While he sits in the green room Wednesday night in Brooklyn, N.Y., waiting for his name to be called by an NBA team, the question won’t be if former Colorado State star Nique Clifford will be drafted in the first round, but how high will he go.

Clifford, whose draft stock skyrocketed during his final season at CSU, has a chance to be the program’s second first-round draft pick in four years and the third since 2007.

He is projected to be a mid-to-late first-round selection.

But before the Colorado native received the invite for himself and his family to attend Wednesday night’s event at the Barclays Center, his career went from a promising college recruit out of The Vanguard School in Colorado Springs to an honorable mention All-American in Fort Collins — with a stop in Boulder in between.

Clifford was a four-star player out of high school, where he was a two-time, first-team all-state selection and the Gatorade Colorado player of the year after a senior season in which he averaged 24.5 points and 13.3 rebounds in 24 games.

The Coursers lost in the Class 3A Great 8 that season.

His journey then took him to Boulder, where he played three seasons with the Buffs.

He played in 82 games, made one NCAA Tournament and two NIT Tournament appearances, and averaged 5.4 points and 3.6 rebounds.

He knew he had the potential to be a more productive and prolific player, so he transferred up I-25 to CSU, where now-former head coach Niko Medved and current head coach Ali Farokhmanesh knew he could be a great player as well.

During his first year at CSU, he complemented point guard Isaiah Stevens, who was in his last season of a decorated career with the Rams. He averaged 12.2 points per game and helped lead the Rams to the NCAA Tournament, where they won a First Four game before losing to Texas in the round of 64.

More importantly, he found his love for the game again under Medved and Farokhmanesh.

“I didn’t know what I was getting myself into, coming to Colorado State,” Clifford said at Mountain West Conference media days last October. “You never really know until you actually get somewhere. But it was a great move from me and my family, just gaining the love and passion back for basketball that I kind of lost a little bit when I was at Colorado. So, it was a perfect situation for me.”

Clifford tested the NBA Draft waters following his first season at CSU but ended up deciding to return to Fort Collins for his final year of eligibility. It turned out to be as good of a decision as the one that first led him to CSU.

In his last season at CSU, Clifford was nothing less than spectacular. He averaged 18.9 points and 9.6 rebounds and earned first-team all-Mountain West honors.

“I never really thought I was going to be in college for five years, but it was a great decision for me,” he said. “I think what led to that decision was ultimately for me to come back and improve my draft stock and become a better player, get to be a leader of a team and just take on that challenge and just grow as a man and a player.”

Embedded in the Rams’ run to the Mountain West tournament championship and eventually the second round of the NCAA Tournament last season, Clifford had some masterful and dominating performances.

He scored 31 points in the Rams’ second game of the season against Tennessee State. At Boise State on March 7, he scored a season-high 36 points on 13-of-18 shooting. In the Mountain West tournament championship game, also against Boise State, he scored 24 points and was named the tournament MVP.

Since the end of the Rams’ season, a 72-71 loss to Maryland in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, Clifford attended the NBA Draft combine and has worked out individually for several teams.

If he gets selected in the first round Wednesday, he will be the program’s fourth first-round draft pick and the first since David Roddy was the 23rd pick by the Philadelphia 76ers in 2022. Prior to Roddy, the Rams’ last first-round pick was Jason Smith, who was picked 20th by the Miami Heat in 2007.

Farokhmanesh, who was an assistant under Medved during Clifford’s two seasons at CSU, knows what kind of player he can be in the NBA and what he has that can make him successful.

“He has the humility to understand, like, ‘I love where I’m at. I am where my feet are, but I know I can take that next step and get better,’” Farokhmanesh said. “I think that’s what made him so good, even coming back after going through that (pre-draft) process.

“I think it’s hard to go through that process, come back to college and really dive into the things that you’ve got to get better at. And he did it. That’s why I know when he takes that next step to the NBA, he’s going to have that same mindset of like, ‘This is not an arrival point, it’s a launching point.’”

The first round of the draft will begin at 6 p.m. Wednesday and be broadcast on ABC and ESPN. Thursday’s second round will begin at 6 p.m. and be televised on ESPN.