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Colorado Basketball
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July 3rd
… CU in the Arena …
Tad Boyle: “I want to leave Colorado basketball, whenever I’m done, in a much better place than when I found it. (Derrick White’s $2 million donation) is a big step in that direction”
From the Daily Camera … Seated prominently near the stage during Colorado’s Derrick White press conference was this year’s new-look CU men’s basketball team.
Two-thirds of coach Tad Boyle’s roster are newcomers. More than half the scholarship players — seven out of 13 — are freshmen. Most of them hadn’t reached double-digits in age yet when White enjoyed his lone, standout season for the Buffaloes during the 2016-17 season.
Still, White’s decorated nine-year NBA career with San Antonio and Boston, complete with an NBA title and Olympic gold medal, has made him a household name among aspiring hoopsters. And White’s introduction last week as CU’s first president of basketball strategy, coinciding with a $2 million donation, will make him an even more prominent presence within the program.
The ceremony gave the current class of new Buffs a front-row seat to the possibilities of coach Boyle’s program. Few of CU’s NBA draft picks under Boyle began their final seasons with the Buffs lighting up mock drafts. White was no different a decade ago.
“They’re a little starry-eyed right now. A lot of them just got here,” Boyle said. “But for the guys that are coming back … they have a taste of what this place can be, and will be. That’s why having these guys come back — having Derrick doing what he’s doing, given the platform that he’s on right now — it opens their eyes a little bit, there’s no doubt about that.”
While the draft picks from Boyle’s early CU years — Alec Burks, Andre Roberson and Spencer Dinwiddie, all of whom attended White’s ceremony — might have enjoyed more national notoriety, most of the Buffs’ more recent draft picks took the long road to draft night.
Tristan da Silva was a four-year player before landing in the first round of the 2024 draft. KJ Simpson was coming off a sophomore year marked by injury and illness before using a breakout 2023-24 season to reach the second round of the 2024 draft. George King (2018), Tyler Bey (2020) and Jabari Walker (2022) all played their way into the second round of the draft after receiving modest, at best, preseason draft recognition. And while he will complete his collegiate development at Vanderbilt, now-former Buff Bangot Dak has a chance to play his way into that group in the 2027 draft.
“I want to leave Colorado basketball, whenever I’m done, in a much better place than when I found it,” Boyle said. “This is a big step in that direction.”
“What I want people to understand is Colorado basketball can be as good as we want it to be. I’ve talked to Fernando about this, but we need to broaden our donor base. We need to broaden support base. We need to sell out Folsom Field every game. We need to sell out the CU Events Center every game. There’s a lot of work to do to do both those things. We can be as good as we want to be here. But we need support. We need help. We need resources. Especially in today’s world of college athletics.”
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One Reply to “Colorado Basketball”
Tad does not have to worry that he will leave the CU basketball program in better shape than he found it that is already a foregone conclusion.