Can we talk about how Evan Battey looks now? I did not recognize him when scrolling through the photos on the Buffzone article. He's lost a ton of weight. Probably a good thing, but his bulk was part of his game.
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Lookin ahead to 2021-22
- Thread starter Buffnik
- Start date
I don't like it as much as what Jon Wilner's doing in San Jose:
Pac-12 basketball outlook: Our projections for the 2022 award winners and all-conference teams (and we picked a lot of teams)
UCLA guard Johnny Juzang, Washington State coach Kyle Smith and Oregon transfer Quincy Guerrier lead the Hotline’s projections for Pac-12 award winners in the 2021-22 season.www.mercurynews.com
But Matt doing some new college basketball reporting from Connecticut:
Colorado Basketball: Tad Boyle In New Territory With Outstanding Recruiting Class
Colorado basketball head coach Tad Boyle has put together a top 15 recruiting class in Boulder.cbbreview.com
Loved that video for cbbreview where Battey abused those USC players.
Medford M.
Well-Known Member
I think some people are reading way too much into how some guys looked against mostly abysmal competition on the overseas trip this year. I still think Luke is better than Clifford.
Tomatoe, tamahto. If we're relying on either of them Goose's point is spot on. We're fooked.
Buffsbball
Well-Known Member
what's relying too much on them? I think either could play 10 reserve minutes a game like Kee and Tristan did last year. Don't think that would swing our win total and give them good experience to build on! Now if they are playing 15-20 a game I'd agree!
Luke
Well-Known Member
I don't think we're going to be in trouble playing Nique & Luke over 10 minutes/game at all. Otherwise, all 4 bigs average over 30 minutes, or a lot of 3 guard line-ups.
If Nique is not up to 6'7, his length is at least 6'7. Luke is 6'8 with shoes. Tristan listed 6'10 this year, maybe 7' length? Tad loves to keep his guys real size & length under wraps. He didn't admit 'Kin has 6'7 length until he went to NBA combine. Eli's length? Unknown. Yes, these 3 forwards (+other 3 bigs) are all going to have to D & Rbd. But any of our 11 players can shot over 50% on any given night; O will not be a problem. 2-D or Not-2-D will be what takes us to the promised land!
Is it unfair to expect 20+ win season this year? Maybe. But I do expect 20 wins. 'Kin's '17 class only had 17 wins as Freshmen. Tad has 8 20-win seasons in 11 try's. It's time to take the next step, as media said "reload, not rebuild" now-days. This years Sophomore group will be remembered as being top 15-20 class, instead of top-45 it was on 247: Nique, Jabari, & Tristan are ALL 4-Star caliber-as is Kee. Luke, Julian & Javon are MUCH better than their rankings. ALL-IN for dancing in the tourney this year & every year! I won't be disappointed if we don't make it. But I will continue to see the best in our student/athletes-so they can live up to that!
If Nique is not up to 6'7, his length is at least 6'7. Luke is 6'8 with shoes. Tristan listed 6'10 this year, maybe 7' length? Tad loves to keep his guys real size & length under wraps. He didn't admit 'Kin has 6'7 length until he went to NBA combine. Eli's length? Unknown. Yes, these 3 forwards (+other 3 bigs) are all going to have to D & Rbd. But any of our 11 players can shot over 50% on any given night; O will not be a problem. 2-D or Not-2-D will be what takes us to the promised land!
Is it unfair to expect 20+ win season this year? Maybe. But I do expect 20 wins. 'Kin's '17 class only had 17 wins as Freshmen. Tad has 8 20-win seasons in 11 try's. It's time to take the next step, as media said "reload, not rebuild" now-days. This years Sophomore group will be remembered as being top 15-20 class, instead of top-45 it was on 247: Nique, Jabari, & Tristan are ALL 4-Star caliber-as is Kee. Luke, Julian & Javon are MUCH better than their rankings. ALL-IN for dancing in the tourney this year & every year! I won't be disappointed if we don't make it. But I will continue to see the best in our student/athletes-so they can live up to that!
Luke
Well-Known Member
My predictions for points/game- but D and Rbding probably what sets our ceiling.
‘Bari 12-15
Evan 10-14
Kee 10-13
KJ 10-12
Tristan 7-9
Eli 6-8
Lawson 4-7
Luke 4-7
Nique 4-6
Julian 3-5
Javon 2-4
Tristan’s O was looking tuff in Europe this summer! My highlight of season would be if Evan averaged 3-4 assists. After Jabari & Quincy (we’ll miss you this year!), Luke & Julian may be designated shooters. Javon reminds me of Andre Miller, & wouldn’t be surprised to see him have some double-digit points games-when he gets minutes.
‘Bari 12-15
Evan 10-14
Kee 10-13
KJ 10-12
Tristan 7-9
Eli 6-8
Lawson 4-7
Luke 4-7
Nique 4-6
Julian 3-5
Javon 2-4
Tristan’s O was looking tuff in Europe this summer! My highlight of season would be if Evan averaged 3-4 assists. After Jabari & Quincy (we’ll miss you this year!), Luke & Julian may be designated shooters. Javon reminds me of Andre Miller, & wouldn’t be surprised to see him have some double-digit points games-when he gets minutes.
Love your enthusiasm my man I really do, but there's no way most of those guys get enough minutes to average those PPG. And there's no way a Tad coached team averages over 80 PPG.
Appears that Tad is looking for Nique to have a breakout year.
https://colorado.rivals.com/news/tad-boyle-expecting-breakout-year-from-nique-clifford
https://colorado.rivals.com/news/tad-boyle-expecting-breakout-year-from-nique-clifford
Absolutely, we need more basketball fans like Luke. Do I think we'll get anywhere close to where we were last year on offense? No. But there are thousands of CU football fans (myself included) that delude themselves into thinking that team is solid when they aren't. Why can't we get as over-excited about the bball team?
100%. My point is we're not going to win games going 12 deep and scoring 80+ PPG. This team will be the epitome of Tad Ball: 67-70 PPG, nasty defense, solid rebounding, and landing on a reliable rotational core of 8 by conference play. Do that and we win 20.
I read that as a breakout year on defense.
If Nique's Sophmore year is similar to Eli Parquet's sophmore year, that a big win. Not really for turning a borderline tournament team into a surefire tournament team this year, but for the prospects of the team the next couple seasons.
jumped ship
Well-Known Member
keys to the season, given the loss of Faulkner and injury to Allen:
one other prediction: our team FG, FT, and 3PFG% are gonna take a major step back and we'll lose a couple games from missed FTs
- Evan and Eli embrace their roles as seasoned vets who provide clutch buckets when needed
- Jabari cleans up defensive fundamentals and stays out of foul trouble
- Key plays within himself, prioritizes taking care of the ball above all else
- Tad gives the young guys a long leash to take chances and make mistakes, as long as it's with the intent of putting up shots
- Don't give up layups / Da Silva and Lawson bring some rim protection
- KJ makes all-freshman team
one other prediction: our team FG, FT, and 3PFG% are gonna take a major step back and we'll lose a couple games from missed FTs
Luke
Well-Known Member
We did average 73 points/game last year. Looking at my projections for guys average points, the low end adds to 72. I agree 80/game is way out of norm. So probably a few of those guys average a little under my low-end estimates. But I do believe we have group of guys with great offensive games, whose D & Rbding will be the measure of our ceiling.
Conventional wisdom says we have Top-25 team when our underclassmen are upperclassmen. I just feel it can happen sooner. Tad supposedly giving all 11 guys chance to contribute this year. How many still in rotation by January? Closer to 10 or 11 than 8. Julian’s D is way further along than I thought it would be. We need Luke’s size, if he can D & Rbd. Javon is too tough to keep on bench. We may need all 11 to push pace w/ 3 guard lineups. But that’s why Tad’s coaching, not me! I would let Evan’s 260 pound point-guard run free!
Conventional wisdom says we have Top-25 team when our underclassmen are upperclassmen. I just feel it can happen sooner. Tad supposedly giving all 11 guys chance to contribute this year. How many still in rotation by January? Closer to 10 or 11 than 8. Julian’s D is way further along than I thought it would be. We need Luke’s size, if he can D & Rbd. Javon is too tough to keep on bench. We may need all 11 to push pace w/ 3 guard lineups. But that’s why Tad’s coaching, not me! I would let Evan’s 260 pound point-guard run free!
Pace of play will always be one of the things Tad Ball concedes if it's necessary to control the defensive glass and limit opponents' transition opportunities. That alone will limit any best case scenarios we float for points per game. Along these lines, pressing will always be the exception to the rule and used strategically rather than regularly.
I think it's likely we return to the offensive dry spells of the past. I say that having not really seen much of the freshman guards. Nor do I think Kee is a bad player. But we just said goodbye to one of the best players in program history, one who's strength was getting into the paint and either finishing or kicking. Last year's team was also helped by the lack of crowds on the road. Doesn't appear that will be the case this year.
I think it's likely we return to the offensive dry spells of the past. I say that having not really seen much of the freshman guards. Nor do I think Kee is a bad player. But we just said goodbye to one of the best players in program history, one who's strength was getting into the paint and either finishing or kicking. Last year's team was also helped by the lack of crowds on the road. Doesn't appear that will be the case this year.
Creighton
Luke
Well-Known Member
That's true how Tad Ball does limit pace and my high-end points projections are probably too high. But Tad seems to be finally getting squad make-up that he has coveted: bigs that get rebound & bring it up court themselves, multiple ball handling guards, anyone on squad can push it- so maybe higher point totals in coming years? Any of 'Bari, Tristan, Lovering, Hurlburt could average a couple assists/ game- but first Evan has to show them the way with his under-rated passing!
Good point you make about CU benefiting from road games without crowds, but we also lost the benefit of home crowds. We probably still had better home-court advantage than most schools with our elevation last year. Can't wait to see CU win a couple Creighton, UCLA, Tennessee, Kansas RPI-boosting-games!
Thank you for this. I LOVE the level of recruiting and there are some pieces remaining from last year's run. However, recruiting at the highest level is new to CU and a full four year rotation of 4 star players is not yet present. That along with losing 70% of the scoring, 70% of the assists and 70% of the rebounds leaves hope and optimism for this year's squad. But I sure do anticipate dividends by seasons end with this unit.
We lost the second greatest player in school history. We lost our starting SG. We lost our starting PF. We lost two bench players and our best freshman is out for the year. Our second best freshman is going to have to share minutes with the heartbeat of the team and a potential first round pick.
The future is insanely bright, but this year NIT is an acceptable goal.
We've got 2 seniors I love along with a potential lottery pick.
Find a PG and the right rotations for chemistry. The talent is there and that's a lot more important than returning veteran production.
Goal, as always, is Dance & Advance.
This year is a step back without Kin and it's not realistic to think auto or highest seed from the P12.
Depth is terrifying - especially on the wings. I actually am higher on Kee this year than I expected to be. So I feel good about 4 starters. I have no clue who the fifth is. Clifford maybe? De Silva possibly?
If two of the froth guards are LEGIT, and we can go small I’ll feel better. But the lack of wings makes me put a hard ceiling on the team right now.
If two of the froth guards are LEGIT, and we can go small I’ll feel better. But the lack of wings makes me put a hard ceiling on the team right now.
Depth is overrated.
I think we've got great senior leadership and will have a firepower advantage much more often than not.
My guess is that Da Silva/Nique will produce & fill roles similar to when we had the Chen/XJ combo on the wing.
Just to be clear, you're comapring Nique to XJ? Dude...
Anybody thinking we won't struggle a bit is delusional. 19/20 wins is still achievable though.
I don't think it's unreasonable to hope for XJ's freshman production. Probably can't match that efficiency, but will also not have long stretches (even series of games) where Nique does nothing but float around the 3pt line & is disinterested if it's not a play for him.
Our schedule does us no favors. UCLA and Kansas are both Top 3 teams, and we get them before the meat of conference play. UW-Milwaukee has a top 5 player in the country, so they are no pushover, and Creighton or CSU in the islands is not an easy matchup. We could be a decent team and lose all of those games
Plus Tennessee.