Including new gamers to a veteran roster might be tough, however for the Colorado girls’s basketball group, it’s been a clean transition.
CU, which formally began observe on Tuesday, returns 4 starters and eight rotational gamers from final yr’s group that went 25-9 and superior to the Candy 16 of the NCAA Event.
Within the offseason, nevertheless, the Buffs added senior transfers Maddie Nolan, a 5-foot-11 guard from Michigan, and Sara-Rose Smith, a 6-foot-1 guard from Missouri.
“They’re unbelievable,” CU head coach JR Payne mentioned. “They’ve accomplished an ideal job. One week in (after arriving this summer time), you wouldn’t have recognized that they have been new to Colorado or new to our group. They’re very assured, they’re nice teammates, they imagine in a excessive stage of accountability.
“Maddie has been a frontrunner on her group. I don’t know if she was captain or not (at Michigan) – she actually acts like she would have been, as a result of she’s holding us to a really excessive customary.”
Senior returners Frida Formann, Quay Miller and Jaylyn Sherrod, in addition to junior Kindyll Wetta, already play massive management roles for the Buffs, however Payne mentioned Nolan and Smith “are contributing to that, as effectively.”
Miller mentioned the 2 transfers had a clean transition, however the 5 true freshmen are nonetheless discovering their manner.
“I believe (the freshmen) have been actually shocked that that is life now,” Miller mentioned. “Simply coming from highschool and going into faculty, I need to say a tradition shock as a result of it’s onerous. I believe they’re simply nonetheless adjusting.”
Anticipated opener
CU opens the season on Nov. 6 and it is likely to be probably the most anticipated opener in program historical past. The Buffs will face defending nationwide champion LSU in Las Vegas to kick off the season.
“I’m very enthusiastic about that,” Miller mentioned. “We all know that we are able to compete with them. I don’t suppose persons are excited about it, however I do know for me I’m excited as a result of that’s gonna be a giant stage.”
LSU figures to be ranked No. 1 going into the season.
“It makes positive that our focus is the place it must be every day, as a result of there isn’t a time to ease into something,” Payne mentioned. “Whenever you’re going to play the nationwide champion on opening night time who returns everybody and added arguably the most effective transfers within the nation to their roster, you don’t have time. You’ve obtained to be relentless each single day in the way you practice, the way you focus, what you’re doing.”
CU’s 11-game non-conference schedule consists of 5 video games towards Energy 5 opponents and solely 5 video games at dwelling. The slate features a three-game journey to the Paradise Jam within the U.S. Virgin Islands on Thanksgiving weekend.
“It’s undoubtedly the toughest preseason schedule we’ve ever performed,” mentioned Payne, going into her eighth season at CU. “We just like the steadiness. I want we had extra dwelling video games, however we’re setting ourselves up for a difficult schedule.”
Notable
CU may have an exhibition recreation at dwelling on Oct. 28. … Residence opener shall be Nov. 8 towards Le Moyne. Sport time continues to be to be decided.
