Colorado men's basketball 2025-26 season preview

Colorado head coach Tad Boyle returns for his 14th season in 2025. (Photo by Remi Krupinski/Sko Buffs Sports)

Written by Matthew Spivack and Liam Howard

The Colorado Buffaloes take the floor for the first time in 2025 on Nov. 3 to face the Montana State Bobcats. With a long season ahead, the Buffs have transformed their team and its culture to strive for far better results than last season.

Recruiting

The offseason was where it all began. A talent-filled recruiting class and effective group arriving via the transfer portal have filled the gaps left by the exits of Julian Hammond III, Andrej Jakimovski and Javon Ruffin, among others.

Ifaola brings size to a team that suffered from a lack of that trait last season. (Photo by Remi Krupinski/Sko Buffs Sports)

The Buffaloes brought in six freshmen on the recruiting trail. This group was highlighted by three four-star recruits in Jalin Holland, Fawaz ‘Tacko’ Ifaola and local talent Josiah Sanders. The freshmen will be expected to step into a contributing role early in the season, with the high player turnover rate from last season.

Transfer portal

As for the transfer portal, the Buffs added just two players. However, these were effective additions at positions of need. First is Jon Mani, a transfer from Denver. He’s still a young player, but he brings upside at the guard position and could develop into a reliable starter in the coming years. 

Their second addition was former UC Riverside star point guard Barrington Hargress. He brings experience not seen with Mani, while also being a lethal scoring threat. Hargress averaged 20.2 points and four assists per game last season, numbers CU would’ve loved to have in what was a dormant offense.

Buffs Down Under

The team took a trip to Australia over the summer to get a head start on the season and foster unity among a team full of fresh faces. 

The Buffaloes went 2-2 in their four games Down Under. The coaching staff was given a unique look at their team that few Division I coaches have access to. 

During this trip, many improvements were seen from the 2024-2025 season. Shooting efficiency was significantly improved, and the offense made notable strides overall. They averaged 88.3 points per game, up from 69.7 points per game last season.

Preseason scrimmages

The Buffaloes also played two scrimmage games against the Grace College Lancers from the NAIA and the Marquette Golden Eagles in the two weeks ahead of their first regular-season contest. 

In the first scrimmage against Grace College, the Buffaloes were expectedly dominant. They won 92-66 off the back of a 21-point performance from freshman guard Isaiah Johnson. 

Even in this dominance, there were still areas of disappointment. Turnovers were a lethal habit for the Buffs last season, and they were prevalent once again in CU’s opening scrimmage. The Buffaloes lost the turnover battle to the lower division school 22-20. The Lancers scored 10 points off these additional opportunities. 

“Fifteen turnovers is too much against a team who does not really pressure,” Colorado head coach Tad Boyle said postgame. “Taking care of the ball was an issue last year… Lots of stuff to learn from.”

The scrimmage against Marquette was a closed-door contest with no media or fans permitted to attend. While information has not been released about the results of the game, it is certainly a benefit to the Buffaloes to face a quality program before their opening game.

Key returners

The transfer portal and NIL have shaped the new age of college sports, leaving many programs across the country to deal with high roster turnover. The Buffaloes were no exception. Colorado returned just six players from last season, only three of whom played meaningful minutes throughout the year, highlighted by forward Sebastian Rancik (17.5 mpg), forward Bangot Dak (20 mpg) and center Elijah Malone (18.7 mpg).  

Colorado is looking for Rancik to transition into the team's number one scoring option. Despite averaging 5.9 points, 2.8 rebounds and 0.6 assists per game (11 games started) for the Buffs last year, the 6-foot-11 forward is expected to take a significant leap in production.

Dak sustained his leg injury during the Big 12 Championship tournament, but has since recovered. (Photo by Remi Krupinski/Sko Buffs Sports)

The Slovakia native has already improved his three-point shooting from last year (25.8%), as showcased by his performance Down Under. Rancik cashed in three of six attempted threes (50%) against the Australian National team and five more threes between the games against Hoop City and Gold Coast. 

Dak is coming off a knee injury that sidelined him throughout the offseason, including the Australia trip. Since the start of the school year, he has been practicing with the team and competed in the annual Black and Gold scrimmage along with Colorado’s exhibition against Grace College.

The lengthy forward played the most minutes for the Buffs against Grace College (26), as he recorded 10 points, six rebounds, two assists and two ‘stocks’ (steals plus blocks). 

Malone is entering his last year of collegiate eligibility. The center started 20 games for the Buffaloes last season and averaged 7.9 points, 3.2 rebounds

and 1.1 assists.

His 59.2 percent from the field was the second highest on the team last season, trailing forward Harrison Carrington by two-tenths of a percentage. With no seniors on the roster, Malone is the oldest and most experienced player on the team. The Buffaloes are going to lean on the graduate student as a leader and mentor for this young Colorado squad.  

Key games

Colorado’s third matchup of the season against Providence College features familiar faces. Providence head coach Kim English was an assistant on Colorado’s staff under Tad Boyle from 2017-19. English is entering his third season with the Friars, with a record of 33-34 in that time. Current CU assistant coach Nate Tomlinson also has connections to English.

Elijah Malone competed against his former team, Grace College, in Colorado's preseason scrimmage. (Photo by Remi Krupinski/Sko Buffs Sports)

He coached with him at both George Mason and Providence. Although this will be the first-ever game played between Colorado and Providence, the coaching staffs know each other quite well and should play a larger-than-normal role in the outcome. 

The Buffaloes will take on Boyle’s former squad, the Northern Colorado Bears, in their last non-conference game of the season. Boyle was the head coach of the Bears from 2006-10, leading the team to a 25-8 record and a second-place finish in the Big Sky during his last season.

The in-state matchup has occurred each of the last four years, and the Buffs have won every game. Last year, the game went to double overtime, and the Buffs won by a mere two points. Colorado has won the last 13 games against UNC dating back to 1936, putting pressure on the current Buffaloes to continue the streak. 

The Buffs went 3-17 in the Big 12 last year, so Colorado has revenge games throughout the entirety of its schedule. Colorado lost to four different Big 12 teams more than once (Arizona State, Houston and Kansas), including three losses to Iowa State.

This year, the Buffaloes will play Arizona State, Utah and Texas Tech twice. Colorado matches up against the Sun Devils for its first conference game of the season, which will give the Buffs some extra motivation heading into conference play.  

Colorado has a low bar to clear to surpass its performance from last season. The new-look roster and youthful energy of this season’s team could light the spark the Buffs need for that to happen.