On Wednesday, soon-to-be senior guard McKinley Wright IV went on the Inside Pac-12 Men's Basketball podcast with hosts Mike Yam and Don MacLean to talk about the end of CU's season and his own NBA aspirations.

Wright IV during the podcast made an interesting note on redshirt freshman Keeshawn Barthelemy that offers great insight as to the latter's development, mentally and physically, during his redshirt season.

If you missed Wright IV's 25-ish minute appearance Wednesday on the podcast, you missed some good stuff. Wright IV dove into his NBA aspirations, what he seeks to gain from entering the predraft process and the challenges facing Colorado heading into the 2020-21 season.

Perhaps post importantly, Wright IV offered a pretty candid explanation for how the Buffs managed to let a regular season Pac-12 Conference title completely slip out of reach.

How did the Buffaloes go from within striking distance of setting a school record for regular season wins to losing their identity entirely and dropping the final five games of the season? Wright IV addresses it all.

He was clear, candid and reflective. Wright IV's return to Colorado is uncertain. While he talked at length about the Buffs in general and his own performance and goals, what was equally as intriguing pertained to Barthelemy.

Wright IV was asked by Ham and MacLean about the areas he as a players still wanted to improve in. The former answered that improving his assist/turnover ratio was a big item on the list, as was rounding out even more his jump shot. But he also addressed the need to be a better leader.

There's no one pointing at Wright IV and questioning his abilities as a leader. Additionally, there's a reason Tad Boyle, since Wright IV was a freshman, has referred to him as the team's "emotional engine."

But Wright IV didn't let himself off the hook, instead explaining how he could take his leadership skills to another level. Here's what he had to say on that note:

"We had another team meeting about that," Wright IV said. "I've been a pretty good leader but there's always areas I can grow in. One of those areas has to be getting on my teammates more. (Tad Boyle) and one of the players who wasn't playing, a freshman redshirt Keeshawn (Barthelemy) — they both made a comment that our group loves each other so much that we weren't holding each other accountable and we weren't getting on each other and getting chippy with each other. That's an area I have to improve in."

As Colorado conducted its end-of-season exit interviews, Boyle commented that Wright IV and much of the team were/are so tight that they collectively at times were unable to be ruthless with each other in times of mistakes and slip-ups.

We can all likely agree — during the five final games of the season, culminating with a humiliating loss to WSU in the opening round of the Pac-12 Tournament (Boyle's first-ever first-round exit from the Tourney) that there were a heck of a lot of mistakes and slip-ups.

Thus, it is interesting that out of all the coaches and players in the room during Colorado's exit interviews, it was Barthelemy, the team's lone redshirt and youngest player on roster at 19 years, two months old, who was the only person able to make the same criticism of the team that Boyle did.

Boyle at the beginning of the season noted how redshirting Barthelemy was a two-way street, with pros present for both the team in general and Barthelemy individually.

Specifically, Boyle mentioned at the time how Barthelemy was the closest simulator Colorado could use to prepare for slippery Arizona State guard Remy Martin.

"We’re getting ready to play against Remy Martin, who’s a very quick and athletic player," Boyle said at the time. "Keeshawn can simulate him better than any of the other guys on the team. That will help (us)...Having a guy like Keeshawn is going to help us as the year goes on for sure. It’s a mutually beneficial thing. Keeshawn is going to benefit from it and we’re going to benefit from him bringing it every day.”

Upon catching up recently with Barthelemy, he mentioned how as far back as late last summer, he and Boyle had agreed in principle that he'd redshirt for the 2019-20 season.

“We had the conversation early back in August before I even came for my (official) visit," Barthelemy said. "It was already established — coming in, I told (Boyle) that I’d make that sacrifice for the team and for myself, just to get stronger and acclimated to the system we play under.”

Barthelemy wound up committing to Colorado in late August of last year, coming to Boulder via the Thornlea Secondary School in Ontario. For Barthelemy, not suiting up for game nights took some adjusting.

“The most challenging thing was getting my mind right for a redshirt season," he said. "This is my first season I haven’t played basketball in like forever. It was a mental thing for me, just to keep pushing through practices and being there for my teammates.”

Barthlelemy did not single out a lone teammate that he'd become especially close with or learned from, rather choosing to say he'd gotten tight with the whole lot of his fellow Buffaloes, while he particularly enjoyed hitting the road with the team when it didn't conflict with his studies, namely on CU's road trip back in December to face Dayton in Chicago.

For Barthelemy, the biggest addition he's made to his game has been on the mental side, in being coached by Boyle and squaring up often with Wright IV.

“What I’ve improved in over the year is probably just my IQ," he said. "Playing with D1 basketball players, you (develop) a good IQ over time, especially with a good coach and a good point guard that you’re looking at.”

So there we have it. The obvious benefits of redshirting are that it allows a player to grow for a year on the basketball court while polishing their mental game. Barthelemy by all indications has been able to do exactly that.

Perhaps the most eyebrow-raising aspect of his redshirt year was that he had the boldness and acute identification ability to point out something that had crippled the 2019-20 men's basketball team down the stretch.

Barthelemy as the youngest guy on the team and who fair to say had the least deep relationship with his teammates (not to suggest there's a divide among him and the older players, but just pointing out that he at the end of the day hasn't known his teammates for as long) was able to point something out that other players could or would not.

We shall see if Wright IV comes back for his senior season. Perhaps he will. If he doesn't, his skills, emotion and leadership will be missed.

But if there's anything we have learned from Barthelemy's redshirt campaign it is that there's a young, skilled and intelligent player sneaking up on CU's depth chart who appears more and more ready and hungry to leave his own mark on the program.

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