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Colorado’s head coach had kind words for CSU’s current star ahead of the Rams’ tournament run
Once a Buff, you’re always a Buff.
Colorado head basketball coach Tad Boyle made that very clear, offering praise to former Buffaloes guard and current Colorado State standout Nique Clifford ahead of the Rams’ NCAA Tournament.
“I’m really proud of Nique,” Boyle said during his Tuesday presser. “He’s having the career and the year that we thought he could have when we recruited him out of Colorado Springs, he just finished it at Colorado State.”
Clifford began his college career with the Buffs in 2020 after Boyle recruited him out of The Vanguard School in Colorado Springs. After seeing limited playtime as a freshman, Clifford saw more and more minutes and responsibility the following two seasons, as he averaged over 20 minutes and roughly 6 points per game in 68 total games.
Everyone in Boulder saw the potential in Nique, but something was missing in Boulder and it became apparent that he needed a change of scenery. Clifford made the choice to move 60 miles north to Fort Collins to play for Nico Medved’s CSU Rams. It was a move that would give him more playtime, a larger role and offer a fresh start for a quiet kid.
Clifford broke out of his mold in 2023-24, averaging 12.2 points per game while playing second fiddle to Lamar Stevens on a tournament bound CSU. His combination of tools and production was enough to get drafted last year, but he stayed another year to be the guy for Medved. That’s proven a wise decision, as Clifford has become a full fledged superstar in his fifth year of college basketball.
Clifford has truly come into his own. He’s averaging 19 points, 9.7 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game. The forever Buff was named first-team All-MWC after carrying CSU to 11 wins in their last 12 games, including a conference championship and tournament MVP for the Colorado kid.
Clifford will play in the NBA next year, but it took him a long time to get to this point. Boyle said that he has Nique’s stats from 2022-23 in Boulder written on his whiteboard in his office and that he made sure all his returning players saw it. College basketball isn’t easy and it can take a while to find your groove, just as Clifford did, but it’s a lesson that he found important to relay to his players.
“[Nique’s journey] reaffirms to me that it’s a process,” Boyle said. “It took Nique Clifford five years to have this year and it doesn’t happen after one year or two years, sometimes even after three years.”
Boyle added that the decision to bring in five-star recruit Cody Williams in 2023 played a large factor in Clifford’s choice to move to Fort Collins, but that there’s no bad blood between the two sides. He added that his players will be hearing the “Nique Clifford story” from now on, along with the several other Colorado greats who have succeeded and made it to the NBA.
“Our players have heard the Derrick White story,” Boyle said. “They've heard the Jabari Walker story, the Spencer Dinwiddie story and all the other stories that we have to tell in our recruiting process. Now, what our players need to understand and hear is that you can still get to where you want to get. It’s just going to take some time and you have to respect the process.”
Although Clifford is a textbook transfer portal success story, Boyle made sure to emphasize that transferring isn’t always the best choice for player development. For as many stories as there are about success in the portal, there are just as many about players who would’ve been better staying put.
“In today’s world, those kids see that exit sign and it’s blinking pretty darn loud for them,” Boyle said. “They’re hitting [the portal] a lot quicker and faster than they used to. I’m trying to slow it down a little bit. You’ve gotta put in the time and the effort. The grass may sometimes look greener. Sometimes it may be, but many times it’s not.”
There’s a lot to learn from Nique Clifford and his five years in college basketball, namely patience and trusting the process. But Boyle wants to make sure his players are taking the right message away from it, not that transferring will turn you into a better player.
“Nique Clifford is a great story,” Boyle said. “How many guys have transferred and it hasn’t worked out?”
by RylandScholes
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