Competition For Playing Time Will Be Fierce For Boyle's Buffs

BOULDER — Trying to take an early guess as to what the Colorado starting lineup will look like when Tad Boyle's Buffs open the season Nov. 10 against Northern Colorado?

Good luck. The way things stand after the first week of practice, competition is wide open — and that's not just for the starting lineup. Even the task of trying to figure out which eight (or nine or 10) players might make up a regular rotation is still a puzzle Boyle's coaching staff isn't close to putting together.

"November 10 we're going to have to trot five guys out there and we're going to have a rotation kind of in our mind," Boyle said. "(But) right now, it is wide open. I like that. It makes our practices competitive."

Friday morning's workout certainly fit that bill. Boyle brought officials in for the workout and the Buffs went through more than an hour's worth of scrimmaging, splitting the squad up into a variety of teams for short "games" and situation work.

Thanks to CU's summer trip to Italy, which afforded the Buffs 10 extra practices and a jump start on the season, Boyle now has the luxury of including more scrimmaging in the fall. That, in turn, allows the coaching staff to get more looks at which players are competing at a high level on a regular basis.

"The film room doesn't lie," Boyle said. "We're in still in the habit-forming and drill mode in the first part of practice, but now we're getting a chance to get up and down a little bit, more than we would at this same time if we didn't have those 10 practices this summer. That allows us to really look at film and see who is doing the things that we are asking them to do and who's helping their teams win."

If Friday morning's practice is any barometer, there's no lack of competition at virtually every spot on the floor. The question will be how Boyle and his staff choose to mix and match a lineup that includes a handful of veterans and eight players who have yet to play a college minute in a CU uniform, including five scholarship true freshmen.

But what is clear is that it will be difficult to keep CU's incoming freshmen on the bench. Friday morning's session included one five-minute stretch that saw Buffs "newcomers" (true freshmen, redshirt freshmen and transfer Namon Wright) collect a "win" over the veterans.

It will be interesting to see how Boyle and his staff sort out the positions, something that could depend on how big of a lineup they want to use, and how they choose to use senior George King, a two-year starter. King can play both wing spots, leaving the Buffs some flexibility in several areas.

Up front, the Buffs have senior Tory Miller-Stewart, sophomore Lucas Siewert, redshirt freshman Dallas Walton and true freshman Evan Battey as post/power forward possibilities. At small forward/wing — one possible spot for King — true freshmen D'Shawn Schwartz and Tyler Bey looked very much part of the mix Friday, along with redshirt freshman Alexander Strating.

At off guard, where King could also easily fit, CU coaches will also be taking a long look at transfer Namon Wright, sophomore Deleon Brown and true freshman Lazar Nikolic. Point guard, meanwhile, looks to come down to senior Dominique Collier and true freshman McKinley Wright IV, with Collier also having the ability to move to play shooting guard.

As Boyle noted, it is a puzzle that will likely take a few more weeks to piece together. But what he is making clear on a daily basis is that he is looking for "separation" at the positions. Boyle wants to see players win their playing time, and after a week of practice, there hasn't been a lot of that separation.

It means veterans can't be comfortable with thinking they have earned playing time simply because of their veteran status and newcomers know they have a viable chance of working their way into the rotation.

"Everything we do every day is competitive," Boyle said. "Whose teams are winning? At the end, that's what it's about."

THREE-DAY BREAK: The Buffs won't practice again until Tuesday, their last true "break" of that length until the end of the season.

"We've done it every year, just different parts of the year," Boyle said. "This was the weekend that made the most sense. I like to do it early October. We talk about it when we recruit them. We give them one weekend before the season really gets cranked up to get home and see their family."

When they return next week, Boyle said, "the grind beings. It's a long season. This year we get like 2½ days for Christmas. So these kids are away from home a lot. Not everyone's going home, but the guys that want to and can, will."

BATTEY IMPRESSIVE: True freshman Evan Battey is proving to be a presence down low. The 6-foot-8, 270 pounds (he's dropped about 15 pounds since arriving) is difficult to move off the block, has a soft shooting touch and good range, and also displays a knack for finding an open teammate.

"The thing that makes Evan special is he's got the strength, he's got the size, but he's also got the touch," Boyle said. "He's got the right hand, he's got the left hand, he can shoot the 15 footer even out to '3.' He's very skilled in a lot of different ways. I'm really glad we got him. … Evan's got a chance to be really special."

Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu