Colorado women’s basketball experienced three consecutive trips to the NCAA Tournament and back-to-back Sweet 16 appearances with a group that brought the team to a new level, but this year many of those players are no longer with the Buffs.

Quay Miller, Jaylyn Sherrod, Charlotte Whitaker and Maddie Nolan exhausted their eligibility while Aaronette Vonleh, Tameiya Sadler, Brianna McLeod, Jadyn Atchison, Mikayla Johnson, Ruthie Loomis-Goltl and Lele Tanuvasa and football coach Deion Sanders’ daughter Shelomi Sanders all transferred out of the program. After all of the departures, Frida Formann, Kindyll Wetta, Sara Rose-Smith and Kennedy Sanders remain as the only members from those NCAA Tournament seasons.

Head coach JR Payne had to completely rebuild her roster in order to address all of the turnover this offseason and she added 10 new players, but 11 of them (including Kennedy Sanders) haven’t played any minutes at Colorado.

“Ten new players is probably double what I’ve ever had, but fortunately for us, it’s a good mix of transfers and freshmen and great kids and great chemistry so far,” Payne said. “It’s been all good.”

Payne’s 10 new players includes four true freshmen and six transfers. Despite all the new faces in the facility, the 2024-25 squad has been jelling well together both inside and outside of the gym.

“I'm really excited for this team, because even though we do have a lot of new faces and new personalities, I think we really do gel really well together, especially this early in the season, to be recognizing that,” Wetta said. “We've just started getting on the court and playing up and down, five on five, and it's just like clicking. And I don't think I've ever run a part of the team here so far that's clicked that fast, even if we've had lots of returners. It is very promising and very exciting.”

The Buffs first official practice was held Monday, and Payne and her staff began to get all the new faces acclimated to the Buffs’ offense that is, “a lot to take in,” Wetta said.

“I think they’ve just taken it on super well and have been super patient and just trying to figure it out and willing to get better, and figure out our offense, even though it’s complicated,” Payne said. “That’s been really great these past few months.”

Colorado’s new transfer additions include sophomore forward Ayianna Johnson (Minnesota), second-year sophomore center JoJo Nworie (Texas Tech), graduate center Nyamer Diew (Iowa State), Lior Garzon (Oklahoma State), junior forward Jade Masogayo (Missouri State) and graduate guard Johana Teder (Washington State).

There are many fresh perspectives across the Buffs new personnel that should help provide better understandings to the game. Formann got to know her teammates and that’s an element she appreciated as she is a fifth-year senior on the Buffs.

Of her new teammates, Formann has been impressed with Masogayo’s basketball skills.

“Jade has been really massive in all our practices,” Formann said. “Pretty unstoppable, I would say. … She's super attentive and just wants to do the right thing. And sometimes we're like, 'Jade, you just gotta go.' But, she's really stepped up. It's been really fun.”

The Buffs have six weeks before their season opener against Wyoming on Nov. 4 and Payne and her staff are trying to get the most out of all of those days to build a team that can weather the storm from November to potentially another opportunity in March.

“Certainly off the court this is a group that has more cohesion than we’ve had in a while,” she said. “On-court cohesion is definitely going to continue to be a work in progress.”