Colorado men’s basketball is up to five new transfers this offseason, and Tad Boyle’s roster already has eight of its 15 allotted scholarship spots filled with the addition of UNCG forward transfer Justin Neely on Thursday.
Neely, averaging 17.9 points, 11.5 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game during his one season in the SoCon, is coming off his fifth and best season of college basketball in his long career. His rebounding effort ranked second in the country behind Hannes Steinbach at Washington.
The 6-foot, 220-pound Miami, Florida, native led the country in defensive boards and will lend Colorado a huge hand in that department. In the Big 12, the Buffs were 14th in points allowed and eighth in defensive rebounding.
The Buffs are expecting five new bigs next season, with Neely, North Dakota State center transfer Noah Feddersen, Australians Alex Dickeson, Goc Malual and Spainard David Gomez. That’s a lot of possible combinations, and it’s safe to say Boyle will have plenty of length to work with beneath the rim.
Will This Trio Help the Buffs?
Freshman guards Jalin Holland, Ian Inman and Josiah Sanders have all resigned with Colorado for next season, which is a nice package of young guards back on the floor, considering almost 2,700-plus entered the portal in this latest cycle.
Together, the trio averaged roughly 15 minutes per game last season, and each pulled down around four points per game. Inman broke out for 10 points and three boards in a 90-86 loss to Oklahoma at the College Basketball Crown in Las Vegas.
Boyle shared a statement on the trio after announcing they’d resigned to spend next season in Boulder:
“When I think of those three together, I think of toughness. I think of the improvement they made over the course of the season and the togetherness they have. They’re great friends and have formed a bond during their freshman year. Their toughness, energy and work ethic, when you have those attributes to go along with talent, which they all have, you get a chance to have three really good sophomores next year that will take the next step.”
What’s Next For Tad Boyle?
Boyle and the Buffs are coming off their worst couple of seasons in the program’s history and are now two years removed from their last NCAA Tournament run.
Colorado managed a winning record at 17-16, but won just seven Big 12 games and lost six different players to the transfer portal as a result of a second lukewarm season of college basketball.
Boyle currently earns $2.7 million per year under his perpetual contract, which is working on rolling, season-by-season extensions until the school says otherwise. Even with the team’s recent decline, Boyle is the program’s all-time winningest coach with a 329-220 record in Boulder, six different NCAA Tournament appearances, and the 2011-12 Pac-12 championship.
