Anyone who has followed Colorado men’s basketball for even 10 minutes over the past two decades knows this about head coach Tad Boyle. The man loves to preach defense and rebounding.
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For one of the few times during his lengthy run in Boulder, Boyle’s club stunk in both departments last year. Win or lose, the Buffaloes plan to change that this season.
While college football dominates the headlines, the CU men’s and women’s basketball teams will open preseason practice Wednesday. Boyle, entering his 17th season leading the men’s team, is coming off consecutive losing seasons within the conference for just the second time during his tenure, an unenviable feat that also happened in 2016-17 and 2017-18.
The Buffs might struggle again in a Big 12 Conference likely to be one of the nation’s best once again. But if Boyle has his way, it won’t be because the defense and rebounding are lagging.
“I think the biggest message that (Boyle) has given us is that it’s just a non-negotiable,” CU point guard Barrington Hargress said. “If you aren’t giving 100% on (defense and rebounding), then it’s going to be hard for you to get on the floor with this group. I think that we have a lot of guys that care about winning. So we’re all going to approach that with the right attitude and we’re gonna put that in the forefront of our minds and steer that towards winning games this year.”
Annual roster turnover has become the norm in college basketball, but the reshuffle hit new depths for Boyle’s program during the offseason.
Gone are four of CU’s top five scorers last year, as Isaiah Johnson (Texas), Sebastian Rancik (Florida State), Bangot Dak (Vanderbilt) and Alon Michaeli (Saint Louis) all opted to leave via the transfer portal.
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CU hoops fans can be forgiven if they need a cheat sheet to get to know their favorite team. The Buffs’ roster includes seven first-year players, and all but one (Rider Portela) were signed during the spring and summer. There are 10 newcomers overall, with the Buffs expecting to lean heavily on frontcourt transfers Noah Feddersen (North Dakota State), Justin Neely (UNC Greensboro) and David Gomez (Charlotte) to bolster the interior toughness, although Gomez missed most of the summer while he continues to recover from a foot injury that ended his 2025-26 season after just two games.
CU returns just four scholarship players — Hargress, plus the second-year trio of Jalin Holland, Ian Inman and Josiah Sanders.
Those personnel numbers don’t include forward Iaroslav Niagu, a former player at USC and Jacksonville State whose petition for a fifth season of eligibility still is winding its way through the legal process while he practices with the Buffs.
After meshing with the new faces throughout the spring and summer, the Buffs will have nearly six full weeks to sort out how the new pieces fit together ahead of the Nov. 2 season opener at home against Abilene Christian.
“I think the biggest thing probably is we’ve learned about each other off the court, the type of people that we are, our personalities, and we really bonded a lot together over the summer,” Feddersen said. “I think that’s going to help us a lot. And then playing pick-up with each other and practicing. We’ve learned how to play with each other, what each person likes to do on both sides of the ball. So I think that’s something that’s going to help us a lot.”
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