All the exhibition run-throughs are done, and now Colorado’s men’s basketball team gets to find out what it really has.
The Buffaloes open the season Monday night against Abilene Christian at 7 p.m. on ESPN+, and the biggest early question isn’t offense. It’s whether the defense looks like a team ready to do more than collect nonconference wins at home.
That’s been a tricky early read for CU before. Last season, the Buffs opened by winning their first eight nonconference home games, only for the year to unravel into a 17-16 finish.
And even in that early stretch, the warning signs were already there on the defensive end. Colorado allowed each of its first two opponents, and three of its first five, to shoot at least 51% from the field.
The season ended with the Buffs ranked 13th in the Big 12 in defensive field goal percentage at .460 and 15th in defensive 3-point percentage at .363.
So even if Colorado starts stacking wins again, the real measuring stick will be how much cleaner the defense looks. Head coach Tad Boyle has said that area has to improve, and guard Barrington Hargress says the work has been nonstop.
“We’re just drilling. Drilling these things into our head - just the principles that we’re trying to have, how we’re trying to dictate,” Hargress said.
“I think we held (North Texas) to 39%, which is something that coach Boyle is really big on. We’ve just got to get that rebounding game where we want to be.
Those are things we’re really focusing on that’s going to put us in position to win.”
Colorado’s frontcourt is getting a fresh look, too. Goc Malual, Noah Feddersen and Justin Neely are expected to handle the bulk of the work inside, while David Gomez could add more size as he continues strengthening a surgically repaired foot.
There’s also Eric Jacobsen, a first-year forward who isn’t expected to crack the main big-man rotation but gives Boyle another development project in the low post. Jacobsen is 6-foot-11 and 240 pounds, and he likely would have drawn more recruiting attention out of high school if not for the torn ACL he suffered halfway through his junior season.
He returned for the last part of his senior year and now is learning what it takes to survive in the Big 12.
“I don’t feel it at all. It feels great,” Jacobsen said of his knee.
“Coming out of high school, the biggest adjustment is the pace of the game, the physicality. Just going against guys like Justin and Noah every day.
Big, strong. Just getting adjusted to that and working against that every day.”
Hargress had one of the best statistical seasons on the team a year ago, setting CU records for assist-to-turnover rate at 3.61 and 3-point percentage at .481. Still, when the preseason watch list for the Bob Cousy Award came out earlier this week, his name was absent. The award goes to the nation’s top point guard, and three Big 12 point guards made the 20-player list: Miles Sadler of West Virginia, Dedan Thomas Jr. of Houston and Robert Wright III of BYU.
Abilene Christian, meanwhile, enters its sixth season under head coach Brette Tanner and his 14th season overall with the program.
In Other News...
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Deion Sanders spent part of this week trying to clean up a comment that quickly took on a life of its own, and the Colorado coach made clear he was not actually offering anybody money to stop talking about him. He said the $50,000 line was meant as a joke about someone profiting off his name and brand, but once it landed in the wider conversation, it became another flashpoint around a program that rarely goes long without one.
The remark resurfaced again at his weekly news conference before Colorado hosts Kansas State, where Sanders stuck to the same message: he does not pay people to avoid criticism, and he was misinterpreted. The larger point sounded familiar from him, too, because criticism has followed much of his career and he said he remains unapologetic about what he says and does. [Read more 🡒]
Colorados First Big 12 Win May Hinge On One Kansas State Decision
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Colorados plan, at least in theory, is to keep Johnson bottled up in the pocket and force him to win with his arm. But Kansas State has been dealing with quarterback injuries beyond Johnson, and even if he is cleared to play, theres no guarantee hell look or play the same way he normally does. For a Colorado defense trying to steady itself in conference play, the difference between an injured Johnson and no Johnson at all could shape the whole afternoon. [Read more 🡒]
Kansas State Has The Edge But Colorado Still Brings One Real Threat
Colorados season has reached a point where every week feels like a reset that never quite arrives. The Buffaloes bring a five-game losing streak into their Oct. 31 matchup with Kansas State, and the projections are bleak enough to underline just how much work is left to do. Colorado sits with the lowest Football Power Index rating in the Big 12, while the Wildcats arrive with a clearer path to bowl eligibility and a roster that has been more consistent on both sides of the ball.
Still, this is not the kind of game Colorado can treat as just another uphill climb. Kansas State has the edge on paper, but the Buffaloes do have one area that can keep things uncomfortable if they can ever get it rolling, and that is exactly the sort of opening a team in search of a spark has to chase. With Avery Johnson, Rodney Fields and Joe Jackson headlining the Wildcats attack, Colorado will need to find an answer quickly, because this one could get away from them fast if it turns into a track meet. [Read more 🡒]