Colorado Basketball: Projected depth chart and starting lineup for 2023-24

Mar 8, 2023; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Colorado Buffaloes guard Nique Clifford (32), Colorado Buffaloes forward Tristan da Silva (23), Colorado Buffaloes guard Julian Hammond III (1), and Colorado Buffaloes guard Ethan Wright (14) walk up court after a scoring play against the Washington Huskies during the second half at T-Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports /

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Cody Williams (Photo by Alex Bierens de Haan/Getty Images) /

Small forward

Projected starter: Cody Williams (14 mpg)

The highest-rated prospect to join Colorado Basketball out of high school is Williams, a 6’8 forward and younger brother of Jalen Williams, a former star at Santa Clara and now a current NBA player. The younger Williams has all of the tools to join him at the next level, having elite measurables combined with athletic playmaking and scoring abilities.

Williams is a top-5 overall prospect in the 2024 recruiting class and will have a ton of hype. How good he plays will ultimately determine the collective ceiling for the Buffaloes this season. He’s going to start but the reason why I limit his minutes on the wing is because they already have a starting caliber player there.

Key reserve: J’Vonne Hadley (26 mpg)

In his first year with the program, Hadley started 19 of 22 games, averaging 8.0 ppg and 5.9 rpg, good for third on the team in both. The 6’7 wing shot 53% from the field but didn’t attempt a single three-point shot, as he operates completely inside the arc. He had 15 points against Washington in league play and a pair of double-digit rebounding games, but his offensive production dipped in the latter half of the season.

With spacing concerns among the guards, it could be hard to have Hadley alongside Simpson and Hammond so having him as the 6th man that still gets the same amount of minutes on the court makes sense. And there’s also a chance that he could play at the four-spot as well.

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