact. For me, it’s not really about who starts because you can start and not play as many minutes as a girl off the bench. It’s just about getting playing time and helping your team when you are out there.”
Arias quickly adjusted to her bench role in her junior year, but after a disappointing end to the season, Arias was motivated to do her part to help take the team to the next level. The Brazil native put in countless hours of work in the offseason working on her post moves, her footwork, transforming and tuning her offensive game. The hard work paid dividends for her individually, and for CSU’s team, as Arias quickly established herself as perhaps the most dominant bench player in the Mountain West.
“From the first time we all practiced together when we went overseas, we knew we had something special,” Arias said. “I think we have really good individual pieces, but when we added them together, we all knew how good we could be and what our potential was.”
That sentiment has been a consistent message across the team and all of the individual players. Don’t bother asking them about their individual talents or accolades, because it’s the collective team that makes the group special.
“It’s not about me individually,” Arias said. “I know this team is very special; we don’t have one key player. Whether it is our starters or our bench players, we are so good because we all benefit from each other. We have many players that can go off on any night. I really think, hope, that our team will leave a really great legacy.”