Pac-12 Preview: Will 7 teams make the NCAA tournament again?
By Ben Dull
Colorado Buffaloes
Colorado was able to respond to a five-game Pac-12 losing streak last season to beat Washington, Cal, Utah and Washington State in the second half of its conference schedule. The Buffaloes fell in their Pac-12 conference opener to a team that went on to the semis of the WNIT. Colorado will look to build off some of its WNIT success as well, as they made it to the 3rd round of the WNIT before falling to Iowa. Head coach JR Payne welcomes three transfers and five freshmen to campus in her second year as head coach of the program.
More on the Buffaloes:
Numbers & notes
17-16 overall in ’16-’17, 13-5 (T-Last) in Pac-12, eliminated in 3rd Round of WNIT by Iowa
The Buffaloes were picked 10th in the preseason Pac-12 media and coaches polls.
Colorado went 10-1 in the non-conference last season, including a win over Kentucky at home.
Signature Pac-12 wins for CU included a win at Cal and a home victory over Oregon.
Colorado fell in the 1st Round of the Pac-12 Conference Tournament to Washington State by a single point (79-78) after losing to the Cougars by 11 to close the regular season.
Departures
Haley Smith — 11.2 PPG, 6.4 RPG, 1.9 SPG, 39.2 3PT% (47-120), 32.7 MPG (started all 33 games), ’16-’17 All-Pac-12 honorable mention
Ariana Freeman — 7.7 PPG, 18.2 MPG, decided to end playing career
Makenzie Ellis — 6.4 PPG, 1.2 SPG, 37.1 3PT% (33-89), 23.9 MPG (started all 33 games), transferred to SMU
Zoe Beard-Fails — 11.7 MPG (2 starts)
Monica Burich — 12.3 MPG, played in all 33 games, transferred to Drake
Bri Watts (7.6 MPG), Eleanor Jones (played in 12 games, transferred to MSU-Denver), Lauren Huggins (played in 5 games)
Returners
Kennedy Leonard, G (Jr) — 17.1 PPG (led team), 5.7 APG, 2.4 SPG, 6.1 FTA per game, 51 3PM, 35.1 MPG (led team), ’16-’17 All-Pac-12
Alexis Robinson, G (Jr) — 11.4 PPG, 2.0 SPG, 35.3 3PT% (54-153), 32.7 MPG (31 starts), ’16-’17 All-Pac-12 honorable mention
Quinessa Caylao-do, G (So) — 15.0 MPG, played in 30 games
Zoe Correal, C (Sr) — 15.4 MPG (31 starts)
Becca Thomas, G (Sr) — played in 25 games
“Now she’s basically back. She hasn’t been cleared for full court five-on-five drills, but she’s playing five-on-five in the half court,” Payne said at Pac-12 media day of Robinson, who tore her ACL late last season. “I told someone the other day when we were playing, I said, Lexi looks like she’s never been hurt. She really does. I mean, she looks like she’s never been injured. She doesn’t love her knee brace, so she takes it off as quickly and often as she can. But the doctors are thrilled with the way she’s rehabbed, her strength, everything about it.”
Fresh faces
Janea Bunn, F (Jr, Midland College transfer, NJCAA honorable mention All-America)
Mathilde Diop, G (So, Arizona Western College transfer, helped team to region final, started 27 of their 30 games)
Jaimie Curtis, C (Jr, Sierra College transfer, helped team to two Big 8 Conference titles)
Peyton Carter, G (1st Team USA All-Colorado for Monarch HS)
Mya Hollingshed, G (all-state for Bellaire HS in Texas, Under Armour and Adidas All-American)
Aubrey Knight, G (Ventura County Player of the Year, named to All-Los Angeles Times Team, led team to CIF-SS Division II championship)
Annika Jank, F (three-time all-state player for Edina HS in Minnesota, school’s all-time leading scorer)
Sara Castro, G (attended IES Guanarteme in Spain, helped team to national championship)
“The biggest difference from this year’s team to last year’s team is we’re significantly bigger,” Payne said. “We’re significantly longer. So we’ll be able to do a lot more things defensively than we could do last year. So we turned people over a lot. We scored a lot off forced turnovers and things like that. But we’ll be able to do that a little bit even more effectively this year.
“One young lady that you’re going to hear a lot of throughout the season is a junior college transfer from Massachusetts. Her name is Janea Bunn. She’s a 6’3″ forward, and she’s going to be really, really good for us this year. She’s a great rebounder. She’s athletic, big, broad, mature player. She’s played a lot of basketball. She can attack. She’s going to be really good for us this year and fill in some of the empty space that we had inside.”
5 games to watch
November 19 v. Miami, 12:00 PM PST (Colorado Live Stream)
January 12 v. USC, 5:00 PM PST (Pac-12 Networks)
February 1 @ Utah, 6:00 PM PST (Pac-12 Networks)
February 4 v. Utah, 11:00 AM PST (Pac-12 Networks)
February 9 @ Cal, 7:00 PM PST (Pac-12 Networks)
The Buffaloes host a Miami team ranked 24th in USA Today’s preseason Top 25 poll in mid-November. Last season, CU got wallopped at USC in the lone matchup between the two teams; Colorado and USC play twice this year. Pac-12 matchups against a young Utah team figure to be exciting ones. The two teams split last year’s series — the two teams will twice in four days once again in ’17-’18. Perhaps their biggest win of last season came at Cal. They will have the opportunity to repeat that feat February 9th.