The Colorado Buffaloes have plenty of perimeter threats and should be a formidable threat in the Pac-12.
COLORADO BUFFALOES
Last Season: 5th, 10-8 in Pac-12, 22-12 overall
Predicted Pac-12 Finish: 3rd
Projected Depth Chart
F/C: Wesley Gordon (Sr)/Tory Miller (Jr)/Dallas Walton (Fr)
F: Xavier Johnson (Sr)/Lucas Siewert (Fr)/Alexander Strating (Fr)
G/F: George King (Jr)/Derrick White (Sr)
SG: Josh Fortune (Sr)/Bryce Peters (Fr)/Deleon Brown (Fr)
PG: Dominique Collier (Jr)/Thomas Akyazali (So)
Gone: C-Josh Scott, PG-Xavier Talton, SG-Eli Stalzer, F-Tre’Shaun Fletcher (transfer-Toledo), G/F-Kenan Guzonjic (transfer-Barry)
Strengths:
This year’s Colorado team has a bunch of scoring pop on the wing. George King had a terrific redshirt freshman season and proved to be a sniper from three-point range as he connected on 45.6% of his triple tries. Providence transfer Josh Fortune was a double digit per game scorer in his first year with the Buffaloes and shot 38.5% distance.
Head coach Tad Boyle also gets Xavier Johnson back after he missed all of last season with a torn Achilles tendon. He averaged 10.3 points and 5.6 rebounds per game as a junior in 2014-15. More offense arrives in transfer two guard, Derrick White. He was a Division II All-American at Colorado-Colorado Springs who averaged 22 points per game during his three years playing there.
Question Marks:
With the loss of leading scorer and rebounder, Josh Scott, Colorado must replace a four-year starter inside. Wesley Gordon now slides over from the power forward to center position and is a strong rebounder. Tory Miller adds some physicality inside off the bench but there is not much experience besides those two which is why the Buffs should switch to a more perimeter based attack.
Player to Watch:
After playing sparingly his freshman season, the Buffs made the unusual decision to redshirt King during his second year. That clearly paid huge dividends as King was the Pac-12’s Most Improved player last season. Oddly enough, his three-point shooting percentage was actually higher than his over field goal percentage.
X-Factor:
Dominique Collier shared the point guard responsibilities with Xavier Talton the past two seasons but with Talton graduating, Collier now becomes the lone lead guard. He is another threat outside as he shot 44% from three as a sophomore. If he can improve as a distributor this season, the Buffs could make some serious noise.
Looking Ahead to 2017-18:
The Buffs will lose three senior starters but get Mizzou transfer Namon Wright eligible and should immediately step into the starting line-up. Three forwards are already committed for the 2017 class led by top 100 small forward, D’Shawn Schwartz.
Key Non-Conference Games:
11/21 vs. Notre Dame (Legends Classic in Brooklyn)
11/22 vs. Texas/Northwestern (Legends Classic in Brooklyn)
11/30 vs. Colorado State
12/7 vs. Xavier
12/10 at BYU
David Kay is a senior feature NBA Draft, NBA, and college basketball writer for the Sports Bank. He also heads up the NBA and college basketball material at Walter Football.com and is a former contributor at The Washington Times Communities. David has appeared on numerous national radio programs spanning from Cleveland to New Orleans to Milwaukee to Honolulu. He also had the most accurate 2011 NBA Mock Draft and the most accurate 2012 NBA Mock Draft on the internet (Yup, repeat champ… #humblebrag), and finished with the second most accurate 2013 NBA Mock Draft (nearly a three-peat.) You can follow him on Twitter at David_Kmiecik.