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The Buffs are being overlooked.
The last time Colorado moved conferences and were picked to finish second last in the subsequent preseason media poll, the Buffs were crowned Pac-12 Champions.
History probably won’t repeat itself, but Tad Boyle has a year’s worth of motivation that his team was picked 15th out of 16 teams in the Big 12 preseason media poll. The only team behind them are Lawson Lovering’s Utah Utes.
No one knows if the Buffs will be good, bad or mediocre. They won a program-record 26 games last season, but lost three players to the NBA Draft and another three to the transfer portal. They’re restarting from scratch with bench guard Julian Hammond as the only holdover from the rotation.
The players the Buffs will rely on are question marks. Trevor Baskin and Elijah Malone figure to be the Buffs’ featured players, but they’re transitioning from Division II and NAIA basketball, respectively. Hammond is also making a big jump, going from bench guard to starting point guard.
As for the underclassmen, Javon Ruffin will play if healthy. Bangot Dak and Assane Diop have shown promise but they’re still learning the basics. Guards RJ Smith and Courtney Anderson have barely played, if at all, and it’s unclear if freshmen Andrew Crawford, Felix Kossaras or Sebastian Rancik are ready for a rotation role.
The only thing we really know is that Andrei Jakimovski will be a solid team player.
Colorado will have to figure it out on the fly in what figures to be the best conference in college basketball. They will surely go through ups and downs, but they have the talent and the coaching to make things work. Maybe they don’t cut down the nets in Kansas City, but they should be competitive in the Big 12.
by Sam Metivier
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