K.J. Simpson on joining Colorado: 'It was meant to be'

Four-star Class of 2021 point guard K.J. Simpson is closing in on a month since he committed to Colorado following being released from his NLI with Arizona in the aftermath of the Sean Miller firing.

Even now, before he's stepped foot on CU's campus, he feels confident in his decision and looks forward to joining a young Buffaloes team eager to forge its own identity beginning in 2021-2022.

Indeed, the Buffs squad Simpson will join this summer is set to look quite different than in the immediate past.

This fall, Colorado will begin its season without four-year starting point guard McKinley Wright IV, who graduated and now hopes to try his luck in the NBA.

All of CU's other seniors from last year, D'Shawn Schwartz, Dallas Walton, Maddox Daniels, Jeriah Horne and Alex Strating, opted to use their NCAA-granted free year of eligibility to join other programs as graduate transfers.

That said, the Buffs, over the summer, will bring in an exciting young corps of players, Simpson included.

When he joined the fold and committed to Colorado on April 28, he rounded out a six-man Class of 2021 that is ranked as the No. 16 class in the nation.

Simpson will join fellow guards Javon Ruffin and Julian Hammond III, while Tad Boyle and Co. also bring in promising blue chippers Quincy Allen and Lawson Lovering, both four-star prospects.

Other than the five aforementioned recruits who come to CU from the high school ranks, Boyle also added Western Carolina graduate transfer point guard Mason Faulkner to the mix, giving the Buffs a college-tested option at the position.

It was in part that young crew of incoming personnel that led Simpson to choose Colorado shortly following his release at Arizona.

That, and the presence of veterans Evan Battey, whom Simpson knows, and Eli Parquet.

Simpson also has a relationship with freshman forward Jabari Walker, with whom he played AAU ball two years ago.

“What I talked about most with my family when I was making a decision and talking about Colorado was how young of a team we are," Simpson said. "We can really do a lot of dangerous things. We have great pieces, not only with my class coming in but with those returning."

"I think because we’re so young, we’ll have so much to learn but we can learn together and grow and become dominant at an early age.”

If there was a prospective recipe for success for the Buffaloes in 2021-2022, as they look to compete for a Pac-12 title and play in the NCAA Tournament immediately after the Wright IV era comes to an end, its arguable that the assets Colorado has added give the team a pretty respectable chance at doing just that.

All of the Buffs' incoming players — and those second-year freshmen from the 2020 class — will need to prove themselves. But that said, on paper, Colorado's roster looks promising.

Simpson's roundabout journey to CU, and how it paralleled Wright IV's, was not lost on him.

About four years ago, Wright IV was committed and signed to play college hoops at Dayton before Archie Miller left his job with the Flyers to take over at Indiana.

Wright IV was released from his NLI and Boyle moved swiftly to scoop him up.

And, of course, Simpson found his way to Boulder after Archie's brother, Sean, lost his job with the Wildcats.

“With Colorado, there was just so much that I couldn’t pass up on," Simpson said. " What was crazy to me was that coach Boyle told me the story of how he got McKinley Wright — he was actually supposed to go to Archie Miller, (but, Miller) left, and then (Wright IV) ended up coming to Colorado."

"I was supposed to go to Sean Miller but he got fired and now I’m going to (Colorado). I think that’s just crazy — it was more than just crazy, it was meant to be.”

There has been expected speculation about how Colorado's backcourt will shape up heading into this upcoming season.

Faulkner brings multiple years of collegiate experience running an offense within the Southern Conference at Western Carolina.

Redshirt freshman Keeshawn Barthelemy saw about 11 minutes per game last year, playing behind Wright IV, displaying a progression from year one to two at CU that might best be described as decent, but not mind-blowing.

And then there's Simpson, who will be added to the equation at guard along with freshmen Nique Clifford and Luke O'Brien, who both saw negligible court time last year and Parquet, a defensive specialist who showed a lot more consistency as an offensive weapon as a junior.

How Simpson personally will fit into the mix — whether he'll come to Colorado and assume more of a shooting guard role as opposed to a point guard, or vice versa — remains to be seen.

From what Simpson had to say on the matter, he'll be expected to play point guard but at the end of the day, depending on how everything shakes out, he'll be inserted into the grand scheme of things in the manner best fit for his talents, which Colorado's coaches will have plenty of time to evaluate this summer and fall.

“We’ve had multiple conversations about not only me playing point guard but also playing with the other guards too," Simpson said. "I’m going to play point guard but they want me to play with another guard, as well, so that way I can play off the ball a little bit."

"Especially with McKinley (Wright IV) leaving, they stressed to me how important the role was and that they have high hopes of me helping to fill the shoes he left at the point guard spot. They told me they were invested all-in on me being a point guard.”

Boyle also sees in Simpson a hopeful defensive boost along the perimeter and in general.

For Wright IV's offensive prowess, he was also a robust defender, with he and Parquet largely providing sound defense against opponents' top shooters.

Recently, Chaminade High School head coach Bryan Cantwell had good things to say about Simpson's defensive abilities.

"He gets up into dudes," Cantwell said. He doesn’t care who’s playing. He is up, playing hard and in your grill the whole game...Defensively, he gets into (players), he doesn’t foul, he moves his feet — he’s nonstop."

Simpson himself seems to have no qualms about playing tough defense when he enters the college ranks.

After all, it would take a great deal of naivety for one to come play under Boyle and not expect to be contributing defensively on a play-by-play basis.

"I love playing defense and will guard people 94 feet if I can," Simpson said. "When I had conversations with coach Boyle and from the film he watched of me, he spoke to me of the importance of defense. He knows that the reason I will fit so well at Colorado is that I not only play offense but I play on both ends."

"Defense to me is just as important, if not even more important, than offense is. (Boyle) looks at defense the same way I look at defense."

Back in late April, when he was deciding on what to do and where to go following his release from Arizona, Oregon was the program next to CU that pursued him the hardest.

The first time around in his recruitment, Colorado had made it into his top three before he ultimately chose the Wildcats.

After that initial decision, Simpson called Boyle to offer his thanks for recruiting him.

That conversation and the gracious manner in which Boyle accepted Simpson's decision proved to be the eventual framework to him ending up at Colorado, albeit in an unforeseen way.

"When I called coach Boyle, we had a great conversation," Simpson said. "He actually told me if it didn’t work out at Arizona or anything like that, that 'we’ll always feel the same way and will always be interested.’"

"It’s ironic that he said that, because stuff played out the way that it did. When I had gotten my (NLI) release, (Colorado was) the first school to reach out and they kept their word — they felt the same exact way."