Boyle's Buffs Show Scoring, Depth In Scrimmage

BOULDER — Tad Boyle's Colorado Buffaloes needed just three eight-minute periods in a Saturday scrimmage to show roughly 300 fans what most followers of the program already knew:

The Buffs have some shooters. From George King to Derrick White to Josh Fortune, along with newcomers Bryce Peters and Dallas Walton, the Buffs have plenty of players who can put the ball in the hoop.

But the question Boyle had for his players after the afternoon scrimmage was one he has posed since Day 1 — and one he'll continue to pose throughout the season.

Can the Buffs take care of the foundational cornerstones Boyle requires for all of his teams?

"The three areas that we have to get better at are defense, rebounding and taking care of the basketball," Boyle said after the scrimmage. "If we can as a group, as a team, be solid in all three of those areas by Nov. 11, we've got a chance to win some games. But if we don't guard, if we don't rebound, we don't take care of the ball, I start getting nervous as a coach."

Saturday's scrimmage saw players switch teams throughout each of the three periods as coaches looked at a variety of combinations. To no one's surprise, King finished as the leading scorer with 23 points (3-for-5 3-pointers) and White was next with 19. Peters finished with 14 and Peters had 12.

But the rebounding column is what will likely catch the eyes of CU coaches when they review the film. Fortune led the scrimmage with six boards and point guard Dom Collier had four.

The key, Boyle said, will be convincing a team of shooters that defense and rebounding will be the key to their success. It will be up to the team leaders, Boyle said, to enforce that belief in the locker room.

"I think some of the veterans understand it," Boyle said. "(But) are they going to do something about it? Is it going to become something that's important to them? That's yet to be seen. Again, that's where leadership comes in, when the guys get in that locker room and the message the coaching staff is giving needs to be reinforced in the locker room so they understand the importance of of it. If that happens, no worries. If that doesn't happen, there's going to be some bumps in the road."

One player not available for Saturday's scrimmage was senior big man Wesley Gordon, who is nursing a sprained ankle.

"We need to get Wesley Gordon healthy," Boyle said. "That would help because right now post depth is probably not the strength of this team. He's been out for a week or so and it doesn't help him and it doesn't help us."

Boyle expects Gordon to be back at practice next week. "I hope so," Boyle said. "We'll see how tough he is."

But, overall, Boyle likes the depth of this team, which could play as many as eight to 10 deep.

"I think our depth is going to be good," Boyle said. " We're going to have guys that play multiple positions. I thought even the freshmen did some really good things."

Another player who turned heads after a year rehabilitating a torn Achilles was senior Xavier Johnson, who finished with nine points and a pair of rebounds.

"Relative to where he was when he got hurt, I'd say he's 90 percent in terms of his explosion, maybe 95 percent," Boyle said. "He's not quite back to where he was; I don't know if he'll get there. He's explosive enough, he's strong enough, he's sleek enough. It's just picking and choosing his spots. He's a tough matchup. I think we have a lot of tough matchups. George is a tough matchup. Derrick White is a tough matchup."

Indeed. The Buffs have scorers and shooters. If they play defense and rebound, they could indeed be a very good team.

Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu