Friday morning in Boulder saw the Colorado Buffaloes men's basketball conduct its first regular practice of the 2019-2020 season. Head coach Tad Boyle and guard McKinley Wright IV both fielded questions from the media and detailed how things got off and the team's preseason expectations.
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McKinley Wright IV on the 2019-2020 Colorado Buffaloes: It's different this year. There'a a target on our back. Normally we're out there chasing teams but we got our whole roster back, there's a lot of hype around us with a Top 25 (preseason rank...ESPN had CU at 23 back in June), and (being a) Pac-12 top team, whatever it may be.
We know there's going to be a lot of teams aiming at us so we just have to go out there and play each game like its our last."
***It's not a well-kept secret by any means that Colorado returns the vast majority of players from last year, many of whom seem poised to be even better than they were last year after adding a full season of basketball under their belts, namely some of the younger guys (Daylen Kountz, Eli Parquet and Evan Battey).
This is arguably the best team Tad Boyle has had to work with. All the pieces are in place, now its time to execute. No more shots in the foot with bad non-conference losses, no more starting Pac-12 play slow. No reason why this team can't make the NCAA Tourney.
Tad Boyle on the addition of Maddox Daniels and what he brings to the table for the Buffs: "Number one, with thee 3-point line going out, I think he gives us an extra shooter out here who can stretch the defense. One of the strengths of this team is our bigs inside, and for bigs to have room to operate down there, they gotta be surrounded by shooters and Maddox is a good shooter.
People are going to have to respect him. Now the challenge for him, when (people) close out to him, he's got to be able to shot fake and get by and use his off-the-dribble moves...We're going to need some guys, whether it's Maddox or Shane or Lucas to be consistent outside shooters. I'd add McKinley to that list, Eli (Parquet) Daylen (Kountz and) D'Shawn (Schwartz). We've to a lot of weapons and Maddox is hopefully going to be one of them."
***A question mark for this year's team, as Boyle stated above, is who will be Colorado's consistently effective long range guy? I talked with Boyle briefly in August and he mentioned how he wants to see Shane Gatling take steps as a senior to be more of a consistent downtown shooter. Daniels' presence might do well to help alleviate some of the pressure and let Gatling ease into things. Really excited to see Maddox Daniels in action. Great pickup for the Buffs.
