Colorado MBB begins summer workouts with new squad

The mostly new-look Colorado Buffaloes men’s basketball team began summer workouts on June 1.

Unlike just a few seasons ago, however, preparation for the 2026-2027 season began as soon as the 2025-2026 Buffs’ year ended; more so after being eliminated from the Big 12 conference tournament, as transfer portal departures and return announcements came before their round one exit in the College Basketball Crown.

“It used to be when the season is over with,” head coach Tad Boyle, entering his 17th year leading the program, told BuffStampede, “you had a couple holes to fill, and you filled them, and then had maybe a couple recruiting events.”

This offseason has had an abundance of changes.

Colorado lost its lead all-time single-season freshman scorer in point guard Isaiah Johnson (Texas), and two pieces of the frontcourt in three-year Buff Bangot Dak (Vanderbilt) and Slovenian wing Sebastian Rancik (Florida State) before the season’s end. And it was announced that associate head coach Mike Rohn left Boyle’s side for Kansas City.

Yet, star point guard Barrington Hargress was retained for his final collegiate season after leading the Big 12 in assist-to-turnover ratio while being CU’s second-leading scorer.

Some other young pieces hit the portal after The Crown (Alon Michaeli, Fawaz “Tacko” Ifaola, Felix Kossaras, Andrew Crawford, Jon Mani, Leonardo Van Elswyk), and Elijah Malone graduated. But Boyle kept three of the four biggest names in his 2025 freshman class: big guards Josiah Sanders, Jalin Holland and Ian Inman.

“It’s really nice to have that core group of returners that know what we expect, they know the standards, they know the terminology, and now it’s incumbent upon them to get these new guys up to speed as much as quickly as possible,” Boyle said. “That’s our job as coaches, but it’s also the job of the returning guys, and Barrington being, being one of them, and a key one of them.”

Graduate assistant Tyson Gilbert was elevated to an assistant in place of Rohn.

The Buffs, signing wing Rider Portela in November, also added Australian guard Alex Dickeson and forward Goc Malual, both with NBL1 East experience (Malual with one year of NBL experience, too), before The Crown.

And the summer has brought three more freshmen (Amir Jones, Chase Hill, Luke Mirhashemi), as well as experienced transfers in 6-foot-10 Noah Feddersen (North Dakota State), 6-foot-6 Justin Neely (Albany, UNC-Greensboro) and 6-foot-9 David Gomez (Charlotte, Spain).

With walk-on Nick Randall returning for his fourth year with the program, the Buffs will have one roster spot left to fill for the season.

Of course, things are still early for the Buffs in terms of meshing.

While the returners have a strong bond after last season, not all of the new team members are in Boulder quite yet. The new additions who have made it to campus are in the first days with the program.

Still, the men’s team is getting after it in Boulder. Balls are bouncing, shoes are squeaking and weight is moving.

“It’s been busy, but look, we’ve adjusted,” Boyle said. “We’ve got a good staff, we’ve had some changes there as well, but overall it’s really good. I like our team, I’m excited about next year, and so here we go.”