WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — While his minutes on the court dwindled, Ethan Morton remained all about team during his final basketball season at Purdue, helping the Boilermakers reach the Final Four and national championship.

Now, in a sense, it’s all about him.

Only a few weeks after entering the transfer portal, the 6-foot-7 Butler graduate has announced he will play his final collegiate season at Colorado State.

“I want to get back to playing like myself,” Morton said. “I want to be able to handle the basketball, be a playmaker, use my pullup jumper, plus use the defensive skills I’ve picked up in college and show that I can be an effective two-way player.”

After entering the portal, Morton received phone calls from many teams.

“I had a list of 10 to 12 teams or so, so it wasn’t overwhelming,” he said. “I visited Wright State (Ohio) first, Colorado State second and UMass third. Colorado State seemed like the best fit for me.

“They have talented players there now and there’s a good freshman group coming in. This is going to take hard work to crack their lineup and I’m going to put in that hard work.”

The Rams recently gave a long-term extension to coach Niko Medved, who has guided the Rams to four 20-win seasons in the past six years. Colorado State has been to the NCAA Tournament twice in the past three years, including this past season. They finished 25-11, defeating Virginia in a “First Four” Game before losing to Texas.

The Rams are graduating a few guards and have four freshmen and a sophomore guard coming back next year.

“Nothing is guaranteed, but Ethan is walking into a good situation there,” Butler basketball coach Matt Clement said. “He’s already a leader and with the experiences he’s had, he’d be a great player to have on any team.”

But Morton wants more than that.

“My goal is to start,” he said. “If I didn’t feel like I had a realistic shot to do that, I wouldn’t be going there.

“I want to keep playing basketball for as long as I can. I’ve always taken care of my body with that in mind. I’m hoping to use this next season to set me up for playing somewhere (professionally) afterward.”

Morton started 29 games during his junior season at Purdue, playing 880 minutes. He started no games as a senior, playing 370 minutes. He graduated from the university with a degree in finance in December.

He admits he’s going to Colorado State — located in Fort Collins — “to concentrate on hoops.”

Colorado State is a member of the Mountain West Conference, which sent a league-record six teams to the NCAA tourney this past season.

“It’s a great league,” Morton said. “Different league, different style. Teams in this conference play fast and I love that. I want to get the ball and go.”

“Ethan wants to get back to being like the player we remember him as in high school,” Clement said. “That doesn’t mean scoring 2,000 points. It means being the type of player who can affect a game in numerous ways.

“I think he’s going to do that.”