Summer basketball workouts are underway and head coach Tad Boyle is developing a collection of new Buffs this offseason.

There are seven newcomers on the Colorado roster this summer including five freshmen and two transfers — Barrington Hargress (UC Riverside) and Jon Mani (Denver). The Buffs are getting to work in preparation to play the Australian Boomers, Australia’s men’s national team, on July 31. However, the Buffs will be without Bangot Dak as he will be sidelined for the summer.

Boyle expects him to be fully recovered for the preseason.

“[Dak] has to attack his rehab, just like he would attack practice, because we need Bangot,” Boyle said. “He's a big part of next year's team and our plans.”

A couple other Buffs have been unavailable during summer practices as Mani and freshman Isaiah Johnson have yet to be cleared to practice due to their school year's concluding in June. Boyle hopes to have them both cleared within the 10 practices ahead of the Australia trip.

Colorado held its first practice before the trip Wednesday.

While the Buffs get ready for Australia, Boyle has other business to attend to in finalizing the roster.

Julian Hammond, Javon Ruffin (Bowling Green), Assane Diop (San Diego), RJ Smith, Courtney Anderson Jr. (Montana), Greg Gerhardt (UCCS) and Harrison Carrington all entered the portal while Trevor Baskin and Andrej Jakimovski graduated from the program. The nine departures left Boyle with plenty of work to do this offseason, and with 13 roster spots filled, there will likely be two more additions to cap the team at 15 under the new House settlement — which was approved on June 6.

This season’s squad is mostly composed of players that are 6-foot to 6-foot-6 as Boyle prioritized size when building the new roster. Elijah Malone (6-foot-10), Bangot Dak (6-foot-11), freshman Fawaz “Tacko” Ifaola (6-foot-11) and Sebastian Rancik (6-foot-9) make up the Buffs' front court for the time being as Boyle looks to find a true five that can compliment Colorado’s system.

“We need a big that can hopefully help us on the glass, defensively, in the post,” Boyle said. “We basically have Elijah and Tacko. He's drinking water from a fire hose right now as a big freshman. It's a lot to ask of him, so we'd like to get a big that can contribute and help us with our size, rim protection, physicality, hopefully, scoring ability, so best players we can get and we might add two of them.”

As Boyle and his staff work to land some more size, developing CU’s five new freshmen is a top priority this summer. Ifaola, Johnson, Jalin Holland, Ian Inman and Josiah Sanders bring a variety of skills that Colorado can benefit from this season, and the young group is showing positive signs for the upcoming season within a couple weeks of summer practices and workouts.

“This foreign trip for us is so important because these guys are learning a lot right now,” Boyle said. “The more time we can have with them on the court, the better they're going to be come November. I like their attentiveness. I love their competitiveness. They're a together group.

“[Strength coach Steve Englehart] has told me that it's the toughest group of freshmen and the most together group of freshmen that he's seen in a weight room since the D’Shawn [Schwartz], Evan [Battey] and McKinley [Wright] group. That's encouraging, because I got a lot of respect for [Englehart]. He knows when guys are working hard and he knows when they're not, and this group does. So I think we're going to need a couple of them, at least, to step up this year and help us.”

The Buffs will play nine home games during the nonconference slate, which includes five consecutive home matchups to begin the season within the first three weeks of November. Those five contests will mark the most home games Colorado has played to begin a season since 1997.

CU’s fifth home matchup to begin the season against UC Davis is part of the Acrisure Series, and then Colorado will head to Palm Desert to face opponents that have yet to be determined on Nov. 27 and 28.

Colorado will then travel to Fort Collins for its fourth consecutive Rocky Mountain Showdown against Colorado State on Dec. 6.

Later on Dec. 20, the Buffs will play in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame Series in Phoenix against Stanford. Following the game against the Cardinal, CU will be back to conclude its nonconference play against Northern Colorado on Dec. 28.