Head coach Tad Boyle and the Buffs aren’t done yet this season as they are preparing for the inaugural College Basketball Crown in Las Vegas where they will face Villanova, but Boyle may be without key players this postseason as he looks forward to the tournament.
Sebastian Rancik is questionable after he suffered a knee injury against West Virginia in the Big 12 Tournament while the Buffs' leading scorer Julian Hammond (12.5 points per game) is unlikely to participate as he is dealing with an ongoing back injury.
With injuries hindering Colorado, Boyle was met with a some hesitancy when he approached his players about participating in the CBC.
“When I called them … this weekend we got, ‘absolutely coach I’d love to play,’ and some were a little bit more reluctant and so you start digging and selling a little bit,” Boyle said. “You got two types of players at the end of the year. You got returning players and you got seniors and they are both in a totally different spot mentally. … Some guys were excited. Some guys were a little reluctant.”
Since finishing in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Tournament last Thursday, Boyle has spent the last week speaking individually with each player regarding the tournament in addition to figuring out where they stand on returning to Colorado next year.
There are no definitive status updates on which players will be back next season.
“We got enough [players] to go play and compete [in the CBC], but I’m looking at it in two ways,” Boyle said. “Number one, giving our seniors that want to play a chance to continue to play, but also use it as a springboard into next year with the returning players.
“That’s what I’m excited about and I always say if I’m not excited at the beginning of the season, if I’m not excited at the end of the season for next season, it’s time for me to get out. But, I’m not there.”
Colorado’s roster will undergo changes this offseason and the conversations Boyle is having now with his current players are bringing to light what the staff will need to acquire to have more success in the Big 12 next winter. Two positions that will likely be at the top of the priority list in the transfer portal are point guard and center, particularly if Elijah Malone doesn’t exercise his extra season of eligibility following the ruling that affords junior college players an additional year on the floor.
“Elijah Malone played really well down the stretch I thought,” Boyle said. “He really started to figure things out. It was a big jump from him coming from NAIA basketball to the Big 12, but now he knows what to expect. So a great offseason from him, every one of our players have to have [a productive offseason].
“The returning players got to give us a boost here and there, and then we’ve got to probably sign one or two guys in the transfer portal.”
In the age of name, image and likeness (NIL), coaches such as Virginia’s former head coach Tony Bennett who stepped down prior to the season, and UConn’s Dan Hurley have expressed their concerns about the negative impacts that NIL cultivates in college basketball. Some coaches have found that the pay-for-players model is diminishing the development and non-monetary values of the game.
The transactional aspect is much more prominent in today’s game. Boyle acknowledges that he’ll continually have to change and adapt, but he certainly doesn't favor the current trajectory of this part of the game.
“Transfers have always been a part of college basketball, always will be, football too,” Boyle said. “I’m not trying to get away from that, just trying to get my arms around it a little bit. Especially in today’s climate and it’s harder and harder.”
Despite the challenges that Boyle and all college coaches face in this financially driven age, Boyle won’t allow this specific change push him out of serving as Colorado’s head coach.
“I’m gonna try to fight and scratch and claw and give everything I have to this university and this program,” Boyle said. “The ship has sailed as far as me going somewhere else or trying a new start. I don’t even think about that anymore. I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t thought about it.
“It’s funny Tony Bennett and I had a voicemail exchange and he left me one of the nicest, kindest voicemails I’ve ever gotten and I understand why he chose to do what he did. A lot of other coaches are in that same boat right now and I don’t want to let this game chase me out. I’d like to go out on my own terms. I’d like to go out strong, not limp out, but the fire is still there.”
The fire has yet to burn out for Boyle during his 30-year coaching career, and he is excited for the CBC tournament and the offseason tasks that lie ahead.
“The timing with the transfer portal opening for us on March 24 makes it a little challenging, but we got big staffs,” Boyle said. “I got, shoot, five assistant coaches. We can handle game-planning and practicing and also recruiting at the same time. [The CBC tournament] was an easy sell for me, and our players now are on board. We’re excited to be a part of it.”
Colorado's matchup against Villanova will be televised by FOX on April 1 at 6:30 p.m. MT.
