CU's Scott Aims For Big Senior Season

BOULDER — Four years ago, Colorado basketball coach Tad Boyle sold two high-profile in-state recruits on becoming the “frontcourt of the future” for the Buffaloes.

That future is now. Josh Scott is a senior; Wesley Gordon is a redshirt junior. The Buffs have played in two NCAA Tournaments since their arrival on campus, and Scott would love to make it three as a capstone to his CU career.

“We started talking about it last spring,” Scott said Wednesday morning, just before leaving for San Francisco, where he'll be part of Thursday's Pac-12 Media Day event. “Everybody's on the same page, getting us back to where we were at and hopefully farther than that. The goal is the NCAA Tournament and championships. That's our goal.”

Scott and his teammates started talking about an NCAA Tournament appearance last spring because for the first time in four seasons, the Buffs weren't invited to the party. A disappointing 15-17 finish was punctuated by a consolation appearance in the CBI tournament and a loss to Seattle in the second round — a sour ending to a sour season.

It's a season Scott would like to forget. Along with the disappointing results, last year saw Scott miss eight full games because of a back injury and play in a dozen more at less than full strength.

Now, Scott has one season left as a Buff. Generally regarded as one of the best big men in the nation — he'll likely be on a number of preseason award watch lists — the 6-foot-10, 245-pound Scott firmly believes his last season at CU will be one to remember for all the right reasons.

“I think this team really likes each other,” Scott said. “I think that's being demonstrated in practice. We don't have to worry about anybody not playing hard. … It's a different dynamic. There's definitely a different feeling in practices this year than there was last year.”

Read into that what you will, but the bottom line is that last year's team chemistry too often seemed to be a volatile mix that didn't produce the desired results. The Buffs rode a season-long roller coaster that hit more lows than highs, a situation exacerbated by Scott's absence for roughly the first half of the Pac-12 schedule.

Now, Scott says he's completely healthy. A summer of weight training and conditioning has him in excellent physical condition and he's honed his game to the point that he should be a Pac-12 force, week in and week out.

“I wouldn't trade Josh Scott for any big guy in the country,” Boyle said. “That tells you how I feel about him. Obviously, Josh is a terrific offensive player. What he doesn't get enough credit for is how good of a defender he is. He's a great post defender, he's a great team defender, he can now defend on the perimeter. He's very underrated defensively. That's the thing I want people to understand, is how good he is at guarding other bigs and perimeter players.''

When healthy, Scott's numbers have been outstanding. Over the last two seasons, he's averaged more than 14 points and eight rebounds per game. In his last six games last season — after he'd returned from the back injury and worked off the rust — he averaged more than 20 points and 11 rebounds per game.

But like Boyle, Scott wouldn't mind if people would pay a little more attention to his defense.

“I do think my defense is underrated,” Scott said. “A lot of times my offense and rebounding get a lot of love, but my defense — not so much. Last year I averaged about two blocks per game, I take charges and I play great post defense. It's something I really pride myself on, but I'm not sure people notice it very often. They see numbers.”

To be honest, the Buffs will be better off this year if Scott's offensive load is decreased. The Buffs are better when Scott can concentrate on defense and rebounding and the scoring comes from other avenues.

“I'm hoping I have to do less scoring,” Scott said. “This year, I think we have more scorers and shooters. In terms of my energy and my effort, the numbers will take care of themselves. It's not something I'm worried about.”

Boyle would no doubt like to see Scott finish his career on a successful note — but not just because it would mean good things for the program.

“You can make an argument that Josh Scott has been the most important recruit we've had since I've been the coach at Colorado,” Boyle said. “Obviously we've had some great ones. Alec (Burks) and Cory (Higgins) were here when we got here; we signed Andre (Roberson) and Spencer (Dinwiddie). We've signed some great players.

“But Josh, being an in-state kid, a big guy, has been a cornerstone of our program. He's been a model student athlete. He's done everything for our program — community service, the leadership, the hosting of recruits, you name it. He's a good student, he's going to graduate on time and there have never been any issues off the court with him. I'd love to see him go out on top. He deserves it.”

There are two places for fans to watch media day festivities, on the Pac-12 Networks and on their live stream of the podium sessions. Boyle and Scott will be on the podium at 11:50 a.m. and fans can watch that at pac-12.com/mediaday. Shortly following, Scott will appear on the Pac-12 Networks Media Day Show at 1:06 p.m. alongside Arizona's Kaleb Tarczewski. Boyle will follow that duo solo at 1:15 p.m.

A behind the scenes video will be published later Thursday and fans can also follow the Buffs on social media @CUBuffsMBB throughout the day.

Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu