Men's College Basketball 2021-2022 Season Preview: Colorado Buffaloes

The Pac-12 doesn’t get a whole lot of respect in college basketball lately, but that’s the conference’s own fault, as it’s been a fairly pathetic conference over the last couple of seasons. Many of the teams took advantage of the largest transfer portal ever, and we will see a lot of new faces this season. There will be plenty of hype surrounding the UCLA Bruins after their unlikely final four run last year while teams like Oregon, Arizona and USC try to gain relevance once more. There is plenty of excitement surrounding the WSU Cougars and their juicy roster, but the amount of projected bottom feeders could lead to another disappointing season for the Pac-12.

Nevertheless, there will be firepower on each of these rosters and Pac-12 Thursday DFS slates tend to be some of the most chaotic of the week. Let’s break down each team and identify the players to watch for this upcoming season.

In this one, Colorado.

(Check out our full college basketball season preview!)

Colorado Buffaloes 2021-2022 Season Preview

2020-2021 record: 23-9 (14-6 Pac-12), third in Pac-12
Postseason: Lost in NCAA Tournament second round

Key Departures | Colorado Buffaloes

McKinley Wright (playing professionally)
Jeriah Horne (transferred to Tulsa)
D’Shawn Schwartz (transferred to George Mason)
Dallas Walton (transferred to Wake Forest)
Maddox Daniels (retired from basketball)

Key Additions | Colorado Buffaloes

Lawson Lovering (top 65 recruit)
KJ Simpson (top 90 recruit)
Quincy Allen (top 90 recruit)
Javon Ruffin (3 star recruit)

Returners | Colorado Buffaloes

Evan Battey (10.1 PPG/5.3 RPG)
Jabari Walker (7.6 PPG/4.3 RPG)
Keeshawn Barthelemy (3.7 PPG)
Eli Parquet (5.2 PPG/2.1 RPG)
Tristan Da Silva (2.7 PPG/1 RPG)

Colorado Buffaloes Outlook for 2021-2022

Colorado is coming off a great season in which they earned a No. 5 seed in the tournament and were one of the top teams in the Pac-12. This could be a semi-rebuild year for the team though, as they lose significant pieces like McKinley Wright and Jeriah Horne but do have one of Tad Boyle’s best recruiting classes ever, which should help the team at least be competitive.

Jabari Walker is the breakout candidate to watch here — those who have followed me for any length of time know I’m a big fan of this kid. Walker played sparingly at first last year but then worked his way into the rotation thanks to a three-game stretch in January in which he scored 11-plus points and grabbed 8-plus boards in each. He was second on the team in usage at 25.3% and first in shot rate 25.6%. He had an outstanding 25.6% defensive rebounding rate and canned 52% of his 44 triples. The main issue for Jabari? Foul trouble. He had 6.6 fouls per 40, and he’ll obviously need to cut down severely this year as he ascends to the role of alpha on this team.

Evan Battey is a name you’ll remember if you grinded CBB DFS at all last season. Habitually underpriced, Battery was usually good for 18-20 fantasy points at a sub-$5k price tag. He is back for his super senior season and should be uber productive as he becomes a bigger leader. Tristan Da Silva, Keeshawn Barthelemy and Eli Parquet are the other names to watch for starter roles this season. They haven’t done a ton statistically just yet but could be thrust into bigger roles as the defacto upperclassmen. KJ Simpson holds the most upside of the newcomers as a 4-star freshman that was originally committed to Arizona. He should work his way into the rotation right away and is an uber-quick combo guard that will get hype for the flashy plays he makes.

(Check out our rankings of the top 100 teams and top 100 players for men’s college basketball in 2021-2022.)

Summary

This isn’t a very exciting roster, but there are definitely pieces here that we can look to when it comes to DFS. Jabari Walker should have a big season and is the main Buffs player to keep a close eye on as the season starts.