​As soon as the group was split into teams, Zay Mode kicked into gear.Zay Mode is unmistakable in, first of all, noise.As in talking. A lot.”Tried to stir the pot a little bit,” Isaiah Stevens said with a trademark sly smile.It’s alumni week around the Colorado State men’s basketball program and Stevens is one of the headliners as former Rams return for a few days to spend time with the current team.Stevens became infamous at CSU for his intensity and expectations of success. That focus, smack talk and his play all became Zay Mode.Now he’s an NBA player, but he returns every summer in the brief offseason to run five-on-five games and spend time with the current Rams.There’s a growing group of alumni who do the same. It’s an All-Star cast back at Moby this week. Stevens, Nique Clifford, Jalen Lake, Joel Scott, Josiah Strong, J.D. Paige. Others (like David Roddy and John Tonje) have returned in the past but had personal conflicts this year.Some other former players (Andy Ogide among them) sat on the sidelines July 22 as current players and alumni battled in five-on-five games.”When people ask about why I came back, this is part of it. Just the family aspect of it,” current CSU forward Kyle Jorgensen said.Jorgensen is the current CSU holder of the smack talk torch and was paired with Stevens on a team, leading to a nonstop flow of chatter.”We should not have put Kyle and Zay on the same team,” coach Ali Farokhmanesh said with a laugh. “I regret that decision.”The games are part growth (iron sharpens iron and all that), part fun, part nostalgia and a big part of the culture Farokhmanesh and Niko Medved before him worked to build.Stevens noted that in his early days he only saw a couple former Rams around ever. Now CSU’s strength of talent has spread players into the pros, from the NBA to various leagues overseas.That talent combined with a sense of unity brings them all back. Stevens and Clifford both spoke of the program with the collective “we” term, showing their care for it even after their departure.The talk from Stevens? Yes, it’s part of how he plays, but it’s part of his teaching. He wanted to see how this group reacted. And? “They responded and I love that,” Stevens said, while he also noted an increased skill and athletic roster.But this week isn’t just hoops. Even more alumni will join for a dinner and there are ample opportunities for current and former players to talk hoops or life.And yes, there’s some strategy in who gets paired up. Safe to bet that current freshman point guard Pops Dunson will be pushed to spend a lot of time with Stevens.”That’s why you do this. Show them why the (alumni) come back and what this place means to them and hopefully that gives these (current) guys some more ownership of what this place is eventually going to mean to them,” Farokhmanesh said.Clifford said he welcomes any current players to call and text him any time for advice. Stevens said it’s a no-brainer to continue returning to C