Looking Forward to the Next CU Basketball Season

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What to Look Forward to Next Season

Jan 18, 2014; Boulder, CO, USA; Colorado Buffaloes head coach Tad Boyle reacts in the first half against the USC Trojans at the Coors Events Center. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

1) CU will have to deal with life after Spencer Dinwiddie. Unfortunately, CU lost its best player during the offseason this year. Thanks to the Detroit Pistons, though, junior guard Spencer Dinwiddie was selected 38^th overall in the NBA draft. Even though he was a second-round pick, meaning a contract isn’t guaranteed upon getting drafted, the Pistons signed a 3-year contract with him and two of those years are guaranteed. Let’s all hope the Pistons don’t mess up and decide to trade him, because let’s face it; they need some serious help after finishing 29-53 last season. There is a silver lining, though, believe it or not. Since Dinwiddie went down with an ACL injury in January that gave the Buffs a little more time to adjust with L.A.S. (life after Spencer). While their season didn’t pan out too well after losing him, they still got a taste of what it would be like this upcoming season. You also have to keep in mind that Tad’s bringing in some big-time freshman this year.

Dominique Collier:

Fresh out of Denver East High School, Collier was the top prospect in Colorado this year and 85

in the country according to ESPN’s top 100 list. He’s also rated No. 21 in the point guard category. From the moment Boyle recruited him back in May of last year, he’s been raving about how great he’ll be for the program nonstop. According to a recent scouting report of Collier, he is “a pass-first, very unselfish type of point guard who already has international basketball experience (courtesy of CUBuffs.com).” Tad Boyle would agree, noting that “He’s got a good basketball body, but he’s a little slight right now and knows he’s going to spend some time in the weight room. I love that he can get wherever he wants to go on the court. Plus, he’s got lots of experience – more than the typical incoming freshman. I expect him to have an impact right away. In fact, I’m counting on it.” Sounds like he might be just the guy to replace Spencer.

Dec 7, 2013; Boulder, CO, USA; Colorado Buffaloes guard Spencer Dinwiddie (25) and forward Dustin Thomas (13) defend a basket attempt by Kansas Jayhawks center Joel Embiid (21) in the first half at Coors Events Center. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

Tory Miller: Hailing from New Hampton, NH, Miller comes into the Colorado roster to add a post presence that the Buffs don’t necessarily need, considering they have guys like Josh Scott and Xavier Johnson on the roster. He’s also a three-star recruit, a category that Tad Boyle seems to be a mastering at recruiting; two of his freshmen last year were three-star recruits too. But wait, there’s more. According to Boyle, “Tory gives us a wide presence that we haven’t had since I’ve been here. He’s a skilled player and very competitive. With his body type and strength, he can finish down low with contact. He doesn’t look like he would be a good jumper, but he is. Plus, he’s 19 years old now and will bring an age and maturity level to us that’s a little further along than you’d find in a typical freshman. He’s got all the physical tools necessary to be a very good Pac-12 player and he understands what it means to be successful (courtesy of CUBuffs.com).” Maybe he can help us with some of that perimeter defense we were talking about too.

Josh Repine: Another Colorado native, Repine grew up watching Colorado basketball and always wanted to be a Buff. Although he graduated from Kent Denver High School in 2013, he took a prep year to enhance his skills to meet the division one standard. Since he’s a walk-on this year, ESPN and Scout.com didn’t have much to say about him. They did mention that he was a shooting guard, so he may get some playing time if he can sharpen up his shooting skills during practice. I guess we’ll have to wait until the season approaches to hear more on him.

2) I expect Askia ‘Ski’ Booker to step it up. I like senior guard Askia. He’s always been an excellent guard, but his talents were often overshadowed by star guard Spencer Dinwiddie. Now, with Dinwiddie gone, it’s his time to shine. Between last season and the season before, I saw a tremendous difference in the way he handles himself on and off the court. In that one-year period, he became a much more selfless player who passes the ball a lot more and only does what is best for the team. He’s by far one of the hardest-working guys on the team. Multiple times last year, Tad Boyle would make side comments in practice or press conferences about Ski’s work ethic. I can’t remember the exact quote, but it went something like, “It’s hard to keep Askia out of the gym sometimes.” He’s got a lot of discipline and has really humbled himself since his sophomore season at CU.

“It’s hard to keep Askia out of the gym sometimes.”

He’s shown a lot of improvement on the court, too. In the 30 games of the regular season this year, he scored in double-digits 25 times. Four of those performances included scoring of 20 points or more. He even got his first career double-double against UCLA at Pauley Pavilion when he scored 16 points and got 12 assists. The only problem with Askia last season was that he could be a bit inconsistent at times. He would score 27 points against No. 10 Oregon, and then two games later he didn’t score one point against Washington. With a lot of work and practice, I bet he’ll be able to shed this inconsistency that plagued him last year and really step up for the Buffs this year.

3) I expect last year’s freshmen to improve. This includes Jaron Hopkins, Tre’Shaun Fletcher, George King, Dustin Thomas, and Wesley Gordon. While each of these guys has their own separate special skills—from Jaron’s three-point shooting to Wes’s defensive presence—it seemed to me like they were holding back in games sometimes. I don’t know if that has anything to do with rookie timidity on the court or the type of competition they faced in certain games, but I’ve seen what these guys can do in practice. They can ball. We saw scattered glimmers of this talent last year, but nothing was concrete enough to make a huge impact. I’m sure Tad is working with the guys in the offseason to isolate each of their special skills, so I bet we’ll see a huge improvement in each of these guys.

Either way, I can’t wait for the upcoming season to start. Can it be November already?

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