Tre’Shaun Fletcher is in beginning stages of his third offseason with the Colorado men’s basketball team, and so far, this one has been nothing like the previous two.
“You can see a definite change in how we’re working out,” said Fletcher, a junior wing. “I can just feel the energy compared to last summer and the first summer I was here. We’re definitely preparing to have a great season this year.”
CU is coming off a 16-18 season, its first losing record in the five-year tenure of head coach Tad Boyle. After three consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances from 2012-14, this past season was frustrating and humbling for all involved.
“It’s really an eye-opener for us because we’ve been so privileged to be on good teams in the previous three years,” senior guard Xavier Talton said. “Us, as seniors, we don’t want to go out the way the seniors last year had to go out. This offseason is really going to motivate us to not have to go through that again.”
Even before the season came to a close, Boyle talked about the need for his team be more committed and to work harder. About a month after the season ended with a 72-65 loss at Seattle in the quarterfinals of the College Basketball Invitational, Boyle’s Buffs appear to be taking his message to heart.
CU is still more than six months away from its next game — it opens Nov. 13 against Iowa State in Sioux Falls, S.D. — but the Buffs say there’s a new attitude being established.
“You can definitely see it in everyone,” senior guard Eli Stalzer said. “It feels like there is more support, there’s more togetherness.”
For starters, the Buffs have been relentless in the weight room and with conditioning. Fletcher, Stalzer and Talton all talked about the 10-in-10s being done by the team. Those are 10 “suicides” in 10 minutes. It started out with each player having 40 seconds to complete the run, and then 20 seconds of rest before the next one until all 10 were done. The next week, everybody had 39 seconds to get it done, and then 38 the next week.
“We kept seeing improvement in everybody,” Fletcher said.
Doing the 10-in-10s is helping the Buffs’ conditioning, but it’s also helping them increase their mental toughness, which was a problem last season.
“The mental aspect of pushing yourself and being able to finish has been big,” Talton said.
Strength and conditioning coach James Hardy “has been kicking our butt in the weight room,” Talton said, and that, too, has helped the team mentally.
If it’s not Hardy getting on the players to work harder in the weight room, it’s the players getting on each other. That’s something else that was missing last year.
“You can see it where guys are calling each other out and people aren’t getting into fights about it,” Stalzer said. “It’s, ‘Ok, he’s right, let’s keep working hard.’ “
Coaches only get two hours a week to work with the players, but that time, combined with the time the players spend on the court alone, has helped, too.
“We play pick-up all the time,” Talton said. “I think a lot of people have improved. I think our passing has gotten better. Everybody is starting to shoot the ball better. More time in the gym increases skill.”
Outside of basketball, the Buffs are also planning several group activities for the offseason, Fletcher said.
“We feel like it’ll help us on the court,” Fletcher said. “If you’re closer off the court, you’ll be better on the court.”
Nothing is going to bring the team together like bonding through an offseason of tough workouts, though. And, while there are still several months of workouts ahead, so far, the Buffs are embracing the harder work.
“I think we needed it, just developing more of a work ethic,” Talton said. “I think it’s really going to pay off. I think everybody has bought into it. We’ve had several meetings already and everybody has been here working their tail off. I think everybody is ready for this next season coming up.”
This summer, the Buffs will add a trio of newcomers to the mix — transfer Derrick White and freshmen Thomas Akyazili and Kenan Guzonjic — and they’re eager to get them working, too.
“Yeah, we’ve got to break ’em,” Stalzer said with a laugh. “We have to train them and get them into the swing of things, because right now we have good momentum and good vibes.”
Brian Howell: howellb@dailycamera.com, on Twitter: @BrianHowell33.
