Four Buffs hit transfer portal in 24 hours

Freshman center Fawaz "Tacko" Ifaola was one of four Colorado Buffaloes men's basketball players to enter the transfer portal on April 6 and 7. (Photo by Cristian Blanco/Sko Buffs Sports)

Starting on Monday and into Tuesday morning, the Colorado Buffaloes men’s basketball team saw four players enter the transfer portal. They include center Fawaz "Tacko" Ifaola, guard Andrew Crawford, forward Alon Michaeli and guard Felix Kossaras. 

On Monday, Ifaola entered the portal, according to 247 Sports’ Travis Branham. The 7-foot freshman center from Nigeria averaged 0.7 points, 2.1 rebounds, and 0.3 assists in 7.8 minutes per game. The former four-star recruit played in 20 games for Colorado and started in two. 

Ifaola’s departure means that now a center will be the top priority for the Buffs to either recruit or get in the portal. Last year's starting center, Elijah Malone, has run out of NCAA eligibility, and the only center on the roster is redshirt freshman Leonardo Van Elswyk, who hasn’t played a minute yet.

On Tuesday, Kossaras hit the portal. The sophomore guard had been a starter at the beginning of the season, but saw his role diminish over the course of it after Isaiah Johnson became a permanent starter at guard in January. Kossaras averaged 4.2 points and 1.4 rebounds in 16.4 minutes per game. 

After Kossaras, the next player to hit the portal was Crawford. The former four-star recruit from Highlands Ranch, Colorado, redshirted his freshman year in 2024-25 but didn’t see much playing time last season either. He only played in 10 games, averaging 1.4 points on 4.8 minutes per game. 

The last player who entered the portal on Tuesday was also the biggest loss for the Buffs that day. Michaeli had averaged 7.1 points, 3.9 rebounds, and one assist per game while playing in 31 games as a freshman last season. He had averaged 17.9 minutes per night and had been a key part of the Buffs rotation.

Forward Alon Michaeli joined several Colorado Buffaloes in the transfer portal on Tuesday, leaving coach Tad Boyle's squad after a promising freshman season. (Aspen Doust/Sko Buffs Sports)

In the 2026-27 season, the Buffs’ lineup will look completely different. Malone ran out of eligibility, and Johnson, along with forwards Bangot Dak and Sebastian Rancik, had already declared for the portal.

Head coach Tad Boyle has recruited three new players, forwards Rider Portela and Goc Malual, as well as guard Alex Dickeson. Portela is a four-star recruit from Arizona, and Malual and Dickenson are both from Australia. 

After losing their top three forwards, the Buffs will need to look for wings in the portal as well as a new center. The Buffs have nine scholarship players as of Wednesday morning, down from 14 at the beginning of the 2025-26 season.

They may lose more players to the portal before it closes on April 21, but during a Tuesday radio call on Altitude Sports 92.5 FM, Boyle said he anticipates the return of freshman guards Jalin Holland, Ian Inman and Josiah Sanders. The moves Boyle makes in the portal over the next two weeks could define how next season will go in Boulder.

"I feel as excited and as fired up about Colorado basketball as I ever have,” Boyle said in the interview. "It’s definitely a new era, a new time, I get that, but don't count the Buffs out."