Looking ahead 22-23

[Buffsbball]

Considering the season ending injuries and the expectations coming into this year. 21-22 was a success. I'm already amped for next year. Dallas and D'Shawn entered the transfer portal 03/29 last year. I'm wondering when we start hearing whose returning on our team. Biggest worry is Kee at this point, Luke is a slight concern as well however he might play a good amount of front court minutes next year unless we get a grad transfer. What are people's thoughts on a rotation next year? Does Quincy jump into a starting lineup (he was projected to this year, I'd think Tad eases him in ala KJ).


Edit (Buffnik) - Wanted to add the 2022-23 scholarship roster to the OP. I'll update as needed. Currently have 11/13 spots filled.

Seniors:
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Juniors:

Name	Position	Height	Recruit Composite	Minutes / Game	Points / Game	Rebounds / Game	Assists / Game
Nique Clifford	Wing	6'6"	0.9520	23.1	6.7	4.6	1.3
Tristan da Silva	Forward	6'9"	unrated	28.3	9.4	3.5	2.0
Luke O'Brien	Wing	6'8"	0.8678	14.2	2.6	2.8	0.8
Jabari Walker	Forward	6'9"	0.9183	28.1	14.6	9.4	1.2

Sophomores:

Name	Position	Height	Recruit Composite	Minutes / Game	Points / Game	Rebounds / Game	Assists / Game
Julian Hammond5	Point	6'3"	0.8731	12.4	2.9	1.7	1.1
Lawson Lovering	Center	7'1"	0.9765	10.7	1.9	1.9	0.6
KJ Simpson	Point	6'2"	0.9656	21.3	7.4	2.5	2.7

Freshmen (RS):

Name	Position	Height	Recruit Composite	Minutes / Game	Points / Game	Rebounds / Game	Assists / Game
Quincy Allen	Wing	6'8"	0.9643	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Javon Ruffin	Wing	6'5"	0.8867	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a

Freshmen (True):

Name	Position	Height	Recruit Composite	Minutes / Game	Points / Game	Rebounds / Game	Assists / Game
Joe Hurlburt	Forward	6'10"	0.9350	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
RJ Smith	Wing	6'4"	unrated	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a

 

[Buffnik]

This discussion almost can't begin until Jabari makes a decision.

 

[Luke]

Seems unlikely Jabari goes NBA now, as he can earn first round contract next year.

Surprised Baye Fall seems more interested in CU, but ‘22 Bobbi Klintman or ‘23 Baye Ndongo at 4-spot more likely for CU.

Need ‘23 Diop or Normand, to play some at point, if don’t get ‘22 Avery Brown now.

Next year’s rotation could be hard to predict:
- I like instant offense of KJ or Kee off bench- might give Kee odds to get starting nod, as half-court offense little stronger right now.
- If no Avery, Julian &/or RJ will get shot at some minutes at 1. Redshirt 1 or both-if do get Avery-as only true point guard starts.
- Javon to earn big minutes by end of year, mostly at 2, maybe some minutes at 3 in small ball, maybe minutes at 1-if CU doesn’t get Avery. As Javon big & good shooter.
- Unless Javon or Quincy playing better D than Nique, expect Nique to start at 2 or 3.
- Quincy plays big minutes at 3, maybe some minutes at 2 & 4, team’s top-3 high-scorer?
- Curious who starts at 5, most likely Lawson Lovering w/ Jabari & Tristan at 4 & 3. As Lovering & Hurlburt at 5 & 4 off bench goes against Tad’s tendency to go small & quick off the bench. +Tad likes to find ways to use Tristan at 3. Outside chance Lawson & Jabari start, w/ Hurlburt & Tristan off bench.
- Hurlburt coming in at 6’11 & close to 230, 40% 3pt, puts it on deck in grab & go/close-outs, & becomes team’s best passing big.
- Luke earns minutes -with maybe Julian- as designated shooters, 10 or 11th off bench?

 

[Buffnik]

I think the 2 guys who will significantly elevate their games next year are Da Silva and Nique.

TDS is a workout warrior, so I expect this offseason to be when the man growth kicks in and we see him add 20-25 lbs of muscle.

Nique will make the jump to become a flashback to Doug Christie's Pepperdine days. With better 3pt shooting and a lot less load on him so he can pick his spots.

 

[Daaah]

I think the 2 guys who will significantly elevate their games next year are Da Silva and Nique.

TDS is a workout warrior, so I expect this offseason to be when the man growth kicks in and we see him add 20-25 lbs of muscle.

Nique will make the jump to become a flashback to Doug Christie's Pepperdine days. With better 3pt shooting and a lot less load on him so he can pick his spots.

DaSilva is going to be a f****** beast. Mark it down.

 

[FM-Buff]

I would be surprised if Keshawn, KJ, and Hammond are all back next year. Seems like one of them will hit the portal.

 

[JMBuffs]

I would be surprised if Keshawn, KJ, and Hammond are all back next year. Seems like one of them will hit the portal.

From what I've seen in interviews of KJ, he seems completely bought in to CU basketball. I don't really have enough insight to judge Key or Hammond.

 

[jumped ship]

he played some good minutes vs U of A, but if starting Hammond leads to us losing Key I'll be pissed

I'm a little worried that Tad will start to play favorites over the next few seasons and lean on some guys who probably shouldn't be getting minutes over a more talented player. wasn't a factor this year since we had such a clear cut 8 man rotation once we lost Parquet and Lovering

we need a rebounder to step up – my guess is it'll be Nique

 

[buffs233]

Listening to an interview with Boyle and Mark J, sounds like Jabari may test the waters - declare, with the option of coming back.

 

[30Something]

Jabari is barely on the 2nd round draft board right now. I can't see him leaving with the current draft grades. It goes without saying, the team is in much better shape with him coming back next year.

I was pleasantly surprised with LOB this year. Didn't shoot the ball much, but worked relatively hard on the glass and limited turnovers. If he can improve his speed/footwork on the defensive side, he's going to be a giant help coming off the bench next year.

I'll say this about our PG situation: Someone needs to learn to shoot consistently. We can't have our starting PG going 1-8 from the floor and expect to win games. One guy would be one, the other two off. Impossible to predict who would have a good/bad game from night to night. That position is wide open next season IMO. I think KJ has the highest ceiling of the group, and I'd probably be least mad if Kee departed.

 

[Hallett Hell]

I really can’t see anyone transferring. I think Tad has done a good job spreading the minutes among the guards. I hope Jabari comes back. He, TDS and Nique will be superstars next year. Actually looking forward to seeing everyone back and improving. Regarding who starts at 1 and 2, I think Tad was planting the seed for Kee that he might not start next year. I don’t see Kee transferring though, just working harder to prove himself. So many options off the bench if everyone is healthy.

 

[Goose]

This discussion almost can't begin until Jabari makes a decision.

We need to operate under the assumption he's gone and hope we're pleasantly surprised.

 

[Da Lama]

he played some good minutes vs U of A, but if starting Hammond leads to us losing Key I'll be pissed

I'm a little worried that Tad will start to play favorites over the next few seasons and lean on some guys who probably shouldn't be getting minutes over a more talented player. wasn't a factor this year since we had such a clear cut 8 man rotation once we lost Parquet and Lovering

we need a rebounder to step up – my guess is it'll be Nique

Agree on Hammond. His style of running the point was fine this year when we were depleted and just trying to manage games. Going forward and if healthy, that is absolutely not the personality this team should have. I’d much rather have KJ and Kee running the show with fire and explosiveness.

 

[jumped ship]

Agree on Hammond. His style of running the point was fine this year when we were depleted and just trying to manage games. Going forward and if healthy, that is absolutely not the personality this team should have. I’d much rather have KJ and Kee running the show with fire and explosiveness.

they need to work on limiting turnovers (though ironically, Jabari had the worst A/T ratio on the team) but it's been stated here before – Kee and KJ represent the most athletic duo of guards that CU has ever had, and it'll be hard for another PAC team to match that

not to proliferate the plagiarism of Goose, but if Zona had a halfway decent PG this year they'd be absolutely unstoppable. I really don't want to give up any of ours, let alone the lone upperclassmen

 

[BuffLuke80]

they need to work on limiting turnovers (though ironically, Jabari had the worst A/T ratio on the team) but it's been stated here before – Kee and KJ represent the most athletic duo of guards that CU has ever hard, and it'll be hard for another PAC team to match that

not to proliferate the plagiarism of Goose, but if Zona had a halfway decent PG this year they'd be absolutely unstoppable. I really don't want to give up any of ours, let alone the lone upperclassmen

I know I've said this before. Jabari's biggest deal is his consistency with his WHOLE game. It'll come, not the first young player I've seen with that issue, not even close. Agree on everything you said really.

 

[Buffnik]

I added the roster and player info to the OP.

Basically, we were running an 8-man rotation at the end of the year. 7 of 8 return, with Lovering coming back from injury so we've got our 8-man with him swapping for Battey.

EB gave us 28.5 minutes while averaging 12.4p / 4.7r / 1.2a on very efficient shooting 50.2% / 48.8% / 75.9%.

So, we've got to make up for at least that production on a team that wasn't good enough to Dance.

To give an idea on how much we slipped from 2020-21 to 2021-22 and how far we need to go, these were our KenPom ranks the past 3 years ('20 & '21 were Dance teams even if there wasn't one in '20 while '22 was NIT caliber):

Adjusted Offense: '20 = #54 / '21 = #13 / '22 = #100
Adjusted Defense: '20 = #32 / '21= #23 / '22 = #46

Bottom line on this is that we don't just need to replace production, we need to go a level beyond that. And where that needs to start is with our perimeter defense. I don't see a duo that gets us to that Kin/Eli level in '21 that had D'Shawn on the wing. But we have to be better than '22. More than anything, we need a big offseason in the weight room from all positions because we got out-muscled and we're losing our beefiest guys by position in Evan and Eli. We couldn't finish in the paint this year. And we need KJ to take over as our floor general -- to do that he has to get stronger and he has to get his 3pt shooting way above 25.4%.

 

[buffaholic]

Agree on Hammond. His style of running the point was fine this year when we were depleted and just trying to manage games. Going forward and if healthy, that is absolutely not the personality this team should have. I’d much rather have KJ and Kee running the show with fire and explosiveness.

I'd suggest that Hammond improved more than about anyone from pre-conference to end of season. He's a QB, playing this game as just an athlete who's never focused fully on basketball. I think he's going to improve a ton between now and next fall. He just seems to be going to where the ball will end up, good instincts. So while he's clearly behind Kee and KJ, I suspect he improves a bunch next year.

We have 3 small guards that all can do similar things although Kee has shown he can shoot the 3 better at this stage. Defensively, they were all a bit of a liability.

 

[Swish]

Spent some time over the last couple of weeks thinking about what the Buffs really need to take the next step and become an NCAA tourney regular with consistent potential to advance past the first game. More athleticism?

 

[Buffsbball]

Spent some time over the last couple of weeks thinking about what the Buffs really need to take the next step and become an NCAA tourney regular with consistent potential to advance past the first game. More athleticism?

Guards win in March. Why Arizona and Gonzaga were out yesterday with two of the best front courts in America and Arkansas and Villanova are moving forward. Also why @Goose wouldn’t mind us having a roster full of PGs.

 

[Da Lama]

Spent some time over the last couple of weeks thinking about what the Buffs really need to take the next step and become an NCAA tourney regular with consistent potential to advance past the first game. More athleticism?

While our guards aren't huge, I think with the quantity and quality we have, we should be fine. Mix in Ruffin (6'5) and Smith (6'4) next year and we should be more than formidable in the backcourt. Again, I'm gonna say we need size and toughness. Another couple 6'8 bangers who rebound, handle other team's bigs and finish hard at the rim (no more frickin missed bunnies). This does not include LOB, who I still don't think Tad has figured out where he quite fits. I would love someone like a Chavez Goodwin or Osun Osunniyi style of player.

 

[Always BUFF]

Agree or not Tad should've kept Dallas and red shirted Lovering, I know he was a 4* but a 4 from WYO. doesn't translate the same as a 4* from Cali or even CO. The kid just didn't show me much, was weak in the paint (got stripped regularly) and just lacked the big man mentality of just dunk the damn thing. I watched Dallas play against UNC late in the season, I couldn't believe I was watching the same player, the coaching or something but he dropped 3 threes and ran the floor and filled a role that I don't believe Tad ever brought out.

 

[Da Lama]

Agree or not Tad should've kept Dallas and red shirted Lovering, I know he was a 4* but a 4 from WYO. doesn't translate the same as a 4* from Cali or even CO. The kid just didn't show me much, was weak in the paint (got stripped regularly) and just lacked the big man mentality of just dunk the damn thing. I watched Dallas play against UNC late in the season, I couldn't believe I was watching the same player, the coaching or something but he dropped 3 threes and ran the floor and filled a role that I don't believe Tad ever brought out.

18 year old Freshman vs. 24 year old 6th year Senior.

Bring this sh!tty take back out after next season if Lovering doesn't match Dallas' awesome 2nd year stats of 5ppg and 3rpg.

And as much as we'd all like to believe Tad controls the basketball world around here, I'm pretty certain leaving CU was ultimately Walton's personal decision.

 

[Swish]

While our guards aren't huge, I think with the quantity and quality we have, we should be fine. Mix in Ruffin (6'5) and Smith (6'4) next year and we should be more than formidable in the backcourt. Again, I'm gonna say we need size and toughness. Another couple 6'8 bangers who rebound, handle other team's bigs and finish hard at the rim (no more frickin missed bunnies). This does not include LOB, who I still don't think Tad has figured out where he quite fits. I would love someone like a Chavez Goodwin or Osun Osunniyi style of player.

Makes sense. Seems like the tourney always has a lot of teams loaded with 6'6" to 6'8" leapers who just crash the boards. Thing is they always seem to go deep into the tournament.

 

[Scotch]

Agree or not Tad should've kept Dallas and red shirted Lovering, I know he was a 4* but a 4 from WYO. doesn't translate the same as a 4* from Cali or even CO. The kid just didn't show me much, was weak in the paint (got stripped regularly) and just lacked the big man mentality of just dunk the damn thing. I watched Dallas play against UNC late in the season, I couldn't believe I was watching the same player, the coaching or something but he dropped 3 threes and ran the floor and filled a role that I don't believe Tad ever brought out.

 

[WWCD]

Agree or not Tad should've kept Dallas and red shirted Lovering, I know he was a 4* but a 4 from WYO. doesn't translate the same as a 4* from Cali or even CO. The kid just didn't show me much, was weak in the paint (got stripped regularly) and just lacked the big man mentality of just dunk the damn thing. I watched Dallas play against UNC late in the season, I couldn't believe I was watching the same player, the coaching or something but he dropped 3 threes and ran the floor and filled a role that I don't believe Tad ever brought out.

You could tell from watching him that Lovering has a very nice skill set. Great footwork, nice passing ability, etc. He just didn't have the weight to play the position this year.

 

[Goose]

It’s incredible the whiplash that Lovering’s rep has done this year. He had too high of expectations heading into the year and now everyone is way too low on him.

I’m still driving the Lovering train and am willing to buy any shares in him people want to sell cheap right now.

 

[Darth Snow]

It’s incredible the whiplash that Lovering’s rep has done this year. He had too high of expectations heading into the year and now everyone is way too low on him.

I’m still driving the Lovering train and am willing to buy any shares in him people want to sell cheap right now.

In

 

[Buffnik]

It’s incredible the whiplash that Lovering’s rep has done this year. He had too high of expectations heading into the year and now everyone is way too low on him.

I’m still driving the Lovering train and am willing to buy any shares in him people want to sell cheap right now.

He's going to be an all-conference guy at least once before he leaves.

 

[Goose]

We were absolutely spoiled by Jelly coming in and being a badass his freshman year. 98% of freshman bigs have years like Lovering. The other 2% are one and done.

 

[Da Lama]

All Lovering really needs to do is add 20lbs of muscle, get a tad bit nastier and refine that jump hook of his this offseason and he easily becomes an automatic 8ppg/5rpg guy next season. Not hard at all.