Pac-12 Basketball: Preseason power rankings for 2023-24 season
By Tuck Clarry
4. Colorado Buffaloes
Tad Boyle has brought the Buffalos back with an offseason of recruiting wins and key additions in the portal. Colorado performed admirably after losing Jabari Walker to the NBA, but it was clear that the offense was sorely lacking.
Colorado brings in Eddie Lampkin to help First Team All-Pac-12 forward Tristan da Silva in the frontcourt. Da Silva averaged 15.9 points per game last season and shot 39% from three-point last season. Lampkin will be a great pairing with da Silva, benefiting from added spacing that was nonexistent at TCU. His sophomore season was disappointing and odd, with clear tension between him and head coach Jamie Dixon. But it is worth remembering that just a year prior Lampkin was an absolute force at the rim and rebounding off the glass, having the sixth-best offensive rebounding rate in the country in 2021-2022.
Williams is an intriguing piece that should be able to add a dynamic presence on both ends of the court. The younger brother to Oklahoma City Thunder Jalen Williams, he has a similar ability to get to his spots and attack his defender. The issue is that he is not quite there as a shooter yet, something that is still lacking for Colorado outside of da Silva.
KJ Simpson’s development will greatly dictate just what this Colorado team’s ceiling is. He averaged 15.9 points, 3.8 assists and 4.3 rebounds per game last season but struggled mightly putting the ball through the hoop, shooting 39.6% from the field and 27.6% from three-point. If defenses aren’t expected to respect Simpson’s shot, the offense could still be hard to come by with packed-in defenses and blanketing of da Silva.
Colorado will need one of their returning players not named da Silva or Simpson to pop. That could be 6-foot-7 senior guard Luke O’Brien, who has shown ability to shoot better than he did during his junior season. Senior J’Vonne Hadley is an interesting, bruising guard who can play big when needed. Junior Julian Hammond has shown an ability to play on and off the ball.
It might not always be pretty, but Boyle has the roster with the upside of a tournament team, and the coaching skills to extract as much as possible to make that happen.