Fact or Fiction: Tad Boyle was right in offering Pac-12 scholarships to Dustin Thomas and Jaron Hopkins.
Adam Munsterteiger: Fact. Sure, if Boyle had the benefit of hindsight he wouldn't have offered either a scholarship. But before they arrived in Boulder, both were ranked among the nation's top 150 prospects. Every Buffs fan was excited about the arrival of both. Hopkins teased everyone with his elite athleticism and Thomas earned the reputation as a high-level scorer immediately after arriving on campus the summer before his freshman season. Obviously Thomas and Hopkins both ultimately failed in their attempt to be real difference makers at the Pac-12 level as underclassmen. Why exactly did they fail to fit in? That is the real question here. For Hopkins, he is just not very skilled and is not a good shooter. Being super athletic growing up meant he didn't have to work on his game as much as some of his basketball peers. It was exposed when he got to Colorado. Thomas's biggest issue was a lack of confidence, seemingly setting in after his first missed shot at Colorado. And he didn't have the foot speed to defend on the wing nor the size to properly defend in the post. Can some blame also be placed on poor player development by Boyle and his staff here? Sure, a little. While I think both Hopkins and Thomas have a chance to be good players for lower conference teams, I don't think any amount of excellent coaching would have gotten either close to living up to the expectations associated with a former Rivals150 recruit. But Boyle and his staff might have been able to utilize both a tad (no pun intended) better in their system.
Ryan Koenigsberg: Fact, both players came with the tag that they could become a great player "IF." I think Tad was right in his confidence in himself and his staff that they could develop those ifs. When you're at Colorado, you don't often get the opportunity to recruit guys who don't have any ifs. When you develop the players correctly, and they have the work ethic needed to do what it takes, you get a player like Spencer Dinwiddie, when things don't go to plan, you end up in a situation like this. It's not like Tad was the only one who saw the potential in these guys both were respected in the prospect rankings. Unfortunately for all parties involved, Dustin wasn't able to learn to defend without fouling, and Jaron was never able to turn his freak athletic ability into prowess on either end.
Tyler Ziskin, Fan Correspondent: Fact. Hopkins had offers from nearly half the Pac-12 and had athletic traits you just can't teach. With even a little bit of development as a ball handler, he could have been a formidable Pac-12 wing. Unfortunately, that development never really panned out, and his confidence waned throughout his sophomore campaign. Thomas had several huge games in his time in Boulder, but just didn't have the foot speed to defend at this level. It would be hard to argue, however, that Thomas didn't have a Pac-12 level offensive repertoire, despite his struggles from distance.
Fact or Fiction: The departures of Dustin Thomas and Jaron Hopkins will be a positive for the program.
AM: Fact. Both players suffered through a lot of growing pains as underclassmen and it does seem a bit unfortunate that now the Buffs won't get to reap the rewards as both players enter their upperclassmen years. But, neither player was going to develop into an all-Pac-12 caliber player and since both were clearly unhappy with their role and development at Colorado, it is better for the Buffs to move forward without them. Colorado's struggles last season had as much to do with bad chemistry and leadership as anything so to make sure every player that returns for the 2015-16 season has both feet in is important for the immediate future of the program.
RK: Fiction, while, as I stated above, Thomas or Hopkins didn't exactly project to be game changers for the program going forward, there is still no guarantee that Tad Boyle and staff will use those open scholarships on players who will be game changers. Remember, Boyle brought in Thomas and Hopkins during a time where the Buffs had very solid momentum going forward as a program. Now, they have taken a step backwards, making things even harder on them to find star players on the recruiting train, or in the transfer market. I'm not saying necessarily that it will be a negative for the program, but nothing out there convinces me that it will definitely be a positive.
TZ: That's a tough one. I'll say fact because it gives the program a chance to bring in new talent to fill in their deficiencies, and it didn't appear that either player was all that close knit with the rest of the roster. Having young kids transfer is hard to peg as a "positive", but there is no doubt changes needed to be made this off-season in some form or fashion.
Fact or Fiction: The current roster (-Booker, -Thomas, -Hopkins, +Fortune, +King, +Akyazili, +Guzonjic) is better off than last season's roster.
AM: Fact, for the simple fact the Buffs' on-court chemistry and locker room chemistry has to be better next season, right? Askia Booker's absence from the bench during the CBI home opener told me he doesn't truly care about his teammates. And for all the great things Booker did on the court with the Buffs, too often his teammates deferred to him, seemingly limiting their own aggressiveness. And with Thomas and Hopkins transferring, it proves that they were not overly happy with their situation at Colorado. Boyle had to make sure every returning player is committed to the program going forward. With Fortune, the Buffs add a good shooter that, based on practice, seems to know his role on the court well. He is also most certainly hungry after enjoying some success at Providence and then sitting out a year due to transfer rules. King can provide some good rebounding off the bench, as well as an occasional fastbreak dunk and an occasional three-pointer. Akyazili and Guzonjic are fairly big question marks coming over from Europe, but we do know both are skilled basketball players, which Colorado needed more of this past season.
RK: Fiction, let's say you trade Booker for Fortune, Hopkins for Akyazili, and Guzonjic for Thomas, is there anywhere you can definitively say you got more talented right away? Not in my opinion. Even when you throw in George King on top you have to think about the fact that he was considered the furthest behind in his development in a sophomore class that just had two players leave because they couldn't cut it. Could Akyazili make a smooth transition right away and be a great guard for this team? Maybe. Could Guzonjic stretch the floor and open the offense by being able to knock down open shots? Sure. Could Josh Fortune be a calming influence on the floor, who knocks down shots and makes the right play? Possibly. Could George King be a great rebounder and become a plus defender? We'll see. What I am getting at here, is I can't find an area on the roster where the team definitively got better. Just as there were with Jaron Hopkins and Dustin Thomas, there are a lot of ifs with the newcomers.
TZ: I'll say fact only because I'm going to assume we find ourselves with a healthy Josh Scott throughout the season. This team played much better with him healthy in the last 4 or 5 games of the season, and there should be a sense of urgency with him and Xavier Johnson being seniors. Askia was definitely a talent that carried this roster, but he was also difficult to play with and not much of a leader. Josh has to step up and take that load for next season. The expectations will be low for next year's group, but I'd expect them to be better than .500.
Fact or Fiction: Tad Boyle will add a transfer that will help the team next season.
AM: Fact, Boyle has never been one to bank scholarships and since it is so late in the recruiting cycle for the 2015 class, the Buffs' best opportunity to get a quality player is on the transfer market. If CU-Colorado Springs guard Derrick White does indeed transfer to Colorado, it would be a huge step up in competition for him, but he would at the very least give the Buffs' another skilled player that can score in multiple ways.
RK: Fact, here's where it could all come together for Boyle. Luckily for the Buffs there are a ton of guys on the market that would instantly improve the Buffaloes in a certain area. All sorts of guards out there that could bring better shooting, better handling, better leadership, and better experience to this roster. Boyle needs to be out there throwing lines out to every one of these guys. Derrick White could be a guy who can help this team, but even if you land his commitment, you still need to be out there seeing if there are others you can bring in to improve you program, and if you can, maybe you need to have another stern conversation with a currently player who isn't contributing. Too much attrition can be a bad look, but nothing is a worse look than losing. Even if it is only Derrick White, and he is able to play next season, than the answer to this question would still be fact.
TZ: The answer to this better be fact, or we'll be in a world of trouble. You can't lose two guys that contributed off your roster without bringing in reinforcements, that would be a disaster. There are a plethora of guards available in this year's transfer market, it would be a big time disappointment if we were unable to improve this team's guard play in the off-season.
This post was edited on 4/9 7:30 PM by Adam Munsterteiger
