Buffs’ women ready to take next step in 2022-23

BOULDER–The 2021-22 season was a landmark year for Colorado women’s college basketball. The Buffs made it back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time under head coach JR Payne, and for the first time since 2013. Let’s take a look at some of the familiar faces that will be back on the floor for the Buffs, and what their outlook is for this season.

Backcourt

The Buffs have a ton of experience returning to the backcourt this year, and it all starts with Jaylyn Sherrod. The senior point guard enters this season with 73 games played and 63 starts under her belt, and she also should be a calming presence to a Buffs team that lost three starters from a year ago. 

Sherrod runs the offense effectively and has always been a pest on the defensive end (1.8 steals per game last year), but look for her to see an uptick in scoring this year. The loss of Mya Hollingshed leaves a big hole in the scoring department, and Sherrod showed flashes of bucket-getting prowess with her efficient 27-point performance in the NCAA Tournament.

Around Sherrod in the guard room, the Buffs have a lot of very diverse skill sets returning from a year ago. Washington transfer Tameiya Sadler is back and will need to play a bigger role in her second season with the Buffs. Sadler provides versatility as a solid defender and secondary playmaker, while she tries to rediscover the shooting stroke she displayed as a freshman in Spokane (45% from three, 80% from the free throw line).

Danish guard Frida Formann is back for her third year in the black and gold, and is looking to regain her freshman year form, where she shot over 40% from deep on over six attempts per game.. The 2020-21 Pac-12 All-Freshman honorable mention selection will need to space the floor on a Buffs squad that lacks shooting, and struggled from the outside a year ago. 

The X-factor in the backcourt for me, however, is sophomore Kindyll Wetta, who emerged as a budding star for CU last year, earning a spot on the Pac-12 All-Freshman and All-Defense teams. She was the first Pac-10/Pac-12 player to be selected to both in the same year since Stanford’s Chiney Ogwumike in 2010-11.

“Kindyll is great. I told everybody last year, she’s a coach’s dream,” said Payne at media day. “She’s one of the hardest workers every single day, she does her job, she doesn’t complain, she’s appreciative, she helps her teammates be better. She’s just incredible and I think she’s going to have a real breakout year.”

Wetta is a work in progress offensively, something that she acknowledges and is working on, but she has already earned a reputation as one of the most disruptive defenders in the Pac-12, backed by her 2.1 steals per game, which ranked second in the conference a season ago. 

“My dad, growing up, always told me to be tenacious on defense,” said Wetta. “Before the games, he would always ask me, ‘Are you going to be nice today or are you going to be nasty?’ And I would always say I’m going to be nasty. I just feel like that’s something that I’be brought to high school, college, whatever game I’m playing. Something that I can always control is my effort on defense and I really take pride in that.”

Frontcourt

While the backcourt brings a lot of experience to this Buffs squad, the frontcourt will have a lot of new faces in the lineup after the losses of Hollingshed and Peanut Tuitele.

The reigning Pac-12 Sixth Player of the Year Quay Miller is back in the fold, and will almost certainly be patrolling the paint in the starting lineup this year. The Washington transfer was an excellent spark plug for the Buffs last season, and is their top scorer returning from last year’s squad. 

Alongside Miller will be Charlotte Whittaker, who is back after missing last season rehabbing from surgeries on both of her hips. Understandably, it will take the New Zealand native some time to get back in the flow; after all, it has been over 18 months since she played a game, but her ability to beat smaller defenders in the post and get easy looks inside will certainly open up the floor for the Buffs on offense.

“Being back this year, and being able to play for the team and be back in the program getting up and down the floor, it feels really good,” said Whittaker. “Being out for that long, and having to stay in the hospital for multiple weeks at a time, and not being able to move a lot, and really starting from ground zero, learning how to walk and run again, it was really hard mentally. I think the support I had through the school, especially through my teammates and my coaches was outstanding.”

This year’s Buffs will also be counting on Arizona transfer Aaronette Vonleh to step in and make a big impact in her first year in Boulder. The former four-star recruit will likely be the third big in Payne’s rotation and has the size and the talent to take advantage of bench units and give the Buffs a real boost from the second unit, similar to how Miller did last season. 

Incoming freshman Brianna McLeod also could see minutes at center, and has received praise for how she has played early on at practice. However, Payne knows that these young players will be a work in progress, and need to find ways to contribute that may not be glamorous or flashy.

“I think it’s important for new players to figure out, ‘what is my role?’” said Payne. “Maybe it’s just running the floor really hard every time. Maybe that’s having an impact on the glass. Maybe my shot isn’t quick enough to get it off at this level yet, but man I can rebound every single possession… Don’t try to be all things to all people, just figure out the few things that I can do really well right now, and thrive in that role.”

Season Outlook

The usual suspects are back at the top of the Pac-12 this year, with Stanford taking the unanimous media vote to win the conference this season. They are followed in the preseason polls by Oregon and Arizona, who have established themselves as yearly contenders in the conference. 

The Cardinal will be tough to top this year, still led by legendary coach Tara VanDerveer, as they return both Haley Jones and Cameron Brink, the reigning Pac-12 Player of the year and Defensive Player of the Year, respectively. Oregon and Arizona each have three players on the preseason All-Pac-12 team, leading the conference.

The Buffs join Washington State and Utah as the remaining teams in the conference coming off of an NCAA Tournament bid, and UCLA should also be much improved in 2022-23 after a down year last season. 

Schedulewise, the Buffs have trips to Lubbock and Knoxville this season for dates with Texas Tech and No. 5 Tennessee, respectively, before their conference slate tips off against Utah on Dec. 14. Look for the final four games of the Buffs’ schedule to have a huge impact on the end-of-season result, as CU will play in Tucson against Arizona before coming back to Boulder to host Stanford as part of that stretch.

Despite finishing eighth in the preseason coaches and media polls, Payne thinks the Buffs have everything they need to compete in the Pac-12 this year. 

“We feel good about our roster,” said Payne. “I think we have everything we need to be successful as far as ability to score, ability to depend, ability to rebound. So I’m excited about where we are.”