Post by mhbruin on Jun 3, 2022 9:00:35 GMT -8
Next are the 4th place Colorado Buffaloes. The Buffaloes have been one of the more consistent teams in the Pac-12 under Tad Boyle. They are usually one of the top 6 teams in the league, but they never finish higher than 3rd. They have been to 5 NCAA tournaments and they have two tournament wins in his 12 seasons.
They are never bad. They are never great. By Colorado standards, that makes him a great coach. He has the best winning percentage for a Buffs coach since Frosty Cox, who coached there from 1936 to 1950. I don't remember him either.
GRADUATING
IN THE DRAFT OR TURNING PRO
Jabari Walker led the Pac-12 in rebounding. He led the team in scoring, rebounds, and blocks. I think that makes him their best player. (He also led them in turnovers.)
Battey was #2 in scoring and rebounding for the Buffs, and he led the team in FG% and 3-point percent. I think that makes him their second-best player.
These two started every game, and just losing the two of them is significant loss for Colorado, but that is just the start.
TRANSFERRING OUT
Barthélémy was their 3rd-leading scorer and he led the team in A/TO ratio. He is the closest thing they had to a true PG.
Parquet was considered their best defender, but missed half the season with an injury.
Essentially the four players leaving are 4 of their 5 starters.
RETURNING
Note about classes: With the extra year of eligibility, there is no clear way to label players. If a player is in his 4th season, but will have another year of eligibility after this year, I am calling him "Jr 4".
Coach Boyle always plays a lot of players, so even though 4 starters are leaving, he returns quite a bit of experience. However this roster is fairly young.
Tad Boyle seems to do a good job of finding lightly-recruited players who turn out to be good college players. McKinley Wright is a great example of this. However, few of these guys turn out to be great players. Most of these guys have a lower ceiling than the 5-star prospects. They can still be quality Pac-12 players.
Exhibit A is Tristan da Silva. He wasn't considered nearly as good a prospect as his brother Oscar, but he has turned out to be very good player who could end up just as good as Oscar.
Exhibit B is Luke O'Brien (who is no relation to Luke Brian). He came to Colorado from Columbine High School, which has the sad distinction of starting the trend of school shootings (unless you count the 1966 University of Texas tower shooting.) He had a good freshman year for a very lightly-recruited player.
KJ Simpson didn't have a good freshman year shooting, but otherwise, he played very well. He may not be a true PG, but he may be forced to play the point.
When Elijah Parquet went down with an injury, Clifford was put into the starting lineup. He showed some flashes of being a good player, but he was a bit inconsistent.
Luke Lovering is the highest rated player on the roster. He didn't look like it before going down with an injury. He is the only "experienced" center on the roster.
RECRUITS
(#89 class, #10 in Pac-12)
Hurlburt had some offers from pretty good schools. He will have to play backup center.
Hadley turned down Buffalo to play for the Buffaloes.
This is not an exciting class. Will Tad Boyle continue finding hidden gems among the lower-ranked recruits? He will need to.
TRANSFERRING IN
Coach Boyle brought in two transfers from the top two teams in the Ivy League.
Ethan Wright comes from Ivy champion Princeton, where he led the team in rebounding and was a good outside shooter.
Jalen Gabbidon played for the 2nd-place team, and he was Ivy League Defensive Player of Year. He led the team in steals.
It is always hard to evaluate players who did well at lower level, but they are taking a big jump up in class.
CONCLUSION
They are never bad. They are never great. By Colorado standards, that makes him a great coach. He has the best winning percentage for a Buffs coach since Frosty Cox, who coached there from 1936 to 1950. I don't remember him either.
GRADUATING
| Player | Games | Starts | Minutes | Points | Rebounds | Assists |
| None |
IN THE DRAFT OR TURNING PRO
| Player | Games | Starts | Minutes | Points | Rebounds | Assists |
| Jabari Walker | 33 | 33 | 28 | 15 | 9 | 1 |
| Evan Battey | 33 | 33 | 29 | 13 | 5 | 1 |
Jabari Walker led the Pac-12 in rebounding. He led the team in scoring, rebounds, and blocks. I think that makes him their best player. (He also led them in turnovers.)
Battey was #2 in scoring and rebounding for the Buffs, and he led the team in FG% and 3-point percent. I think that makes him their second-best player.
These two started every game, and just losing the two of them is significant loss for Colorado, but that is just the start.
TRANSFERRING OUT
| Player | Games | Starts | Minutes | Points | Rebounds | Assists | Destination |
| Keeshawn Barthélémy | 33 | 28 | 26 | 11 | 2 | 2 | Oregon |
| Elijah Parquet | 18 | 17 | 30 | 7 | 2 | 1 | UNLV |
Barthélémy was their 3rd-leading scorer and he led the team in A/TO ratio. He is the closest thing they had to a true PG.
Parquet was considered their best defender, but missed half the season with an injury.
Essentially the four players leaving are 4 of their 5 starters.
RETURNING
Note about classes: With the extra year of eligibility, there is no clear way to label players. If a player is in his 4th season, but will have another year of eligibility after this year, I am calling him "Jr 4".
| Player | Games | Starts | Minutes | Points | Rebounds | Assists | FG% | 3Pt% | A/TO | Class | Recruiting Stars | Recruiting Rank |
| Tristan da Silva | 31 | 31 | 28 | 9 | 4 | 2 | 48% | 37% | 1.1 | So 3 | Unranked | |
| KJ Simpson | 32 | 1 | 21 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 38% | 25% | 1.3 | So | 4 | 86 |
| Nique Clifford | 33 | 17 | 23 | 7 | 5 | 1 | 45% | 40% | 0.9 | So 3 | 4 | 116 |
| Julian Hammond III | 29 | 5 | 12 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 35% | 42% | 1.2 | So | 3 | 234 |
| Luke O'Brien | 33 | 0 | 14 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 44% | 46% | 1.3 | So 3 | 3 | 419 |
| Lawson Lovering | 18 | 0 | 11 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 30% | 0.6 | So | 4 | 58 |
Coach Boyle always plays a lot of players, so even though 4 starters are leaving, he returns quite a bit of experience. However this roster is fairly young.
Tad Boyle seems to do a good job of finding lightly-recruited players who turn out to be good college players. McKinley Wright is a great example of this. However, few of these guys turn out to be great players. Most of these guys have a lower ceiling than the 5-star prospects. They can still be quality Pac-12 players.
Exhibit A is Tristan da Silva. He wasn't considered nearly as good a prospect as his brother Oscar, but he has turned out to be very good player who could end up just as good as Oscar.
Exhibit B is Luke O'Brien (who is no relation to Luke Brian). He came to Colorado from Columbine High School, which has the sad distinction of starting the trend of school shootings (unless you count the 1966 University of Texas tower shooting.) He had a good freshman year for a very lightly-recruited player.
KJ Simpson didn't have a good freshman year shooting, but otherwise, he played very well. He may not be a true PG, but he may be forced to play the point.
When Elijah Parquet went down with an injury, Clifford was put into the starting lineup. He showed some flashes of being a good player, but he was a bit inconsistent.
Luke Lovering is the highest rated player on the roster. He didn't look like it before going down with an injury. He is the only "experienced" center on the roster.
RECRUITS
(#89 class, #10 in Pac-12)
| Player | Size | Position | Recruiting Stars | Recruiting Rank | Offers |
| Joe Hurlburt | 6-10 229 | C | 3 | 130 | Iowa, Iowa St, Minnesota, Nebraska |
| RJ Smith | 6-4 180 | SG | Unranked | New Mexico, Portland, San Diego | |
| J'Vonne Hadley | 6-6 215 | SG | JUCO | Oregon State, BYU, Butler, Buffalo | |
Hurlburt had some offers from pretty good schools. He will have to play backup center.
Hadley turned down Buffalo to play for the Buffaloes.
This is not an exciting class. Will Tad Boyle continue finding hidden gems among the lower-ranked recruits? He will need to.
TRANSFERRING IN
| Player | Size | Games | Starts | Minutes | Points | Rebounds | Assists | FG % | 3-Pt % | From | Class | Recruiting Stars | Recruiting Rank |
| Jalen Gabbidon | 6-5 190 | 31 | 30 | 28 | 11 | 4 | 2 | 48% | 30% | Yale | Jr 4 | Unranked | |
| Ethan Wright | 6-4 190 | 30 | 30 | 32 | 15 | 7 | 2 | 50% | 40% | Princeton | Jr 4 | Unranked | |
Coach Boyle brought in two transfers from the top two teams in the Ivy League.
Ethan Wright comes from Ivy champion Princeton, where he led the team in rebounding and was a good outside shooter.
Jalen Gabbidon played for the 2nd-place team, and he was Ivy League Defensive Player of Year. He led the team in steals.
It is always hard to evaluate players who did well at lower level, but they are taking a big jump up in class.
CONCLUSION
As is true for many teams, the big question marks are center and PG.
Colorado has lots of wings, but currently they have just two true post players in Lawson Lovering, who is coming off a knee injury that sidelined him the final half of his freshman season, and incoming freshman Joe Hurlburt. Young centers (unless they are elite) typically struggle making the transition to college where they have to play against guys who are as tall as they are and are stronger. I expect Lovering and Hurlburt to struggle. Colorado may have to go small quite a bit.
KJ Simpson may be their best option for PG, but he would probably be more comfortable off the ball.
This is a team with decent talent and a good coach, but this roster doesn't wow me. (Of course, wowing me is not the criterion for a good season.)
However, they have two things going for them. 1) I don't think the Pac-12 will be very good next season. 2) They get that high-altitude home court advantage.
I expect the Buffs to have a typical Tad Boyle season. They should be in the top half of the league, but they won't challenge to win the Pac-12. They will be mentioned as a bubble team, but they won't make the tournament.
Will this be enough to keep Colorado fans happy? It would get a lot of coaches fired, but would they fire their best coach since Frosty Cox? Also, remember, this is the AD who hired Karl Dorrell.
Colorado has lots of wings, but currently they have just two true post players in Lawson Lovering, who is coming off a knee injury that sidelined him the final half of his freshman season, and incoming freshman Joe Hurlburt. Young centers (unless they are elite) typically struggle making the transition to college where they have to play against guys who are as tall as they are and are stronger. I expect Lovering and Hurlburt to struggle. Colorado may have to go small quite a bit.
KJ Simpson may be their best option for PG, but he would probably be more comfortable off the ball.
This is a team with decent talent and a good coach, but this roster doesn't wow me. (Of course, wowing me is not the criterion for a good season.)
However, they have two things going for them. 1) I don't think the Pac-12 will be very good next season. 2) They get that high-altitude home court advantage.
I expect the Buffs to have a typical Tad Boyle season. They should be in the top half of the league, but they won't challenge to win the Pac-12. They will be mentioned as a bubble team, but they won't make the tournament.
Will this be enough to keep Colorado fans happy? It would get a lot of coaches fired, but would they fire their best coach since Frosty Cox? Also, remember, this is the AD who hired Karl Dorrell.