Pac 12 Preview: Colorado

An update: Utah has added a 2018 recruit, 4 star Lola Pendande of Spain.

PAC 12 Preview: Colorado

Last Season: Colorado went 17-16, 10 more wins than the season before, and 5-13 in the conference,.

The Coaches: Head Coach JR Payne will be in her 2nd year at Colorado after two seasons at Santa Clara. Colorado improved greatly this past season. Two years Payne led Santa Clara to its first winning season in 8 seasons and finished 23-9. JR, no periods, and real name Ali-Marie, is a graduate of St Mary’s where she played for now Oregon coach Kelly Graves. Her first coaching job was at age 23 for Graves when he started at Gonzaga.

Shandrika Lee is in her 2nd season as an assistant at Colorado after coaching for Payne at Santa Clara. Lee is a graduate of Pepperdine and has coached at Oregon.

Toriano Towns is also in his 2nd and also coached with Payne at Santa Clara. Towns coached at Gonzaga with Payne and later at Arizona where he was the Post coach for the great, late Polk.

Alex Earl is in her 2nd year on the staff. Alex was an assistant with Payne this two seasons ago at Santa Clara and played for years at ASU graduating in 2013. Alex was a HS teammate of JJ Hones on a team where all five starters player Division 1 basketball.



Losses: A total of 8 losses which leaves just 5 returning players. 4 players graduated, 3 transferred and one retired.
Haley Smith graduated after scoring 11 points per game and hitting 47 threes at 39%

Ariana Freeman had to retire with injuries after averaging 8 points.

Makenzie Ellis averaged 6 points and transferred to SMU.

Monica Burich transferred to Drake after averaging 4 points and 3 rebounds.

Zoe Beard-Falls graduated after averaging 4 points.

Eleanor Jones transferred and Lauren Huggins graduated but neither played much.

These players above accounted for half the scoring last season.



Additions:
Eight new players and only 2 were signed during the normal November LOI date
Jenna Bunn is a 6-3 Jr Post from Midland College in Texas. Jenna is from Mass, but when to a JC as a frosh sat out one year then to a Texas JC. In her JC career she averaged 12 points, 9 rebounds and 4 blocked shots.

Peyton Carter is a 5-8 Frosh Guard from Colorado, where as a HS Sr she averaged 16 points and was named All State.

Mya Hollingshed is a 6-4 Frosh Forward from Texas where she averaged 18 points and 11 rebounds as a Sr. Both her Dad and Grandfather played College basketball and Grandfather was an NBA 2nd round draft choice.

Mathilde Diop is a 6-2 Soph JC transfer who is from France. Last year at the JC she averaged 10 points and 5 rebounds. She is originally from Senegal where her Father was an Olympic basketball player.

Annika Jank is a 6-3 Frosh Post from MN where she is her school’s all time leading scorer. Last season, in HS, she averaged 19 points and 9 rebounds. In 29015 she was the state Champion in Ultimate Frisbee.

Aubrey Knight is a 5-8 Frosh Guard from SoCal where for the last three years she was her league’s MVP. Last season she averaged 15 points and 8 rebounds. Her goal is to become a detective.

Sara Castro is a 5-8 Frosh Guard from Spain, born and raised in the Canary Islands. She averaged 15 points as a HS Sr.

Jaimie Curtis is a 6-7 Jr Post from near Sacramento. Last season at Sierra College she averaged 7 points and 5 rebounds.


The Schedule: The Pre conference schedule isn’t available yet. Colorado plays the Oregon schools once each and also they play Stanford and Cal once each. A huge break.



The Team: Kennedy Leonard is a 5-8 Jr Guard who averaged 17 points and almost 6 assists per game last season.

Alexis Robinson is a 5-10 Jr Guard who averaged 11 points per game.

Zoe Correal is a 6-4 Sr Post form San Francisco who averaged 4 points and had 4 rebounds in 15 minutes per game.

Becca Thomas is a 5-5 Sr Guard who averaged 6 minutes per game.

Quinessa Caylao-Do is a 5-8 Jr Guard who averaged 2 points in 15 minutes per game.




Predictions: Leonard and Robinson are excellent players but the other players, other than Correal are young or inexperienced. It’s going to be a long season in Boulder.


2018 Recruiting:
Cameron Swartz a 5-10 unranked Guard from Georgia.
Sirena Tuitele a 6-2 Forward from NorCal, also unranked.