Woelk: Battey Brings Big Game, Personality To Boyle's Buffs

BOULDER — Here's our first prediction for the 2017-18 Colorado men's basketball season:

Buffs fans are going to love Evan Battey. They will love his game, they will love his passion, they will love his personality.

Simply put, Battey — all 6-foot-8, 285 pounds of him (for now) — is a presence on and off the court.

At first glance, the immediate reaction is to wonder why Battey is not suiting up as a defensive end for Mike MacIntyre's football team. He no doubt looks the part.

A second glance then usually produces a double take, and the reasons he is a member of Tad Boyle's highly regarded recruiting class become apparent. Battey is smooth, quick and agile. He can perform a ball-between-the-legs-in-midair dunk. He can run the floor at a surprising clip. He can also shoot from the outside, is a terrific passer, is virtually impossible to move off the block when he posts up inside, and when he boxes out for a rebound, detour signs should be included.

He can definitely play the game.

Then there is his personality. Battey is an ebullient, energetic young man who wears a grin easily, laughs quickly and oozes the feeling that he loves life — even when things don't quite go his way.

Which, of course, is an integral part of his story and the path that led him to Boulder.

Long story short: Battey repeated ninth grade in high school in California. Then, as he was preparing for his senior year at Villa Park High School, he was declared ineligible by state's activities association because he had already been in high school for eight semesters, even though he didn't participate in sports in one of those years.

Most players, particularly of his ability, would have been angry. Many would have opted to transfer to a private school that would have allowed him to play his senior year.

Battey was neither. He admits the decision "hurt," but instead of wallowing in the disappointment, lashing out at the "system" or abandoning his teammates, he stayed. He practiced every day with his team and served as a player-coach for the team's big men and junior varsity.

In short, he made the best of a tough situation. It's the way his personality works.

"First, I wanted to make sure I was set academically," Battey said. "I wanted to make sure I had my base, get all my requirements in and do everything I needed in the classroom. I learned how to watch from a coach's perspective. When coaches tell me things and coaches do certain things, I understand."

Battey made good on his academic goals. He said he finished his last two semesters at Villa Park with a 3.2 and 3.0 GPA. And, while he wasn't able to compete in games for Villa Park, he did his best to keep his skill level as high as possible by practicing with the team every day.

"That was probably the hardest part," he said. "You're not playing and sometimes it seems like you're practicing for no reason. Every day, I'd say why am I doing this? But there's a further goal in sight, something down the road I'm preparing for."

He's now much closer to that goal, which is to play at a high level in one of the best conferences in the nation and help the Buffs make some noise in the NCAA Tournament.

Boyle and his coaching staff never gave up in the recruiting process while pursuing Battey, even when he was ruled ineligible. At CU's first two practices of the summer in preparation for an August trip to Italy, Battey showed glimpses of why that faith looks like it will pay off.

"Very unique," is how Boyle described his newest big man. "Really, really talented. Unbelievable passer. Has great ability to find the open man. ... He's a sneaky athletic guy. He doesn't look like a guy who can go up and dunk it but he can. He's got great body control, great feel and a great passer."

Battey's body type gives the impression that he's overweight. But truth is, he checked in with the Buffs at a relatively solid 17 percent body fat and 288 pounds. The goal, Battey said, is to get that body fat composition down around the 12 percent mark by adding muscle and losing some excess weight, and trimming his overall weight down to about 275.

He'll work with CU strength and conditioning boss Steve Englehart, as well as the nutrition staff. If he meets those goals, that "sneaky" athleticism will be even more apparent.

"A lot of people are surprised," Battey said of his athleticism. "They don't know I can between the legs dunk, they don't know I can do a lot of things. A lot of guy are surprised by how I move. They underestimate me and I go by them."

That is indeed a big part of Battey's game. He's big enough to play the post, but agile enough and a good enough shooter to take a big man out on the perimeter. He averaged 20 points and 14 rebounds per game as a sophomore, then bumped that scoring average to 24 as a junior. It's not hard to imagine him becoming a nightmare for opposing defenses.

"The best part of my game is to draw mismatches," Battey said. "If you put a big guy on me, I can take him out on the perimeter. If you put a smaller guy or a skinnier guy on me, I'm going to go in the post. It's pretty much me being able to pick where I want to play and trying to create that matchup nightmare."

But another big part of Battey's game is his infectious personality. Passion and emotion are part of Battey's everyday uniform, and he wears them with pride.

"Fans can expect to see a lot of character," Battey said. I talk a lot, laugh a lot, joke a lot — but when I'm mad, it can get rowdy. Expect me to get the crowd into it. I scream a lot when things go well, and when things are bad I try to pick my team up with my leadership. I try to get everyone together."

Battey and his teammates last week finished a pair of practices, part of 10 the Buffs are allowed as part of their 10-day, four-game trip to Italy in August. Boyle has called the practices invaluable in preparation for the 2017-18 season, particularly so because the Buffs are incorporating so many new faces into the lineup. Four freshmen — Battey, McKinley Wright IV, D'Shawn Schwartz and Tyler Bey — are already on campus. The fifth member of the class, Lazar Nikolic, is scheduled to join the team in August when the Buffs begin final preparations for the Italy trip.

Overall, they are a big reason there's a renewed sense of optimism and excitement around the program.

"There's a lot of programs around the country that play with young players and have success and win games," Boyle said. "We can be one of those, there's no doubt. These young guys are very talented."

Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu