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Men's basketball: Julian Hammond III to take charge of CU Buffs' attack

pat rooney, daily times-call, longmont, colo.
·4 min read

May 3—As the Colorado men's basketball team took off, Julian Hammond III was grounded.

When he last was on the floor for the Buffaloes, Hammond was battling through a back injury that limited him to just 13 and a half minutes during a double-overtime win at USC on Feb. 17.

That victory in Los Angeles sparked a season-changing run for the Colorado men's basketball team, but it also marked the end of the line for Hammond. A few days later Hammond suffered a knee injury at practice, relegating him to the sideline while the Buffs put together a run of 10 wins in 11 games that ended with a loss against Marquette in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

"It was disappointing," Hammond said of his finish to the season. "That's when everything matters. That's when you really want to be playing — Pac-12 tournament, NCAA Tournament, all of that. It was disappointing to not be able to actually play in it. But it was still fun to watch the guys get there and all that."

As the Buffs continue to turn the page toward next season's return to the Big 12 Conference, Hammond is healing and setting his sights on an expanded role. Given that head coach Tad Boyle has targeted size with the program's spring newcomers — adding transfer forwards Andrej Jakimovski (6-foot-8), Trevor Baskin (6-9) and Elijah Malone (6-10) — clearly there is a confidence level in the returning guards.

That group is led by Hammond, the Denver native who will be surrounded by a cast of talented but largely unproven players along the wing.

Hammond played in 24 games and set career-highs in scoring (7.4), rebounds (2.5) and field goal percentage (.448). While the junior guard put up solid numbers, ultimately it was a season defined, and cut short, by injuries.

Through the season's first 13 games, Hammond shot .540 overall and .477 on 3-pointers while averaging 9.8 points. Then Hammond suffered a hard fall at Arizona on Jan. 4, aggravating a back injury he already was trying to play through. Hammond missed the next two games, but when he returned he was never quite the same. In 10 games between the comeback from the back injury and the season-ending knee injury, Hammond shot just .327 overall while going 7-for-24 on 3-pointers (.292) and averaging 4.8 points.

Hammond told BuffZone at midseason the back injury probably wouldn't be fully healed until he had a chance to rest following the season. That didn't unfold in the timeline Hammond envisioned, but one bright side to the premature end to the season is that Hammond is hitting the offseason with his knee and back close to fully healthy.

"When I hurt my knee I was out, but it helped my back feel better," Hammond said. "For the most part, I feel a lot better. I just have to get in shape again. But health-wise, I feel as good as I did at the beginning of the year.

"I'll be the most experienced, so the new guys, the older guys, I'm going to try to get them on board as fast as possible. Their experience is going to help us down the stretch as a team, because we're going to be young."

Although Boyle still has one open scholarship to work with this spring, Hammond will be the presumptive starter at point guard. Before the injuries this past season he looked like a player making another step in his development, and Hammond starred when he briefly stepped into a starting role at the end of the 2022-23 season.

With KJ Simpson sidelined by illness, Hammond started four consecutive games that encompassed two games in the 2023 Pac-12 tournament and a first-round win against Seton Hall in the NIT. In those four starts, Hammond averaged 15.0 points and 4.5 assists while shooting .512.

"I've got a lot of confidence in Julian," Boyle said. "Without that (late surge in '22-23) it might be a different story. The fact that he stepped in, and not only that he did it, but he did it at a critical point in the season when games matter coming down the stretch. He produced, and that's what you want. You want guys that can answer the bell in big games. Julian, he hasn't shown everything he can do yet. With KJ's move to the NBA and professional basketball, Julian is going to have an opportunity to do that."