Buffs Basketball Notes: New Rules, New Faces

BOULDER — Colorado basketball coach Tad Boyle isn't exactly a fan of some of the new rules and “areas of focus” mandated for officials this year by the NCAA.

Concerned over a drop in scoring — the average in Division I men's basketball dropped to 67.6 last season — the NCAA earlier this year approved a package of proposals aimed at improving the pace of play and reducing the physicality in the game, particularly in the post.

That's not exactly good news for Boyle's squad, which places a heavy emphasis on post play, beginning with 6-foot-10 senior Josh Scott.

“I'm concerned with these new rules, especially early in the season, the effect they're going to have in the game,” Boyle said at Wednesday's CU media day. “I think the thought process is we're going to take the physicality out of college basketball, so we're going to call a lot more fouls early and that gets in the officials' mindset. Whether the games are physical or not, they're going to blow the whistle more often because they're being asked to, or being told to.”

The result, Boyle said, could be big men getting into foul trouble early for plays that weren't infractions last year.

“That concerns me a little bit,” Boyle said “I mean we'll adjust to it, and again it's something that's here, that we're going to deal with, but the new rules do concern me.”

Other new rules designed to improve the pace of play include:

— Reducing the shot clock to 30 seconds. The shot clock was last reduced for the 1993-94 season, when it was reduced from 45 seconds to 35 seconds.

— One fewer team timeout in the second half.

— Only players can call timeout when the ball is live.

Boyle said the 30-second shot clock won't affect the Buffs offensively, but it may change their defensive approach.

“We're playing around with more soft presses,” Boyle said. “We certainly want teams to get deeper in the shot clock because I think college players, unlike NBA players, don't operate as well with five or six seconds. That thing's ticking down you see more panic set in with college players. Offensively, we still want to push it, score fast.”

SCOTT SELF-EVALUATION: Buff senior Scott was asked to evaluate his career at CU thus far, and offered this:

“I think my body of work so far through my career puts me as a pretty dang good player. I think every player has his weakness, so I keep improving upon them and I'll continue to work on my game, but honestly I've been pretty pleased. I think I've always had people doubt me, not believe in me … and it's kind of our team a little bit and me right now. I always look forward to proving people wrong, and somehow I always end up coming out on top. I plan on doing that again along with this team.”

MORE TIME FOR TORY: Don't be surprised to see sophomore big man Tory Miller pick up significantly more playing time this year. Miller, who averaged just 8 minutes per game last year, still averaged 3.0 points and 2.2 rebounds.

“Tory is probably our most improved player, quite frankly, given the first few weeks of practice that I've seen,” Boyle said. “He's made great strides, not only with his body, but with his mindset as well. He's not the finished product yet but he's made great strides.”

The 6-foot-9 Miller, listed at 255 pounds a year ago, is still listed at 255, but has obviously redistributed the weight to a much more well-defined upper body.

XJ UPDATE: Boyle said there's no timeline yet on when — or if — injured forward Xavier Johnson will return this year. Johnson underwent surgery in June to repair a torn Achilles tendon, and Boyle said the best-case scenario would be mid- to late-December return.

“I'm not going to sit here and say he's coming back and I'm not going to sit here and say he's not coming back, because I don't know that,” Boyle said. “You hope for the best, which is he comes back as soon as possible and helps this team win; you prepare for the worst, which is he's not coming back this year and he'll come back for his fifth year.”

Boyle said it will be up to Johnson and team doctors to ultimately make the call, which is still probably at least two months away.

If Johnson decided to take an injury redshirt this season, it would give the Buffs a powerful one-two punch of Johnson and transfer Derrick White for next year.

“If nothing else, the stable next year is a little more full,” Boyle said.

WAITING GAME: Boyle is already casting a longing glance toward next year in regards to White.

The former CU-Colorado Springs star will have one year of eligibility remaining after he sits out this season.

“Derrick White is a terrific player,” Boyle said. “I don't want to get too excited because we don't get him for a year from now, but I think he's got the strength, he's got the speed, he's got the skill, he's got the feel. He's going to be a heck of a player for us. I wish we had him this year. I'll be saying that a lot to myself.”

A Division II All-American for UCCS last season, the Legend High School product averaged 25.8 points, 7.4 rebounds and 5.2 assists while leading the Mountain Lions to their first Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament Championship and to the second round of the 2015 NCAA Division II National Tournament.

“You guys are really, really going to enjoy watching him play next year and I'm sick to my stomach that we don't have him for two years, we only get him for one,” Boyle said. “He's going to be a terrific player, a Pac-12 player.”

White was just 6-foot-1 as a senior in high school, but has grown to 6-5. He received no offers from any Division I schools in the region.

“It's the classic late-bloomer,” Boyle said. “He's a terrific young man, a hard worker, a great teammate, and he's very humble. He'll be a pro. There's no question that he'll be a professional basketball player when he leaves here.”

NEW FACES: The Buffs have a pair of new recruits on the roster this fall, freshman guard Thomas Akyazili and sophomore forward Kenan Guzonjic. Akyazili comes from Belgium; Guzonjic from Bosnia Herzegovina by way of El Paso and Midland Junior College.

“I'm really pleased with where (Akyazili) is relative to all the things that are being thrown at him,” Boyle said. “Everything is new to him. ... He'll be a great player here for us at Colorado when all is said and done.”

Boyle called Guzonjic a “work in progress. He's probably had the most difficulty in acclimating to the new style much like Thomas has, but he's going to be a good player.”

DEFENDING THE TREY: One area on which Boyle and the Buffs are placing some extra emphasis this year is 3-point defense.

Three years ago, the Buffs were No. 1 in 3-point defense in the Pac-12. The last two seasons, they've been 11th and eighth in the conference in defending from beyond the arc.

“You start looking at your personnel and we had Spencer Dinwiddie and Andre Roberson on the perimeter as defensive players and that might have something to do with it,” Boyle said at Wednesday's CU media day. “So we've changed a few things in terms of how we're guarding; not necessarily the basic philosophies, but just to stand closer to 3-point shooters. That puts a little more premium on guarding the ball.”

Boyle said the new emphasis will take into consideration the new rules.

“We're trying to really work on position defense and playing with our feet and without fouling,” Boyle said. “I think you're going to see a lot of fouls early in the season.”

Boyle also said he likes his team's defensive mentality, but admits there are some deficiencies.

“We've got some players that we have to bring up to speed and quite frankly, some liabilities defensively,” Boyle said. “Hopefully we can shore those up in quick fashion.”