Young Buffs look to make noise in 2022-23

BOULDER–The future is bright for the Colorado Buffaloes men’s basketball program, which looks to make a giant leap this year. There are big shoes for the young players to fill, as Jabari Walker and Evan Battey will not be in a Buffs uniform this season. The two were awarded all Pac-12 first-team and second-team honors at the end of last season, respectively.

Last year’s squad finished with a 21-12 record (12-8 Pac-12) en route to a bid as a 4-seed to the NIT tournament in the postseason, where their season was ended at home by St. Bonaventure. Point guard K.J. Simpson finished the season with all Pac-12 freshman team honors.

The Buffs still have Tad Boyle at the helm, entering his 13th year in the program. Boyle enters the season with a 254-155 record at Colorado and is aiming to be the winningest CU head coach of all time by the season’s end. Sox Walseth currently holds that title, as he won 260 games as the head coach from 1956-1976.

Boyle’s most likely chances of breaking the record are both at home in the CU Events Center, either on Nov. 27 against Yale or Dec. 1 against Arizona State.

There are plenty of opportunities on the schedule this year for the Buffs to grab quality wins to bolster their hopes of returning to the Big Dance. The Pac-12 is once again very talented, providing opportunities for some valuable Quad 1 wins, but the best opportunity is in Nashville on Nov. 13. The Buffs take on No. 11 Tennessee in the final matchup of the three-game series between the two teams.

“The opportunity to play Tennessee in Nashville [is] a heck of an opportunity for this program,” Boyle said.

When the two met up last year in Boulder, it was a great matchup for most of the way before Tennessee pulled away late in the second half. The Volunteers, like the Buffs, also lost some key starters from last year’s team, so expect another dogfight when they meet up at Bridgestone Arena.

Expect the leaders of this Buffs team to be Simpson and junior forward Tristan da Silva. The two were given preseason all Pac-12 honors, a second-team nod and an honorable mention, respectively. The duo averaged 9.4 and 7.4 points per game last year, making them the team’s two top returning scorers.

Coach Boyle is hoping that Simpson can make a leap into a leadership role this season. Simpson looks up to former Buffs guard McKinley Wright, who was a phenomenal player and leader in his stint with the Buffs from 2017-21. 

“When [K.J] talks to McKinley [Wright] I don’t necessarily think it’s trying to emulate him, but just learn from him,” Boyle said.

If Simpson can take advantage of the knowledge that Wright provides to him, he has the tools to take over this team with his playing ability and his leadership.

“K.J.’s a gamer… I think the biggest thing with K.J. is he’s gotta bring the energy, open his mouth, [and] lead this team.”

One important part of the schedule this year is the return of the Rocky Mountain Showdown, the classic in-state rivalry between the Buffaloes and the Colorado State Rams. The two play in Boulder on Dec. 8. The Rams earned a March Madness berth last year, and even though they are not the same team as a season ago, they are still a very respectable non-conference opponent.

Boyle also emphasized how important it is to get off to a good start in November and December this season, unlike last year. 

“Hopefully, what our guys learned [from last year] is, hey, that game against UC Riverside, it’s pretty darn important.”

Boyle mentioned last year’s loss to Southern Illinois in the Virgin Islands at the start of the year, which ended up being a bad loss on the Buffaloes’ resume when Selection Sunday came around in March.

The Buffs hope to not replicate last year’s early-season tournament performance when they travel to Myrtle Beach in November. They open the Myrtle Beach Invitational with a game against UMass and then have a possibility of playing two of Murray State, Boise State, and Loyola Chicago, all three of whom were conference champions a season ago.

This early season competition gives the Buffs a great opportunity to start the season off on the right foot and get some quality wins before conference play begins.

Another name to look out for is Lawson Lovering, the 7-foot-1-inch sophomore big man. Lovering had an up-and-down freshman campaign but showed signs of why he was a four-star recruit coming out of high school before a knee injury ended his season, as he missed the last 15 games.

“I think the biggest thing with Lawson is his physical development; he had a great summer in the weight room,” Boyle said. “That’s going to pay dividends for him this year…The CU fans did not see the real Lawson Lovering last year.”

The Buffs do not have much size this year, and they know that. Lovering is the only true big man that has experience playing Division I college basketball. If he can make the leap – physically and mentally – he has the tools to really elevate this Colorado squad.

This year is the first time since the 2017-18 season that the Buffaloes have a new face starting in the paint, as Evan Battey’s time at Boulder has come to an end. No one can truly replicate what Battey did for this team over the course of his career, but Lovering has the tools to be a solid starting big man in this conference.

Another huge hole to fill this year is the rebounding aspect. NBA-bound Jabari Walker dominated the glass on both ends of the floor for the Buffs last year, and Boyle says that it’s going to be a group effort to make up for all the boards that he would get last year. Walker was the Pac-12 leader in rebounds last season, bringing in 9.4 per game.

The rebounding battle is one of the most important aspects of basketball, so CU’s wings – da Silva, Luke O’Brien, and Nique Clifford – are going to have to make an effort to crash the glass this year to benefit the team.

Colorado does have a very good chance to be a dark horse candidate to win the Pac-12 this year for the first time in Tad Boyle’s tenure here at CU. Just like the Buffs, the top dogs of the conference, Arizona, UCLA, Oregon, and USC, lost a lot of talented players this offseason. For almost every team in the conference, success is going to depend on who can step up into a bigger role and thrive.

Three games could end up defining Colorado’s season. After Valentine’s Day, the Buffs play at Arizona (Feb. 18, TBD), then host USC (Feb. 23, 7 p.m. MT) and UCLA (Feb. 26, 2 p.m. MT) in back-to-back-to-back games. Those three games will be pivotal when it comes to seeding for the Pac-12 tournament, AP poll rankings, and will be the most important stretch of the season for Colorado’s hopes of getting an invite to the Big Dance.

Overall, hopes are high for this young and talented Buffaloes squad this year. This team has the right coaching and the right players to surprise many people in college basketball.

The Buffs first action is in Boulder, this Sunday at 4 p.m. when they take on Nebraska in a charity exhibition. The first official game is in Boulder, on Nov. 7th at 6:30 p.m., when UC Riverside comes to town.