Colorado Buffaloes
2021-2022 Overall Rank: #43
Conference Rank: #5 Pac-12
Colorado has been a very good team over the last three years. They have won at least 21 games in each of those seasons and it culminated with a #5 seed in the NCAA Tournament last season. A lot of that success was in large part due to McKinley Wright IV, but now the Buffaloes must do it without McKinley. During his final season at Colorado, McKinley averaged 15.2 points, 5.7 assists, 4.3 rebounds and 1.1 steals. He was a great leader on the floor and it remains to be seen if Colorado can have much success without him.
2020-21 Record: 23-9, 14-6
2020-21 Postseason: NCAA
Coach: Tad Boyle
Coach Record: 233-143 at Colorado, 289-209 overall
Key Departed Players:
McKinley Wright IV, Guard, 15.2 ppg
Jeriah Horne, Forward, 10.8 ppg
D’Shawn Schwartz, Guard/Forward, 9.3 ppg
Dallas Walton, Forward/Center, 6.5 ppg
Maddox Daniels, Guard/Forward, 5.3 ppg
Key Returning Players:
Evan Battey, Senior, Forward, 10.1 ppg
Jabari Walker, Sophomore, Forward, 7.6 ppg
Elijah Parquet, Senior, Guard, 5.2 ppg
Keeshawn Barthelemy, Sophomore, Guard, 3.7 ppg
Tristan Da Silva, Sophomore, Forward, 2.7 ppg
Luke O’Brien, Sophomore, Guard, 1.5 ppg
Nique Clifford, Sophomore, Guard, 1.0 ppg
Key New Players:
Quincy Allen, Freshman, Guard/Forward
Julian Hammond III, Freshman, Guard
Lawson Lovering, Freshman, Center
Cody Mains, Freshman, Forward
Amondo Miller Jr, Freshman, Guard/Forward
Jack Pease, Freshman, Guard
Javon Ruffin, Freshman, Guard
KJ Simpson, Freshman, Guard
Projection:
Evan Battey is the team’s top returning scorer and rebounder, averaging 10.1 points and 5.3 rebounds last season. The 6-8 senior will be the new leader of this team along with fellow senior and returning starter Elijah Parquet. Parquet is a good shooter, but was used mostly as a glue guy. Whether he is needed to score more this year or not, Parquet will be a very important leader on the floor. Jabari Walker highlights a large group of talented sophomores who will need to step into larger roles this season. Walker averaged 7.6 points and 4.3 rebounds in just 14.2 minutes per game. Nique Clifford is one to watch too. He averaged just 4.0 minutes per game, but the former Colorado Gatorade Player of the Year has the talent to take a big step forward in 2021-2022. Coach Boyle has also brought in the best recruiting class in the Pac-12. Guard KJ Simpson, wing Quincy Allen and center Lawson Lovering are all four-star recruits. Coach Boyle has gone about this season in a very different way than most other programs. He is still building through recruiting instead of picking up transfers to help fill immediate needs. That will pay off in the long run, but it will lead to some growing pains in the short term. In the end though, Colorado could be a very good team by March and an even better team in the years to come.
Projected Postseason Tournament: NCAA
By the Numbers:
Scoring Offense: 73.1 (116th in nation, 6th in conference)
Scoring Defense: 63.8 (30, 1)
Field-Goal Percentage: 45.6 (84, 6)
Field-Goal Defense: 42.1 (101, 4)
Three-Point Field Goals Per Game: 7.7 (127, 3)
Three-Point Field-Goal Percentage: 37.2 (34, 2)
Free-Throw Percentage: 81.9 (2, 1)
Rebound Margin: 4.2 (52, 3)
Assists Per Game: 13.6 (134, 7)
Turnovers Per Game: 11.4 (51, 3)
Madness 2021 Men’s Basketball Recruit Rankings:
#62 Lawson Lovering
#84 Quincy Allen
#87 KJ Simpson
