NBA Buffs lend helping hands during CU recruiting weekends – Boulder…

The Prime Effect is inspiring a number of Colorado basketball alums to flock back to Boulder.

All three football home games so far — against Nebraska, Colorado State and USC — have been big recruiting weekends for the CU men’s basketball team. Part of the experience has included a number of former basketball standouts, including multiple appearances by NBA Buffs Spencer Dinwiddie and Derrick White, returning for the games to see coach Deion Sanders’ team.

“It means everything,” CU head coach Tad Boyle said. “We sell all of our former players. For the Nebraska game, we had 52 of them in town. So it’s not just our pros or NBA guys. We sell our overseas guys. We sell Evan Battey. We sell McKinley Wright. We sell Spencer Dinwiddie, Andre Roberson, Derrick White.

“These guys have done a lot for this program while they were here. They’ve also done a lot for the program after they’ve left. It just speaks to our culture, I think, and our family atmosphere. Appreciating those who came before. Certainly it’s the NBA guys, but it’s not just the NBA guys. When you talk about culture, it’s probably an over-used term. But that’s a great example of what we’ve tried to help build here with Colorado basketball. And look, Deion has helped. It’s kind of cool to come back now.”

One of the recruits who visited during the Nebraska weekend, Doryan Onwuchekwa, gave his verbal commit to the Buffs shortly thereafter, becoming the first commitment for the 2024 class. Onwuchekwa is a three-star, 6-foot-10 forward ranked as the No.12 recruit in his class in Texas by 247Sports.

Pros and cons

The move to a five-out approach offensively is a nod to the glut of lanky, versatile athletes likely to comprise the bulk of CU’s rotation.

When such an attack is working well, five players making hard cuts to the rim, combined with quick ball movement, helps create mismatches and open looks along the 3-point line. Without those cuts or the ball movement, however, the approach can get bogged down with five players mired in one-on-one ball.

Junior point guard KJ Simpson is using the preseason to make certain the Buffs don’t fall into those traps.

“Just constantly getting moving. If I see somebody holding it a little too long, we’re not getting nothing going, as the point guard I’ve got to go approach that personally,” Simpson said. “Get the ball from them and get it moving. And just keep encouraging and voicing. Telling everybody what everyone needs to do, and what we need to do in the moment. I’ve just got to constantly talk.”

Notable

Details still are pending, but CU plans to open the Events Center doors to the public for the annual Black and Gold intra-squad scrimmage ahead of the football Friday night game against Stanford on Oct. 13. Kickoff for the football game is 8 p.m., so the scrimmage is likely to begin in the late afternoon. … Details also are still pending for an Oct. 28 preseason game, but it likely will be an exhibition doubleheader with the women’s team.