Colorado men’s basketball is heading into preseason practice with a clear mandate from Tad Boyle: clean up the two areas that define his program.
Defense and rebounding have long been Boyle’s calling cards, and last season the Buffaloes fell short in both. Now, after a rough stretch that included consecutive losing conference seasons for just the second time in his 17 years in Boulder, Boyle is pushing for a reset.
Barrington Hargress said the message has been direct.
“I think the biggest message that (Boyle) has given us is that it’s just a non-negotiable,” CU point guard Barrington Hargress said. “If you aren’t giving 100% on (defense and rebounding), then it’s going to be hard for you to get on the floor with this group.
I think that we have a lot of guys that care about winning. So we’re all going to approach that with the right attitude and we’re gonna put that in the forefront of our minds and steer that towards winning games this year.”
The challenge for Colorado is bigger than just a philosophical tune-up. The roster has been gutted by offseason departures, with four of the team’s top five scorers gone after Isaiah Johnson went to Texas, Sebastian Rancik to Florida State, Bangot Dak to Vanderbilt and Alon Michaeli to Saint Louis through the transfer portal.
That turnover leaves the Buffs with a group that will look almost entirely new to fans. Colorado has seven first-year players, and all but one of them - Rider Portela - arrived in the spring and summer. In all, there are 10 newcomers on the roster.
The frontcourt is expected to carry a lot of the load. Noah Feddersen, Justin Neely and David Gomez are among the transfers being counted on to bring more toughness inside. Gomez, though, missed most of the summer while recovering from a foot injury that ended his 2025-26 season after only two games.
Colorado does bring back four scholarship players: Hargress and second-year players Jalin Holland, Ian Inman and Josiah Sanders.
There’s also Iaroslav Niagu, a former USC and Jacksonville State forward whose request for a fifth season of eligibility is still being processed while he continues practicing with the team.
With the pieces finally together, the Buffs now have close to six weeks to figure out rotations and chemistry before opening the season Nov. 2 at home against Abilene Christian.
For Feddersen, the early work has already started to pay off.
“I think the biggest thing probably is we’ve learned about each other off the court, the type of people that we are, our personalities, and we really bonded a lot together over the summer,” Feddersen said. “I think that’s going to help us a lot.
And then playing pick-up with each other and practicing. We’ve learned how to play with each other, what each person likes to do on both sides of the ball.
So I think that’s something that’s going to help us a lot.”
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With Big 12 play coming next, Sanders is using the aftermath as a teaching moment about accountability and what kind of standard this team has to live up to. For Colorado, the concern now is bigger than one rough afternoon. It is whether the lesson from an ugly opening loss sticks before the schedule gets tougher. [Read more 🡒]
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Among the names being floated are Brennan Marion, Jason Eck, Ryan Walters, Brian Kelly and others, a mix that underscores how many different paths the school could take. Some candidates bring strong recruiting appeal, some have Colorado ties, and others offer more established head-coaching experience, but each would come with a different level of risk and expectation. For a program trying to find stability, the next move would not just be about replacing Sanders. It would be about choosing which version of the future Colorado is willing to buy into. [Read more 🡒]
Deion Sanders Had To Address A Troubling Colorado Issue Fast
The postgame mood around Colorado was blunt and unsettled after a 41-7 loss to Northwestern, a game that turned early when the Buffaloes gave the ball away and never recovered. Deion Sanders did not hide from it, acknowledging the mistakes that put his team in a hole while also giving Northwestern credit for how it was coached and prepared.
Sanders also had to deal with more than the scoreboard, addressing player behavior in the wake of the defeat as he tried to steady a team already under pressure. With Big 12 play looming, the message was clear enough: the Buffaloes have to clean up the details, prepare better and show much more discipline if they want the next stretch to look anything like they hoped. [Read more 🡒]