The Colorado women’s basketball team unofficially kicked off its 2023-24 campaign on Saturday with an 81-57 victory over Adams State in a preseason exhibition. It was the last time the Buffs will get to play a different colored jersey before the official season tips off on Nov. 6 against LSU.
There was plenty of good, bad, and ugly from CU in this one, which is as to be expected in the first game action of the year. Here are five things you need to know from Saturday’s exhibition.
The starting lineup hasn't been decided quite yet
The Buffs return four starters from last season’s Sweet 16 team in Jaylyn Sherrod, Frida Formann, Quay Miller, and Aaronette Vonleh. Small forward Tayanna Jones graduated, and Saturday gave us our first glimpse of what the starting lineup could be as the new season begins.
Veteran Tameiya Sadler earned the start against Adams State and played pretty well, scoring six points and contributing defensively. However, Sadler, Kindyll Wetta, and transfers Sara Rose-Smith and Maddie Nolan all played 17-18 minutes, so it’s clear that the spot is still up in the air.
“The rotation is up for grabs,” head coach JR Payne said postgame. “We have so many good players this year. For me, I’ve never placed an emphasis on starting, I would rather be the kid that’s wanted to be in at the end of the game when the game is on the line… Tameiya started and did a great job. She’s experienced. But definitely, I think we can rotate that through the year.”
The Buffs used a 10-player rotation Saturday, and redshirt freshman Mikayla Johnson got some minutes and knocked down a three late as the 11th woman off the bench. With all of these spots up for grabs, expect to see plenty of tinkering with lineups and rotations over the first few weeks (if not longer) of the season.
Buffs want to play with tempo
One of the biggest things that stuck out about Saturday’s game was the tempo that the Buffs played with. Jaylyn Sherrod has always been one to push the pace, flying coast-to-coast anytime she gets the chance, but Saturday it was especially on display.
Sherrod was looking to fly up the court anytime she got the chance against the Grizzlies. It didn’t matter the situation; miss or make, Sherrod was off and running, knifing into the paint in transition to finish with 11 points and three assists in just 24 minutes.
“We would love to do it even more than we did today,” Payne said.
A Buffs offense that got stuck in the mud more often than it would like last season could use some more pace, and the easy buckets that come with it. All indications are that we could get to see more of it this year.
Frida Formann scores from everywhere
Last week at media day, Frida Formann talked about how excited she was to open her game up, to do more things than just shoot. Her full skillset was on display on Saturday.
Formann led the Buffs with 16 points, and scored in a multitude of ways. Early on, when her outside shot wasn’t falling, she drove to the basket and drew two fouls, knocking down all four of her free throws. In the second half, she knocked down two threes, got to a pull-up jumper in the lane, and finished off a layup off of an offensive rebound.
Formann’s expanded offensive skillset could be critical in giving the Buffs a go-to bucket getter when they need it, and is something to monitor moving forward.
Aaronette Vonleh shows dominance on the interior
It’s worth noting that Adams State was a very small team and had nobody to match the size and strength that Vonleh plays with, but that doesn’t take away from her performance in this one. Vonleh looked very comfortable as she began her second year at Colorado, dominating inside and finding easy buckets, and even stepped out and knocked down a jumper early on.
Defensively, Vonleh was great around the rim, blocking two shots and altering many more. She positioned herself well in the Buffs’ drop scheme and cut off drives from the Grizzlies’ guards. If Vonleh can consistently be a two-way force like she was in the exhibition, she can be an “easy button” for CU offensively and a monster in the paint on defense and really raise this team’s ceiling.
CU has a long way to go to compete with LSU
Much has been made of the Buffs’ pending opener against LSU, the defending National Champions and the No. 1 ranked team in the country in the preseason. The Tigers backed that ranking up in their own preseason exhibition, beating East Texas Baptist 99-26 in dominant fashion.
The Buffs showed a lot of good on Saturday, but they will need to tighten a lot of things up in order to keep up with Kim Mulkey and company in the opener. In the win over Adams State, the Buffs turned the ball over 14 times and shot just 5 for 23 from three, while giving up their fair share of open looks on the other end.
Obviously, this is all nitpicking considering the point in the year, and the fate of the season isn’t being decided in game one. But the Buffs have a lot of work to do, and opening night will be a great measuring stick to see how they stack up against the best.
