Pat Rooney: CU Buffs 3 extra points (April 15, 2024)

Apr. 15—BuffZone writer Pat Rooney discusses three topics surrounding CU Buffs athletics as spring recruiting speeds up in basketball and spring football continues.

Staff void

Forging a path toward sustained competitiveness in the Big 12 Conference for the Colorado men's basketball team might hinge less upon how head coach Tad Boyle fills the empty spots on his roster as how he fills the void on his coaching staff.

With now-former assistant Rick Ray on his way to Vanderbilt, Boyle has a coaching vacancy for the first time since he hired Ray four years ago. Certainly the Buffs' roster needs work before the return campaign in the Big 12 next fall. CU needs a post player and a capable 3-point shooter, preferably players with experience in both cases. KJ Simpson making his official declaration for the NBA draft last week leaves CU with three open scholarships to work with this spring, a number likely to become four when freshman Cody Williams announces his draft intention. Given that Julian Hammond III and, to a lesser extent, Javon Ruffin are the only projected returning Buffs with meaningful rotation experience, it's not a stretch to say the Buffs need to land three (or four) potential rotation players with those open spots.

Yet as Boyle and assistants Mike Rohn and Bill Grier attempt to re-assemble the roster, filling Ray's spot comes at a critical juncture as the Buffs return to the Big 12. CU doesn't "need" an assistant with deep familiarity with the Big 12, but that sort of background certainly would be useful. Particularly if they have experience recruiting Texas, which likely will become a bigger priority in the Big 12.

Taking over

The offseason will provide Hammond an opportunity to shine.

With the CU men's basketball team set to lose the bulk of its production from a 26-win team, Hammond is in a unique position to take over leadership duties. Hammond, a junior guard from Cherry Creek, was off to a solid start to the 2023-24 season before his campaign was derailed by injuries — first by a back issue that cost him two games in early January and limited his production afterward, then by a knee injury that kept Hammond on the sideline for the final 11 games of the season.

Certainly the Buffs need help at point guard, but having a healthy Hammond back in the mix will give CU a valuable safety net. Hammond has 88 games under his belt and is a career .376 3-point shooter, including a .400 mark before his '23-24 season ended prematurely. Regardless of who the Buffs land this spring, a solid senior season from Hammond will go a long way toward easing the potential pain of rejoining one of the top conferences in the nation while the program goes through a transition season.

The long haul

While putting together a column on Simpson's career late last week, I got to thinking about one aspect of college athletics I hope doesn't go away in the era of open and unlimited transfers.

Watching players like Simpson evolve from bright-eyed freshmen to players brimming with confidence as they embark on professional careers is one of the joys of the game, for fans and media alike. It wasn't so long ago that Simpson, fresh off de-committing from Arizona, struggled to find his shooting touch while committing too many turnovers as a freshman. Just two years later, Simpson turned in one of the best all-time seasons in the history of the CU men's basketball program and essentially willed himself into NBA draft consideration.

And it's not just stars like Simpson. I remember watching Luke O'Brien, then a gangly teenager, and his Columbine teammates at Ralston Valley High not long after he committed to the Buffs. Tristan da Silva arrived at CU from his native Germany full of potential, yet had to adjust to an entirely new culture on a campus he hadn't previously visited thanks to COVID restrictions.

I could go on and on with the examples. One of the great rewards in college sports, in my humble opinion, has been the ability to watch young men and women grow up before your eyes over the course of a four (or five) year career. Players deserve the freedom of movement, and certainly a transfer finding a new and rewarding home for themselves can be appealing to watch as well. But it's not hard to envision the day when spending all four years in the same program becomes the exception to the rule.