AllBuffs.com - Covering CU-Boulder Athletics

Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

Colorado’s debut (ish) season in the new Big 12 is starting to take more shape.

A few weeks after details of the Buffs’ first two games of the season were announced, the first round of season projections and predictions are starting to show up. That includes over at ESPN, where this season’s NCAA RPI numbers were released this week.

(As a quick reminder for any and everyone who doesn’t have time to know that these projections get released in mid-May, RPI is a metric created by ESPN that “is a measure of team strength that is meant to be the best predictor of a team’s performance going forward” and “represents how many points above or below average a team is.”)

And considering the Buffs are coming off of a four win season while dealing with another largely-new roster, their debut – at #36 overall – is reason enough to go into the season at least cautiously optimistic. Here are some of ESPN’s other projections:

FPI: 6.0
Projected Win-Loss: 6.3-5.8
6Wins%: 63.2 percent

With that being said, ESPN’s models still don’t think much of the Buffs’ chances next season. They rank 10th among Big12 teams in FPI, and the projections only give CU a 4.1 percent chance of winning the conference (but they do have almost a six percent chance of making the playoffs!).

by camellis
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CU has the game times and networks known for four games - and all four are guaranteed to draw bigger audiences than watched CU play in all of 2022 ... But all of the attention is not always welcome (with Shilo's bankruptcy making national news) ...

Stuart
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Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports

Our favorite son is making us proud.

Derrick White’s bald head continues to shine in the 2024 NBA Playoffs.

The former (and forever) Colorado Buffalo had yet another heroic postseason performance, this time sending the Boston Celtics to the Finals with a go-ahead three-pointer with 45 seconds left to play.


This 2023-24 season has been a dream for the Colorado-born hooper. He established himself as the NBA’s best role player, an elite defender, savvy connector and a more-than-capable scorer. His mid-season hot streak nearly earned him an All-Star nod, was named All-Defense for the second straight year, and is now looking like a legit playoff hero.

White has arguably been the Celtics’ best all-around player in the postseason. He tore apart Miami in that five-game series, disrupted both Donovan Mitchell (when healthy) and Darius Garland, and just averaged a menacing 17 points, 6 assists, 5 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 blocks in their sweep of the Pacers.

The Celtics will likely face the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA Finals, as Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving hold a 3-0 lead on the Minnesota Timberwolves. Boston match up well, as they have both White and Jrue Holiday for Luka and Kyrie, respectively. But that’s easier said than done.

by Sam Metivier
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Photo by Dustin Bradford/Getty Images

The news coming out of Boulder this week isn’t great.

Shilo Sanders, Colorado’s starting safety and son of Buffaloes head coach Deion Sanders, has filed for bankruptcy amidst an $11.8M assault lawsuit. Sanders is ranked as the Buffs’ third-highest NIL recipient by On3, but that lawsuit now calls those earnings into question.

The case stems from an incident that occurred at a Dallas high school in 2015. Sanders, who was 15 years old at the time, allegedly assaulted school security officer John Darjean after he attempted to confiscate his cell phone.

Darjean alleges that Sanders struck him three times after attempting to take his phone, which resulted in “severe and permanent injuries including a broken neck, damage to his cervical spine, permanent neurological injuries and irreversible incontinence.” The lawsuit also states that Darjean was rushed to the hospital by ambulance after being attacked and has undergone multiple surgical procedures due to damage from the incident.

The court paperwork filed by Darjean’s attorneys states that Deion was the one who instructed the security officer to take Shilo’s phone. This was allegedly because he was texting his mother, Pilar Sanders, while serving an in-school suspension for being disruptive in class. For some important context, Pilar and Deion were going through a messy public divorce dispute at that time, where the two parties were fighting for custody of their children.

While Darjean filed the lawsuit in 2016, the case was only heard recently in 2022. Sanders failed to appear at the civil court hearing for the $11.89M lawsuit, leading to a default judgment against him. According to Sanders’ attorney, notice of the hearing was not sent to him and he was unaware of the judgment. In a court filing in February of 2024, Sanders officially acknowledged that the 2015 incident occurred.

Controversially, Sanders only declared around $477,000 in assets in bankruptcy court, despite his $1.1M NIL evaluation. None of the assets declared by Sanders derive from his NIL deals. Most of that money comes from a Robinhood stock trading account that holds $300,000, as well as two separate $75,000 declarations for his luxury Mercedes car and necklaces. After his asset declarations, Sanders is still around $11M short of what he is currently set to pay Darjean in liabilities.

This is an ongoing legal dispute. It’s unclear how things will turn out for Sanders, this situation certainly isn’t a great look for Colorado’s football program.

by RylandScholes
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Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

REST IN PEACE

Three-time Pac-8 Champion, two-time NCAA Champion, two-time NBA Champion, Naismith winner, MVP, Deadhead, Hall of Famer, beloved commentator, and so much more, Bill Walton has passed on from this mortal realm at the age of 71.

Basketball celebrates its favorite hero, our tie-dye clad, possibly high, Champion of Champions. He didn’t always know what was happening on the basketball court, who was playing, or even who he was commenting with, but he was a mountain of a man whose charisma made him larger than life.

Bill will not have to live in a world without the Pac-12, a silver lining to this mournful day. His UCLA Bruins will always be in the Tournament of Champions, his forays into Boulder on the Pac-12’s dime, and the sacred Sequoias just a day-trip away.

He graced this beautiful earth for 71 years and blessed us with his humor, humility and kindness. There will never be another Bill Walton, but he will stay with us in our hearts, minds and deep-cut basketball references.

Rest in peace, Bill, you will be missed.

by Sam Metivier
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