Pac 12 Preview: Colorado

Last Season:
The Buffalos were 25-7 this past season, 13-5 in Pac 12 play and into the NCAAs where they lost in the first round to # 12 Kansas.

The Coaches:
Linda Lappe is back for her 4th season and she has proven to be one of the nation’s best coaches as the Buffalos keep improving with Colorado ranked 19th at the end of the season.

James Chatterton is the Associate Head Coach back for his 4th season.

LaTonya Watson is in her 3rd season under Lappe but also coached 9 years under previous coach Ceal Berry.

Kelly Rae Finley is in her 2nd year after 4 years at Harvard. She played for Lappe when they were at Colorado State.

Losses:
The Malcolm-Peck twins graduated and Kyleesha Weston transferred out. But together the three averaged less than 4 points and 4 rebounds per game. The huge loss is their great guard Chucky Jeffery. Jeffery averaged 14 points and 8 rebounds per game. Chucky also averaged 4 assists per game and led the team in points, rebounds, assists and steals. She is a big loss.


Additions:
Zoe Beard-Fails is a 6-2 forward ranked # 152. As a HS soph she averaged 27 points and 18 rebounds, but tore her ACL just into her Jr season. Last year she averaged 17 points per game.

Desiree Harris is a 5-8 guard from Oakland who averaged 23 points and 7 rebounds as a HS Jr. She was not ranked in the top 300.

Haley Smith is 6-1 wing from the state of Washington ranked # 302

Brianna Watts is a 6-2 Center from Fresno ranked # 163.


The Schedule:
I don’t have their non-conference schedule so will include that later. Colorado plays Stanford and Cal once and the Oregon schools once.


The Team:
Colorado returns 9 of their top 10 scorers and 8 of their top 9 rebounders. No shortage of experience for a team coming off # 19 nationally. Jen Reese will be the Center, she is a 6-2 Jr. Last season Reese averaged 8 points and 5 rebounds per game splitting time with 6-4 Sr Rachel Hargis. Reese was a Parade All American in HS. Hargis averaged 4 points and 3 rebounds per game.

At forward will be 6-1 soph Arielle Roberson and probably 6-2 soph Jamie Swan. Roberson’s parents and two older sisters all played college volleyball or basketball. Roberson averaged 12 points and 6 rebounds a game last season. Roberson also hit 21 threes at 41%. She will be a star this season. While Roberson started all but one game Swan only started one but averaged 5 points and 5 rebounds in just 14 minutes per game. Swan was ranked # 38 out of HS.

Brittany Wilson and Lexy Kresl started 52 of the 64 games last season. Wilson is a 5-7 Sr guard and Kresl is a 5-11 Jr guard. Wilson averaged 8 points per game hitting 32 threes at 29%. Kresl averaged 6 points per game leading the team with 34 threes at 31%.

Jasmine Sborov is a 6-0 Jr guard who started 10 games averaging 3 points per game. Sborov was a good HS High Jumper. Ashley Wilson, twin of Brittany is a 5-7 Sr guard who averaged 3 points per game. Lauren Higgins is a 6-1 redshirt frosh forward who got hurt after just 5 games last season. Higgins was the # 64 player out of HS and an excellent three point shooter.

The frosh are for the future, with so many experienced and skilled players returning for the Buffalos.

Predictions:
This is a very good line up with 4 solid reserves and then they have the 4 frosh. Colorado could well be a team that finishes in the top three in league play.

2014 Recruiting:
Becca Thomas is their lone commit thus far, a 5-4 four star Point Guard from Texas. However a number of good players will be visiting the Buffalos.