Yesterday, we addressed the seniors who helped lead this year's Buffs team to the PAC-12 Championship and the NCAA Tournament. Today is the first of two days dedicated to looking at the players who are expected to return to the team next season. With Austin Dufault graduating, we're going to need someone to step up and help fill his role within the team. Is that player already on the roster or are we going to be depending on one of the freshmen?
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| 2011-12: Maybe we were just a year off. It seemed like almost all of us expected Shane to come out strong this season after sitting last year out with a torn ACL. The only legitimate big man on the roster, most of us were hoping for solid defense down low and an occasional low post move. Unfortunately, for most of the season, Harris-Tunks lived up to the nickname he was given on the board of Simba. He was tentative and playing like a gentle lion cub out there. However, late in the season when he started donning his mask, he started putting it all together and giving us a glimmer of hope for next season. Shane started standing tall down low and holding his own with some of the low post presences in the conference. He still has a lot of work to do, but he gave signs that Simba may become the African Badass the team needs him to be. 2012-13: This is the year. Call me crazy, but I think this year Shane puts it all together and becomes a solid rotation player. First off, he's going to have some help. The Buffs lose Austin Dufault down low, but gain Josh Scott and Wesley Gordon. Having those two around in practice will only help Harris-Tunks. Secondly, you can see he's finally starting to get confidence back in his knee. He's never going to be a huge scorer or an athletic freak of nature, but it's incredibly realistic for him to provide 15-20 minutes a night of good low post defense and occasionally bust out the hook shot that he started to display at the end of the 2011-12 season. |
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| 2011-12: Ben Mills was a bit of the human victory cigar for the Buffs this year as the team went 6-1 in games that he played, with the only loss coming at Oregon State late in the season. A favorite of the student section, Mills is a seven footer who just can't seem to put the bulk on to pound down low. The first team All-Wisconsin player from high school had a hard time finding his way in to the Buffs rotation. There was speculation that he might redshirt this past season, but that went out the window in the first game of the season when he got four minutes of playing time against Ft. Lewis. 2012-13: With two highly praised front court recruits in Josh Scott and Wesley Gordon coming in, it's hard to envision Mills getting much more playing time than he did this season. That said, if he can find a way to put some weight on this off-season, the Buffs could certainly use a presence down low that Mills would be able to provide. |
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| 2011-12: Andre Roberson is finally getting some of the national attention that he rightfully deserves. Before this season, it seemed like only KenPom was talking about him. Now, despite getting screwed out of the PAC-12 Defensive Player of the Year award, it seems like everyone knows about him, and it's only going to get better. "Animal Style" put up some ridiculous defensive numbers. He led the team both in block percentage (91st nationally) and steal percentage (475th nationally). He had the highest eFG% on the team, largely thanks to his put-back dunks and his free throw rate which was second best on the team behind Spencer Dinwiddie. This also lead to him being number two on the team in offensive efficiency. All of those numbers are impressive, but it's rebounding where Roberson truly shines. He was 90th in the nation in offensive rebounding percentage with 12.7% -- which is actually down a touch from the 15.1% he posted his freshman year when no one knew about him -- but his defensive rebounding numbers were spectacular. He pulled down almost 30% of the available defensive rebounds while he was on the court. The only player in the nation who had a better number was potential National Player of the Year Thomas Robinson from the University of Kansas. 2012-13: He's only going to get better. His rebounding and defense is already top notch, and while the numbers support his offensive game, he could still use some improvement there. He shot 38% from behind the arc, but a lot of those were uncontested because he hasn't quite earned the respect of defensive players yet. But he definitely looked a lot more comfortable out there and I see no reason that he won't be better next season from out deep. The percentage may not be better, but if he can hit 1-2 a game at a 35% clip, it will make the Buffs offense that much more dangerous. If he can just slightly improve his jumper next season, it will be likely that Roberson will be spending the 2013-14 season in the NBA and not in Boulder. |
