How Noah Feddersen ended up at Colorado

Many schools wanted former North Dakota State center Noah Feddersen.

Colorado needed him.

The Buffs lost their entire frontcourt to the transfer portal this offseason, highlighted by mobile forwards Sebastian Rancik and Bangot Dak. Plus, CU was one of the worst rebounding teams in the Big 12 last season.

“(One) thing that always stuck with me, and that I loved about Colorado, is just how much they made it known that they really wanted me to go there, but also they needed me to go there,” Feddersen told BuffStampede, sharing that other schools were considering several big men, not just him. “Colorado, it was always, ‘You’re our guy. We really want you here.’ And they always emphasized how important that was, and I think that that meant a lot to me in the process.”

The 6-foot-10, 245-pound Feddersen signed with Colorado on April 17, shortly after an official visit. He’s rated a three-star transfer and the No. 52 center in the portal.

While the message, the coaching staff and nice facilities were factors in his decision to play his final collegiate year in Boulder, so were the words of his former head coach, David Richman.

“It’s not what the school can do for (you),” Richman likes to tell his players, “but really, what can (you) do for the school?”

Feddersen says that’s why he returned to North Dakota State for his junior season last spring for his fourth year at the school. And it paid off. The 27-8 Bison won the Summit League, punching a ticket to March Madness.

Feddersen, though a starter for almost his entire NDSU career, took a role off the bench midway through the year. While still playing the most minutes of any Bison big, he averaged 9.3 points and 5.0 rebounds per game, winning the Summit League Sixth Man of the Year.

Sure, his averages don’t necessarily jump off the page, especially with Feddersen set to make the jump to the Big 12. Yet he offered a versatile skill set in his three seasons in Fargo, North Dakota. He showcased an ability to work off the dribble and step out for 3-pointers, shooting 35.3% from deep on 1.7 3-point attempts per game. His mobility translated to the defensive end, as well.

“On both sides of the ball, I think I can do a lot of different things where I’m very diversified in my skill set,” Feddersen said. “Offensively, I can spread the floor and shoot it. I can post up. I can put the ball on the floor a little bit, drive by slower guys, and post up smaller guys. So I got some of both games. I’d say I’m really well-balanced on that side of the ball.

“Defensively, I would say the same thing. I’m able to move and switch onto some guards and stay in front of them. (NDSU) did some of that this year and the last couple of years, having that option to switch ball screens and stuff like that, but also have the strength and athleticism and length to guard bigger guys as well.”

Now, with fellow transfer forwards Justin Neely from UNC Greensboro and David Gomez from Charlotte joining him at CU, Feddersen looks to take the next step in his basketball career and translate his game to arguably the country’s top men’s basketball conference.

Betting on himself

Ending up at a Big 12 school wasn’t always in the sights for Feddersen.

Growing up in Menomonie, Wisconsin, Feddersen was tall, but rarely the tallest on his team. He played the three and four for most of his childhood. A growth spurt in his sophomore year of high school pushed him to the center position, where he went on to average 17.2 points and 8.0 rebounds per game as a senior.

Still, he remained unranked in the class of 2022, holding just a handful of Division-I offers. The Division-II route seemed more likely for Feddersen.

Yet, he felt otherwise.

“It could have been really easy for me to play it safe and go to a Division-II school,” Feddersen recalled. “But to choose North Dakota State, the Division-I level and challenge myself is something that I think really wraps up who I am as a person. (I’m) looking for those opportunities to get better and to get uncomfortable and push myself.”

Of course, production and playing time didn’t come right away. Feddersen redshirted his freshman season at NDSU.

However, that lone year prepared him to be one of the Bison’s best frontcourt players for several years.

Battling Grant Nelson

While Feddersen had a lot of work to do coming out of high school, he got after it as a redshirt. He had to, still having to fill into his late growth spurt.

“My redshirt year was really a blessing for me to get a whole season to just develop my skill set and my body,” Feddersen said. “I think I gained like 15 or something pounds of muscle, which was great to be able to guard those bigs and with how physical they can be at the college level.”

Ultimately, the improvement came down to Feddersen.

Yet, with former Brooklyn Nets forward Grant Nelson starring for the Bison that season, averaging 17.9 points and 9.3 rebounds amid a First-Team All-Summit campaign, Feddersen’s size and mobility forced them to clash in practice. While Nelson’s “unicorn”-esque mixtape at NDSU went viral, bringing him to the Alabama Crimson Tide before the NBA, Feddersen was the man behind the scenes putting him to work.

“I think as the year went on, you could ask some of my coaches that were there or teammates, and they would even say I was putting up a good fight against him and getting the best of him sometimes,” Feddersen recalled. “So that was definitely a great opportunity to just have someone like that to go against every single day throughout the season and help prepare me for the next season.”

With Feddersen able to go toe-to-toe with a future SEC starter and NBA player daily, his ability expanded as quickly as he put on muscle. Tapping back into his younger days, where he spent time on the wing, he was able to work off the dribble and step out for 3s, but also banging inside against the 6-foot-11 Nelson. Defensively, he had to worry about Nelson’s combination of smoothness and athleticism.

“It taught me, you know, how to guard a player with that skillset at that size,” Feddersen said. “Then on the offensive side, how to go against that size and get used to that and learn what you need to be able to do to be successful.”

Throughout the lone season that the two played with one another, Nelson always looked out for Feddersen. And Feddersen applied what he learned to his game.

“He was such a great guy,” Feddersen said. “Always wanting to answer any questions I had and work with me to get better that one year we were on the team together.”

Wanting to play with Hargress

Now three years later, with Feddersen making his respective leap to a high-major program, he is ready to mesh with his new teammates.

Weeks before Feddersen committed to CU, its star point guard, Barrington Hargress, announced he’d return to Boulder for his final year of collegiate hoops. Hargress averaged 14.7 points and 4.5 assists per game last season after transferring from UC Riverside. He also led the Big 12 in assist-to-turnover ratio.

“I think when you look at a lot of good and a lot of great teams, you’ll see you need to have a really good point guard and a really good big,” Feddersen said. “So, them already having that great point guard coming back, his assist numbers, the way he’s unselfish and moves the ball around, is obviously someone that, as a big, you really want to play with.”

Along with Hargress, Colorado returned rising sophomores Josiah Sanders, Jalin Holland and Ian Inman. While Sanders looks to take on some more point guard duties, Holland, a solid defender, and Inman, a 3-point sniper, are hoping to tap into their two-way potential.

“Those three freshmen, they’ve all got a little bit of experience this year playing, are all super skilled,” Feddersen said. “Watching them work out while I was up there on my visits, you could tell how skilled they were and how hungry they were to keep getting better and to win.”

While head coach Tad Boyle has at least three more spots to fill, Feddersen likes where the Buffs currently stand.

“I’m really liking the pickups that they’ve gotten,” Feddersen said. “The Neely kid from UNC Greensboro, really excited that they got him. He had some great numbers. (He’s) a really good rebounder, great big guard. Obviously, need rebounding to win games…

“I really like the spot that we’re at going into this offseason.”

Starting in the summer

Feddersen has a short list of goals for the next 365 days, topped with making it to March Madness and competing for a Big 12 championship.

Having made the Big Dance before, he understands that both those things start with work in the summer. It’s why he’s excited for the experience that CU retained and brought in.

“You make it (to the national tournament) by the work that you put in in the offseason, and the things you do to prepare yourself for those games in the fall and throughout the season,” Feddersen said.

And it’s why his third aspiration is getting to know his new teammates.

“I’m just really excited to get up there and, first off, have a great summer and a great offseason, and also just get to meet all these guys and get close with them,” Feddersen said. “I think that’s one thing, especially in today’s age of college basketball, which can really help teams, especially later in the season, is the bond that you make in the offseason and the friendships that you form in the short time that you are together.”

With the offseason still quite fresh, not even a week-and-a-half removed from Michigan’s national championship win, there is still some time before Feddersen and the Buffs can first get on a court together. And as Boyle said countless times throughout last summer, “there is a lot of time between now and March.”

How things will play out will have to be seen.

Yet Feddersen has done well with time throughout his life, improving each year and proving himself at each level along the way.