Student Athlete of the Week Rohit Das

Rohit Das wasn't exactly left satisfied with how his junior season played out on the Niwot High School boys basketball team. Yes, he enjoyed several strong moments, but the Cougars' final record of 7-16 weighs heavy.

"It was up and down, and it was a little bit disappointing," the junior point guard said. "I thought we could have won a lot more games. But our team was young, so it'll be fun next year."

Das did, however, play a key role in Niwot winning three of its final four games. At Mountain View High School on Feb. 8, he drilled four 3-pointers en route to scoring a season-high 26 points. The Cougars won that game, 62-56, to break an eight-game losing streak.

"My teammates did a good job of finding me," Das said of his dominant shooting performance in Loveland. "Sebastian (Stenz), in particular, did a good job of creating for me, and the coaches put me in good spots."

Only five days later, Das connected on another four shots from beyond the arc in Niwot's 62-49 win over Fort Morgan High School.

"I just like making the right play," Das said. "I like shooting a lot of 3s, I like finishing, I like scoring on all three levels, really. When I go out there, I just want to go have fun."

Winning, as it does for most competitors, yields the most enjoyment for Das. Although he recognizes how difficult this past season was for Niwot, Das believes the young Cougars are headed in the right direction under first-year head coach Walker Bounds.

Das would like to see Niwot's rise mimic that of the NFL's Detroit Lions, a team that rose from winning only three games in 2021 to reaching the NFC Championship game just last month.

"Nothing's easy," Das said." If anything was easy, then everyone else would have done it already. You have to lose before you win."

The strong final stretch Niwot had to its 2023-24 campaign created some positive momentum heading into the offseason, Das believes. "Finishing on a strong note, especially as a young team, will help," he said.

Das already has his sights on reaching the Class 4A state playoffs next season.

"I just want to work really hard because I want to try to make playoffs next year," he said. "Our schedule is a lot harder next year, but I think it'll be really fun because we're going to play a lot of teams that are near Broomfield where I live.... As a team, we'll have a lot of fun, and we'll have a lot of success from all the struggles we had this season as a young team."

Das added that he'll miss playing alongside Niwot's two graduating seniors, Jackson Carano and Brighton Langenegger. "They worked really hard and it was fun playing with them," Das said.

He also thanked Niwot's coaching staff for helping him develop throughout the season.