Posted by: Irish Buff on Fri Jun 5 2009 7:46:30 AM
Message:
Bzdelik optimistic despite team's youth
CU coach likes type of experience five newcomers bring
By Ryan Thorburn (Contact)
Friday, June 5, 2009
BOULDER, Colo. — Jeff Bzdelik's baby-faced Buffs are getting even
younger.
Colorado suffered through some intense growing pains last season
with three sophomores and five freshmen among the top 10 players in
the program. The Buffs lost 22 games but gained some valuable
experience.
Next season, CU's roster will have five new players, including four
freshmen.
Bzdelik, however, isn't anticipating as painful a transition with
the new recruiting class and believes the Buffs can produce the
program's first winning season since 2005-06, despite a very
difficult schedule that includes a trip to the Maui Invitational.
"I am really excited and pleased about the development and progress
of this program," Bzdelik said.
The No. 1 reason for optimism? Cory Higgins.
As a sophomore, Higgins led CU in scoring (17.4 ppg.), rebounding
(5.4 rpg) and steals (59). The coaching staff believes the presence
of Marcus Relphorde, a 6-foot-7, 225-pound forward from Indian Hills
Junior College, will help take some of the pressure off the Buffs'
best player.
"Marcus is an excellent player. He's very strong, very physical,
very versatile," Bzdelik said. "Him and Cory ... I'm very excited of
the potential that those two bring playing together at the wings
with their versatility, with their athleticism, with their maturity.
You're talking about two juniors."
Dwight Thorne will be the team's only senior next season, but the
starting shooting guard will have some competition with the addition
of Alec Burks, who was the Gatorade Player of the Year in Missouri
this year.
Burks is listed at 6-4 by the recruiting services. That might be
selling the talented freshman short.
"Alec is extremely young and still growing. When he walked in the
doors a couple days ago for the June session, everybody made the
comment, 'You've grown,'" Bzdelik said. "He's a very explosive
offensive player. He has to learn the other end of the court, and
that will come."
If Burks makes a commitment to the defensive end, there is no
question he will have a major impact on the team as a true freshman.
The Buffs were last in the Big 12 in scoring last season (62.9 ppg.)
and could certainly use his explosive offensive skills.
"He scores by accident," Bzdelik said. "He needs to play the other
end, but I'm sure he'll make that adjustment. It's pretty typical of
all high school players, not understanding the defensive end."
CU loses Jermyl Jackson-Wilson to graduation and Toby Veal, who has
decided to transfer. Casey Crawford will be a junior after a
disappointing debut season at CU in which the 6-9 post averaged just
5.5 points and 1.7 rebounds per game. Trey Eckloff also returns
inside after gaining some limited but valuable playing time in the
paint against players like Blake Griffin and Cole Aldrich.
Defensively, the Buffs expect to be tougher in the paint with the
addition of 6-11 center Shane Harris-Tunks.
"Shane is the opposite of Alec from the standpoint that he is
already a very good rebounder and a very good defender," Bzdelik
said. "He can hold and contest position in the low post, he can get
out and blitz ball screens. He stunts extremely well."
Harris-Tunks is currently playing in France with the Australian
under-19 national team. He will also compete in the under-19 World
Championships this summer in New Zealand, an event Bzdelik plans on
attending.
"I anticipate he'll make that adjustment more smoothly than a
typical freshman having played at the Australian Institute of Sport
for the last three years," Bzdelik said. "It's the equivalent of an
Olympic training center, and they run a system that is pretty
similar to what we run in terms of team play and reading defenses. I
don't anticipate too much of an adjustment for him."
CU's other Australian import, Nate Tomlinson, will be competing at
the World University Games in Serbia this July. The Australian team
will be coached by his father, Bill Tomlinson.
While the Buffs' starting point guard is overseas this summer,
freshman Shannon Sharpe will be preparing himself to push Tomlinson
this fall. The 6-0 youtube sensation spent last year at a prep
academy after graduating from Corona (Calif.) Centennial High School
in 2008.
"He has maturity beyond your typical incoming freshman," Bzdelik
said. "What most young players lack, he already has -- maturity, a
love to defend and play extremely hard. He's going to make a
significant contribution to this basketball team in a lot of ways."
Austin Dufault has been the poster boy for new strength and
conditioning coach James Hardy's program. Since running out of gas
at the Big 12 Tournament, Dufault has added 10 pounds of muscle to
his frame, which should make him a more consistent player as a
sophomore.
Bzdelik's other incoming freshman, 6-6 small forward Keegan
Hornbuckle, isn't coming to CU from Los Angeles just to wait
patiently behind a tough kid from Killdeer, N.D.
"Keegan to me is a sleeper in this whole mix here," Bzdelik
said. "What I really like about Keegan is he's intelligent, he's
athletic, he's long, he's skilled. To me, this class is very
athletic, very skilled, versatile and they all have high basketball
IQ's."
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