Fresh off an NCAA Tournament appearance — Colorado's first since 2012-13 — JR Payne's Colorado Buffaloes look the part of a women's basketball program on the rise.

Over the course of her coaching career, Payne has displayed an ability to turn programs around.

In five years at the helm of Southern Utah, her first head coaching gig, Payne took the Thunderbirds from a 7-23 overall record in year one to 23-10 and a WNIT berth in her fifth and final campaign in 2013-14.

Ahead of the 2014-15 season, Payne took over at Santa Clara, where she had previously coached as an assistant.

The Broncos went from 11-18 to 23-9 in two years, leading up to Payne's hiring by CU.

Building a program from the cellar of the Pac-12 has proved to be a taller task than doing so in the Big Sky or WCC, but Payne has done exactly that over the last six seasons.

While her tenure in Boulder has not been without bumps in the road or disappointing losses, Colorado has improved its yearly league win total and placing in the regular season standings over four consecutive seasons.

Oregon Ducks head coach Kelly Graves knows Payne well.

Payne was a standout first-team All-WCC point guard under him at Saint Mary's from 1997-99 and she later joined his coaching staff at Gonzaga in 2000.

Graves, who developed Gonzaga and now Oregon into national powerhouses, sees Payne's Buffs on an upward trajectory within the Pac-12.

“It’s hard," he said. "People don’t understand — to go from where they were in the Pac-12 to where they are now — it’s a high mountain to climb. I remember talking to (Payne) and saying, ‘You don’t have to recruit to win the league this year. Recruit to get in the upper half, (then) the upper third. She’s done that and has had a steady climb."

The Buffaloes under Payne have faced their fair share of trials and tribulations over the years.

The 2018-19 season was particularly tough, with Colorado going 2-16 in league play, finishing dead last in the Pac-12.

The Buffs have also lost many close-but-no-cigar types of games, particularly against Pac-12 foes — defeats by razor thin margins and/or in overtime.

However, whether it's been during games themselves, in postgame press conferences or at practice, Payne has proven to be a woman who is extremely hard to rattle.

“What impresses me is the work ethic that JR has (and) the attitude that she has: a positive attitude, a positive feeling around her program, her welcoming attitude, her openness — most kids want to play in an environment like that,” said Ceal Barry, who helmed the women's hoops program in Boulder from 1983-2005, going 427-242 overall at Colorado.

Barry, whose long basketball career on the court, administratively, as well as internationally, helped propel her into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame as part of its Class of 2018, sees Payne as someone who can walk the coaching tightrope of holding players accountable while also inspiring devotion amongst those she leads.

“She’s got a maturity about her" Barry said. "She’s an authority figure, yet she can relate really well to the women. Being a female, she connects well to women. That’s important and it’s not something that you overlook.

"I see it with Tad Boyle. He connects really well with the guys, and I think JR’s much the same, in that she connects with the women on the team. That energy, you can’t measure that. It’s hard to put a price tag on it.”

Over the years, Payne's consistent demeanor has proved to be a primary stabilizing factor for Colorado through the good, the bad and the ugly.

Furthermore, Payne has experienced little turnover amongst her coaching lieutenants, with associate head coach Toriano Towns and assistant coach Alex Earl both entering year seven at CU alongside her.

"She’s the same person now as she was when she was coaching for me and then at her other D1 coaching stops," Graves said. "She’s the same person — she hasn’t changed.

"The pressure of being in the Pac-12 at Colorado hasn’t changed her. She still has the same happy-go-lucky outlook on life. She’s just a happy person. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen her have a bad day.”

Colorado's recent history vs. the Stanford Cardinal is worth examining because at face value, the two programs couldn't be more different.

The one led by Payne has recently experienced its first brush of legitimate success, with the Buffs having gone 22-9 last season, finishing fifth (the highest in the Payne era) in the Pac-12, to go along with an NCAA Tournament appearance.

Tara VanDerveer's program, on the other hand, has been among the nation's most elite for over three consecutive decades.

Under VanDerveer, a Naismith Memorial and Women's Basketball Hall of Fame inductee, Stanford has captured three national titles, most recently in 2021.

And yet, Payne's Buffaloes have consistently (some may say surprisingly) played the Cardinal hard over the last several years, culminating in CU's overtime upset of then-No. 1 Stanford on Jan. 17, 2021, by a score of 77-72.

Before that, the two teams' matchups in 2019-20 were also close, with Stanford winning at home in overtime and then on a shocking buzzer beater to edge the Buffs in Boulder.

"People ask me all the time like, ‘Why do you play them so tough?’ Other coaches in the league will say, ‘What do you do?’ because they want to beat them, of course," Payne said. "And I don’t really know, other than just the fact that we’re very tough and we’re fearless.

"I think when teams are that good, a lot of times they often have a fear factor against other people. I don't think they have that with us. We’re totally unafraid of them, not because we’re being disrespectful, but just because we think we can beat them."

The most recent time that Stanford and Colorado met, in the Pac-12 Tournament, the end result proved to be anomalous with respect to the hard-fought theme the majority of recent encounters have had.

The Buffs got steamrolled in that one, 71-45, and CU has now lost four straight against the Cardinal since their unlikely upset in early 2021.

That game remains the lone victory Colorado has scored against Stanford in the Pac-12 era.

But for a program hoping to stay on the rise, taking down a dominant Stanford squad served as a confidence-builder for the Buffs, who proved they can trade blows with one of the top teams in the nation year in and year out.

"Honestly, I think if you asked everyone on our team who have been here for a few years, who was your biggest rivalry, they probably would say Stanford,” Payne said.

VanDerveer, whose legendary basketball career has done little to blunt her sense of humility, offered an assessment of what she's witnessed from the women's basketball program at Colorado:

"Sometimes, you have to crawl before you can walk," VanDerveer said. "(Colorado) got in the Tournament and now they want to go back and do better. I think the success of a team is not one person or one player but the assistants, the athletic director, the players, the fans — and there are some really devoted fans in Colorado.

"I think there’s a great future there and we’re excited to have the rivalry that we have. We want the growth of women’s basketball. Sometimes you’ve got to be careful what you wish for, but it’s great to have Colorado on an upward trend."

Several individual performances by Colorado players last year have the potential to reverberate in the near future in terms of Boulder developing a reputation as a location in which women's hoopers can go to be developed.

For starters, look no further than Mya Hollingshed, who, after five years at CU, was selected eighth overall in the 2022 WNBA Draft by the Las Vegas Aces.

Hollingshed, the first Colorado women's basketball player taken in the opening round of the WNBA Draft, as well as one of the highest draft selections across all sports in CU athletics history, came a long way during her career in Boulder.

Over the span of five seasons, Hollingshed's strengths multiplied, as she developed from more of a strict post presence into a potent perimeter shooter.

Reflecting on Hollingshed's recruitment, Payne likened her to a diamond in the rough.

With a bit of polishing, a player like Hollingshed could yield big-time dividends, not only on the hardwood but also from a future recruiting pitch perspective.

"We prioritize player development a lot in our program and we felt like if we could get someone like that, who doesn’t necessarily know basketball at a high level yet, but has all these tools, we could help her develop into the player she is today," Payne said.

"I think that, above anything, should be speaking to recruits. Everybody says, ‘I want to be the best I can be, I want to be great, I want to play in the league.’ Well, you have to go somewhere that intentionally develops their players in that way. Mya is the perfect example of someone that was unranked, under-recruited and now she was drafted top eight in the country. That I think speaks to where we are, and it’s important for us to get that messaging out.”

The state of Colorado recently has been a rich recruiting ground for women's basketball.

VanDerveer perhaps knows that better than anyone, as she's notably plucked a handful of top Centennial State prospects to come play at Stanford, including Grandview standout and 2022 grad Lauren Betts, the No. 1 overall prospect in the nation.

Similarly, in 2019, VanDerveer landed Ashten Prechtel of Discovery Canyon High in Colorado Springs, as well as Regis Jesuit's Francesca Belibi.

Not all homegrown Colorado players had a desire to leave the state, however.

Take CU sophomore Kindyll Wetta, a former Valor Christian standout who is on the verge of becoming an in-state star at the college level for CU.

The number of prospects leaving Colorado to play collegiate hoops elsewhere was not lost on Wetta, who earned a spot on the Pac-12 All-Defensive and All-Freshman teams last year.

“That I think was something that factored into my decision, too," Wetta said. "I was seeing how many people were leaving the state of Colorado and was like, ‘I don’t want to be like that. I want to be the one that’s going to stay and help make (CU) into a great program.”

In Wetta, the Buffs possess a promising young local player that future in-state recruits will take notice of.

“Kindyll captures everything that we want in a student-athlete," Payne said. "She’s incredible in the classroom, she’s incredible on the court, she’s one of our hardest-working players each and every single day — she’s totally fearless, she’s a great teammate, she’s a great human.

"She’s everything you want in a student-athlete. I think she’s someone that young people in the state of Colorado should be looking at, especially after the success she had this year."

The ability to work the transfer portal is a good indicator of a healthy program.

Following their 2022 NCAA Tournament appearance, the Buffs did just that, bringing in frontcourt reinforcements in former Arizona forward Aaronette Vonleh.

Vonleh will help fill the void left by the departures of Hollingshed as well as Peanut Tuitele, who opted to use her COVID bonus year of eligibility and transfer to Cal.

While Vonleh has yet to earn her stripes in a Buffs uniform, Colorado's transfer portal acquisition from last year, center Quay Miller, certainly already has.

After playing her first two seasons at Washington, Miller transferred to CU, and by the end of the 2021-22 season, had averaged 10.6 points and 5.1 boards per game off the bench, both of which trailed only Hollingshed for team-best among the Buffs.

For her efforts, Miller was named Pac-12 Sixth Player of the Year honors.

While she joined the Buffaloes before they embarked on their most successful season in nearly a decade, Miller was attracted to the prospect of playing under Payne from afar.

“What initially got me to Colorado was JR," Miller said. "I’ve been talking to ‘J’ since I was a sophomore in high school. I’ve always just been a fan of the person she was — very genuine…After my second year at Washington, I started watching other teams in the Pac-12 play and Colorado just stood out to me.

"Everything stood out to me: how they played, how they played together as a team in the games they were in — it just felt like a different mentality they had. I was attracted to that.”

Through Miller, CU can boast having a transfer-friendly program that skillfully makes use of a given player's abilities in a manner that boosts the team.

Continued success is never a guarantee for any program, whether it be Stanford, Colorado or whomever.

And looking at the 2022-23 Buffaloes, there certainly are question marks. Not having Hollingshed's production for the first time in five years will be a hurdle to overcome, while CU also said goodbye to key upperclassmen in Tuitele and guard Sila Finau, in addition to reservist Kylee Blacksten, all of whom transferred.

That said, Miller returns, while Wetta and senior guard Jaylyn Sherrod are poised to partner in the backcourt once again.

Tayanna Jones is back for her fifth collegiate season and junior guard Frida Formann, CU's fourth-leading scorer from last year, will also factor heavily in the rotation.

“We have a good bundle of guards, we have good leaders in our post, good shooters, so I think that our biggest thing is coming together on and off the court so that we’re able to perform to our best potential on the court,” Miller said.

Along with the tenured players, Colorado welcomes four Class of 2022 signees for this upcoming season: forwards Lizzie Holder, Ally Fitzgerald and Brianna McLeod plus guard Jada Wynn.

“I think (Payne has) just done a great job of sticking to her principles and building the right way with the right kind of kids," Graves said. "She took her lumps early, but has continued to get better and better and better. Now, with an NCAA (Tournament) pedigree, she’s going to be able to build on that.”

All things considered, the present reputation of CU women's basketball — in the eyes of in-state recruits, prospective transfers, Payne's peers and the world of collegiate women's hoops in general — may be close to changing significantly.

“I’m hoping it’s going to start to sway the opinion of Colorado, seeing me come here, seeing us make the first round of the NCAA Tournament, seeing Mya go pro, because it definitely proves we’re a great team," Wetta said. "We’re only going to go up."