BOULDER — When the season began, almost nobody outside the Colorado basketball program knew what to expect from sophomore
George King.
King, after all, was coming off a redshirt year after playing as a true freshman, and his numbers from that first season were by no means special: 1.5 points, 1.5 rebounds and roughly 5 minutes per game in 27 appearances.
But after spending a year in the shadows of the redshirt world, it didn’t take King long to find the spotlight when he returned to the floor. He opened the season with a 14-point, six-rebound effort in an opening loss to Iowa State, then followed it up with 27 points and five rebounds in a win at Auburn.
That was enough to serve notice to CU fans — and the Pac-12 — that King would be a force for the Buffs this year. He finished the regular season averaging 13.3 points and 4.8 rebounds per game, led the Pac-12 in 3-point shooting percentage (63 for 139, .453), and proved to be an important cog in the Buffs' 21-10 finish, a mark that tied the CU record for most regular season victories.
Those numbers were enough to earn him recognition as the Pac-12 Most Improved Player of the Year, an honor announced Monday evening by the conference. It is the second player of the year honor won by a Buff in the Pac-12, as CU’s Andre Roberson was named the conference Defensive Player of the Year in 2013.
