CU's Gordon Hopes Summer A Springboard To Big Senior Year
June 29, 2016 | Men's Basketball, Neill Woelk
BOULDER — Wesley Gordon's senior year will begin with a trip Down Under and finish — he hopes — by going out on top.
Gordon, Colorado's senior big man, has been selected to play for a Pac-12 All-Star team that will play three games in Australia in July. The team, coached by former Stanford, Cal and Golden State Warriors coach Mike Montgomery, will include players from 10 Pac-12 schools."
"It's a great opportunity for him," CU coach Tad Boyle said. "He's going to learn in practices and he's going to be playing for a Hall of Fame coach, a guy that really knows his stuff. He's going to learn from the players he plays with and the players he plays against. There's no teacher like experience, and this will be a great experience for him."
The Pac-12 team will play three games in Australia, including two against the Australian National Team as it prepares for the 2016 Olympics.
"I'm excited," Gordon said. "I get to play against some of the top players in our league and I get to play against some of the top players in the world. It should be a lot of fun and I should learn a lot."
Boyle and Gordon also hope the experience provides a springboard to an outstanding senior season — a season that will see Gordon play for the first time in his college career without friend and frontline mate Josh Scott in a Buffs uniform.
Gordon and Scott came to Boulder in the same recruiting class. But while Gordon took a redshirt year as a freshman, Scott played four straight years.
Now, Scott is trying to hook on with an NBA team — he'll be playing with the Denver Nuggets' Summer League team in July — and the spotlight in the paint will be focused squarely on Gordon.
"It's bittersweet," Gordon said. "He's my friend and I'm going to miss him. But it's also an opportunity. It's time for me to step up. With Josh leaving, it opens the floor more, and it means I definitely have to do more."
Over the last two seasons, Gordon played a handful of games without Scott in the lineup — and those instances have led to some of the best games of his career.
Two years ago, when Scott missed eight games with a back injury, Gordon recorded three double-doubles with Scott on the bench, including a 17-rebound, 10-point effort against Washington.
Last season, with Scott on the sideline nursing an ankle sprain, Gordon put together the best stretch of his college career. In games against Oregon State, Washington State and Washington, he recorded three consecutive double-doubles, averaging 12 points and 15 rebounds.
Understandably, with Scott out of the lineup, it meant more rebounds and more points were available. But it was also a different Gordon on the floor in those games — and now the Buffs are anxious to see what he can do over the course of an entire season as the main man in the middle.
"There's no question Wes and Josh played great together," Boyle said. "They're great friends. But with Josh moving on, it's going to offer Wesley the opportunity to shine a little more. He's shown that he can rebound for us and score for us, but with Josh gone, he's going to have to take on a bigger role in a lot of ways."
Gordon said he's ready for the challenge. He's been a regular in the weight room in the offseason — he said he's added about 12 pounds to his 6-foot-9 frame and now weighs about 243 pounds — and he's also been a regular in daily open gym workouts.
"I'm going to expect those kind of (double-double) numbers from myself all the time," Gordon said. "I'll be the first person who says I should be doing that.
"But most of all, I want to go deep into the NCAA Tournament. I've been to the NCAA Tournament a couple times before, but for my senior year, I want to go deep into the tournament. That's going to be our goal from the beginning."
SCOTT WITH NUGGETS:Â Scott will play for the Denver Nuggets' Summer League team in Las Vegas in July. The recently graduated senior said practices start this weekend, with games set to begin July 8. "I'm ready," Scott said. "It will be nice to get back to playing some games again."
Contact:Â Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu
2016 PAC-12 ALL-STAR MEN'S BASKETBALL ROSTER
| NAME | SCHOOL | POS. | HT. | WT. | YR. | HOMETOWN |
| Kadeem Allen | ARIZONA | G | 6-3 | 200 | Sr. | Wilmington, N.C. |
| Chance Comanche | ARIZONA | C | 6-11 | 205 | So. | Beverly Hills, Calif. |
| Tra Holder | ARIZONA STATE | G | 6-1 | 180 | Jr. | Los Angeles, Calif. |
| Stephen Domingo* | CALIFORNIA | G | 6-7 | 217 | R-Sr. | San Francisco, Calif. |
| Wesley Gordon** | COLORADO | F | 6-9 | 220 | R-Sr. | Colorado Springs, Colo. |
| Drew Eubanks | OREGON STATE | F | 6-10 | 240 | So. | Troutdale, Ore. |
| Stephen Thompson Jr. | OREGON STATE | G | 6-4 | 170 | So. | Los Angeles, Calif. |
| Dorian Pickens*** | STANFORD | G/F | 6-5 | 215 | Jr. | Phoenix, Ariz. |
| Jordan McLaughlin**** | USC | G | 6-1 | 170 | Jr. | Etiwanda, Calif. |
| Lorenzo Bonam | UTAH | G | 6-4 | 189 | Jr. | Inkster, Mich. |
| Matisse Thybulle | WASHINGTON | F | 6-5 | 195 | So. | Issaquah, Wash. |
| Josh Hawkinson***** | WASHINGTON STATE | F | 6-10 | 232 | Sr. | Shoreline, Wash. |
* 2016 Pac-12 All-Academic Second TeamÂ
** 2016 Honorable Mention Pac-12 Defensive TeamÂ
*** 2016 Pac-12 All-Academic First TeamÂ
**** 2016 Honorable Mention All-Pac-12Â
***** 2016 Honorable Mention All-Pac-12 and 2016 Pac-12 All-Academic First Team
