Jakub Dombek Signs NLI To Join Colorado Basketball

BOULDER – Jakub Dombek has signed a National Letter of Intent to play basketball and continue his education at the University of Colorado in 2018-19, head coach Tad Boyle announced Saturday.

Dombek, a 6-10 forward from Ostrava, Czech Republic, is the third member of Colorado's signing class for 2018-19, joining Daylen Kountz (Denver East HS) and Elijah Parquet (Beaumont, Texas, West Brook HS), who signed in November.

Dombek is attending the Get Better Academy in the city of Prague, where he has averaged 9.5 points and 7.3 rebounds this season in the Czech Men's First League. He is an intriguing signing for the Buffaloes, who certainly were after a player with size to fortify their frontcourt. Dombek is relatively new to the sport, having played organized basketball only the last three or four years, but has the size and skillset Colorado was looking for.

"Jakub is a guy who has a tremendous upside," Boyle said. "He runs the floor for a guy that's 6-10, he shoots the ball from the perimeter and has got good skill. He has not been playing organized basketball for very long, but when you look at a kid like this, his upside is unlimited."

Dombek will be the 16^th international player for the Buffaloes since the mid-1950s, the eighth in the Boyle era and fourth in the past three classes.

Colorado learned about Dombek through assistant coach Bill Grier's connection with Get Better Academy head coach and director Julian Betko, who played at Butler under Brad Stevens from 2004-08, and started the GBA in 2012.

"I had contacted Julian about some of his guys and we talked about Jakub," Grier said. "(Julian) thinks he has a chance to be a pro and a lot of others I talked to feel the same way. (Jakub) is really athletic, aggressive and shoots it really well."

Boyle was able to see film on Dombek in the fall and "absolutely loved him." In January, assistant coach Kim English was able to watch Dombek play in a prep school tournament in Rhode Island and Boyle caught him on the same trip in New York City.

"He's got a chance to be as good as he wants to be given his size, his skillset and the fact that he hasn't been playing basketball for an extended period of time," Boyle said. "He's going to need to get in the weight room, and we know with foreign kids coming over here there is an acclimation period they go through.

"He's going to go through a lot of changes over the next year – physically, mentally, emotionally, academically, but we're very excited about his future. He's a guy that could be a very good player for Colorado moving forward."

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