HighFlyer1
New Member
Hey Buffs fans,
Glad to see you guys are as excited as I am for the new season. Congratulations on the opening win and the historic success of last season. I have multiple relatives who are CU grads and Colorado residents, so I have always enjoyed following you all from afar. Your team obviously presents a very difficult challenge for my alma mater, Dayton, to open the tournament, but it should be an exciting and hard-fought game. I figured I would give you all a sense of who we are, and see what your thoughts are going into this game/tournament.
UD is led by two 5th year seniors, PG Kevin Dillard (6'1) and PF Josh Benson (6'9). After transferring from Southern Illinois, Dillard was 2nd team all league last year and is the best PG we have had in 2 decades, most likely. He can score, but is at his best breaking down defenders, drawing help and finding shooters or big men. He makes everyone else look better than they probably are. In a "poor" game to open the season, he had 12 pts (admittedly on 3-13), 10 assts, 6 rbs.
Benson missed the second half of last season with a torn ACL, but has returned nicely so far. He is a long and skinny player who gets out well in transition (though probably not as well as Roberson), has a nice post game where he uses his length and quickness, and has shown an 18-footer early this year.
Vee Sanford (6'3), junior transfer from Georgetown, will start at 2G. He had 18 in the first game, but its hard to say what we can expect of him going forward. He played almost none at Georgetown. But he has size and athleticism, and has shot well so far. If he can emerge as a double digit scorer, we should be pretty good.
Devin Oliver (6'7) is a junior glue guy at SF. Good rebounder, makes hustle plays, and was expected to take a step forward in production by the coaching staff. We haven't seen much of a jump, but he will be an 8-9ppg guy and a versatile defender.
Jalen Robinson (6'9, 240) is a big body freshman with a nice touch around the rim. He played very well in the exhibitions, but came back to earth in his first action against D1 competition. Robinson's spot in the lineup used to belong to 6'9 senior big man Matt Kavanaugh until Kavanaugh was suspended for the year for violating the school's conduct policy in some sort of sexual assault allegation.
Bench: good interior depth with freshman defender/athlete Devon Scott (6'8) and sophomore post Alex Gavrilovic (6'9), who is just recovering from mono. Our perimeter depth is severely lacking, however. Freshman Khari Price missing the first game with a concussion, and is again unlikely to play against CU. He is the only other true guard on the roster. Wing forwards RS sophomore Matt Derenbecker (6'7) and FR Dyshawn Pierre (6'6) will be forced to back up the SF and SG, while Sanford backs up at PG.
I would love to hear some thoughts on how you guys think we match up wiht one another. From what I can see, your sophomore back court will provide a formidable challenge for Dillard and Sanford. I worry about Benson, who is a bit fragile, going up against Roberson, and am curious to see your freshman Josh Scott go against our freshmen bigs, Jalen Robinson and Devon Scott (who were HS teammates). Hopefully our lack of depth doesn't come back to bite us. But, overall I don't see a clear advantage for either side. Of course, that's spoken like a true underdog.
Good luck!
Glad to see you guys are as excited as I am for the new season. Congratulations on the opening win and the historic success of last season. I have multiple relatives who are CU grads and Colorado residents, so I have always enjoyed following you all from afar. Your team obviously presents a very difficult challenge for my alma mater, Dayton, to open the tournament, but it should be an exciting and hard-fought game. I figured I would give you all a sense of who we are, and see what your thoughts are going into this game/tournament.
UD is led by two 5th year seniors, PG Kevin Dillard (6'1) and PF Josh Benson (6'9). After transferring from Southern Illinois, Dillard was 2nd team all league last year and is the best PG we have had in 2 decades, most likely. He can score, but is at his best breaking down defenders, drawing help and finding shooters or big men. He makes everyone else look better than they probably are. In a "poor" game to open the season, he had 12 pts (admittedly on 3-13), 10 assts, 6 rbs.
Benson missed the second half of last season with a torn ACL, but has returned nicely so far. He is a long and skinny player who gets out well in transition (though probably not as well as Roberson), has a nice post game where he uses his length and quickness, and has shown an 18-footer early this year.
Vee Sanford (6'3), junior transfer from Georgetown, will start at 2G. He had 18 in the first game, but its hard to say what we can expect of him going forward. He played almost none at Georgetown. But he has size and athleticism, and has shot well so far. If he can emerge as a double digit scorer, we should be pretty good.
Devin Oliver (6'7) is a junior glue guy at SF. Good rebounder, makes hustle plays, and was expected to take a step forward in production by the coaching staff. We haven't seen much of a jump, but he will be an 8-9ppg guy and a versatile defender.
Jalen Robinson (6'9, 240) is a big body freshman with a nice touch around the rim. He played very well in the exhibitions, but came back to earth in his first action against D1 competition. Robinson's spot in the lineup used to belong to 6'9 senior big man Matt Kavanaugh until Kavanaugh was suspended for the year for violating the school's conduct policy in some sort of sexual assault allegation.
Bench: good interior depth with freshman defender/athlete Devon Scott (6'8) and sophomore post Alex Gavrilovic (6'9), who is just recovering from mono. Our perimeter depth is severely lacking, however. Freshman Khari Price missing the first game with a concussion, and is again unlikely to play against CU. He is the only other true guard on the roster. Wing forwards RS sophomore Matt Derenbecker (6'7) and FR Dyshawn Pierre (6'6) will be forced to back up the SF and SG, while Sanford backs up at PG.
I would love to hear some thoughts on how you guys think we match up wiht one another. From what I can see, your sophomore back court will provide a formidable challenge for Dillard and Sanford. I worry about Benson, who is a bit fragile, going up against Roberson, and am curious to see your freshman Josh Scott go against our freshmen bigs, Jalen Robinson and Devon Scott (who were HS teammates). Hopefully our lack of depth doesn't come back to bite us. But, overall I don't see a clear advantage for either side. Of course, that's spoken like a true underdog.
Good luck!
