When Tad Boyle spoke to the media at Colorado’s media day before the 2023-24 season, he made his stance on the heated transfer portal debate clear.

“I know it’s a different world out there today with all the things going on, but I still believe in recruiting really good high school players, developing them, watching them grow, and trying to stay out of the transfer portal as much as we can,” Boyle said. “Obviously, we had to go get Eddie because of what Lawson (Lovering) did at the end of last year, so if you gotta do it you gotta do it. But I’d like to stay with high school kids if we can.”

This year’s Buffs squad is primarily homegrown, led by guys Boyle recruited out of high school up and down the roster. However after last season’s starting center Lawson Lovering transferred out of the program in the spring the Buffs needed an instant replacement in the frontcourt. Enter former TCU big man Eddie Lampkin Jr.

Lampkin was brought in from the Horned Frogs to give the Buffs more size and physicality in the frontcourt, and thus far he has delivered. Lampkin has given Colorado an edge that it has needed, and he has already fit in seamlessly with his new teammates.

“I always felt that he was an easy guy to play with because of his IQ, because of his understanding. His passing out of the post is really good,” Tristan da Silva, the Buffs’ second leading scorer, said. “He’s an easy going guy, he’s a funny dude. We love to be around him, and everybody on the team really enjoys the time around each other. It’s really easy getting acclimated in this culture.”

Getting used to a new system and a new group of teammates wasn’t the only acclimating that Lampkin had to do to get ready for this season. In the offseason, Lampkin suffered from a back injury that kept him out of a majority of Colorado’s preseason practices and scrimmages.