PAC 12 Preview: Colorado

PAC 12 Preview:  Colorado

Last Season:  Colorado went 25-9 overall, and 13 - 5 in the conference.  

The Coaches:  

Head Coach JR Payne will be in her 8th year at Colorado after two seasons at Santa Clara.  

JR Payne

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.  

Toriano Towns is the Associate Head Coach and is also in his 8th 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 8th year on the staff.    Alex was an assistant with Payne three 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.  

Taelor Karr is in her first year at Colorado after two years as an assistant at Oklahoma State.  Before that Kerr was an assistant at Santa Clara.

Losses:

Assistant Coach Tim Hayes

Jada Wynn, 6-0 F to be Soph, daughter of the former Washington coaches, who averaged 3 points and transferred to Texas Tech

Lizzie Holder, 6-1 to be Soph who played in just 2 games and    Transferred to Navy

Ali Fitzgerald, 6-2 to be Soph who played in just 6 games.  She    Transferred to UC Davis

Tayanna Jones graduated after averaged 5 points and 4 rebounds.

Additions: 

Ruthie Loomis-Golti, 6-3 Post from NE, ranked # 78

Kennedy Sanders, 5-8 PG from MN, ranked # 75

Saulele Tanuvasa, 5-11 Guard from NorCal, not ranked

Jadyn Atchison 6-1 Guard from TX, not ranked

Mikayla Johnson 6-1 Wing from Alaska who enrolled early but did not play. 

Maddie Nolan, 5-11 5^th year Guard transfer from Michigan where she averaged 9 points also 7^th all time in threes made at Michigan, 167.

Sara Rose Smith, 6-1 Sr Guard transfer from Missouri where she averaged 7 points and 7 rebounds.

Shelomi Sanders, 5-6 Redshirt Frosh Guard who transferred from Jackson State during the season.  Daughter of Football Coach and Hall of Famer Dion.  

The Schedule:   

Colorado will host Stanford and Cal and Travel to Arizona and ASU.   Colorado opens with LSU and plays Oklahoma State, Kentucky, Cincy and North Carolina State.  

The 9 Returning Players:   with the 8 new additions above, that's 17 players

Jaylyn Sherrod

Jaylyn Sherrod, 5-7 5^th year Point Guard who averaged 11 points and 5 assists. 

Tameiya Sadler is a 5-8  Sr Guard Washington.  Sadler averaged 5 ppg.

Quay Miller is a 6-3 5^th year Post.   Miller averaged 13 points and 9 rebounds.

Frieda Formann, 5-11 Sr Guard from Denmark.   Formann averaged 12 points per game. And made 75 threes at 39%.

Charlotte Whittaker is a 6-4 5^{t h Year}  Post from Australia who averaged 1 point and 1 rebound. 

Kindyll Wetta is a 5-9 Jr Guard who averaged 5ppg.  Her Mom played Basketball at Colorado.  

Sophie Gerber, 6-0 Jr Guard who played just 18 minutes.  

Aaronette Vonleh, 6-3 Jr Post Center transfer from Arizona.  Vonleh averaged 12 points and 4 rebounds at Arizona. 

Brianna McLeod, 6-3 Soph Forward from Canada averaged 2 points and 2 rebounds.

+ 8 new additions

Predictions:  

Yes 17 players, Sanders may be a walk on given Dad the Football Coach, and one other.     4 are Grad students.   Colorado returns 4 players who averaged between 11 and 13 ppg.  That’s huge.  Add Wetta and Sadler both returning guards plus Smith and Nolan transfer guards and this is a very good team.    

2024 Recruiting:    

Lova Lagerlid, 6-1 Guard from Sweden