The athletic program wants Bzdelik to be their guy and they are now going the extra mile in hopes of Colorado basketball eventually succeeding. Improvements to locker rooms, a new weight room, and new basketball offices are all steps in the right direction. A new practice facility is also on the university’s agenda.

The frontcourt is paper thin already and it got even thinner when 6’7’’ forward Jeremy Williams was lost for the fall. Bzdelik will not redshirt the sophomore, who averaged 7.7 points per game last season, if he can regain his eligibility, because they need him. Junior Jermyl Jackson-Wilson is the leading returning rebounder. He is also a capable scorer who averaged 8.0 points per game last year. 6’10’’ walk-on Trent Beckley and incoming frosh, 7-footer Caleb Patterson, will get the ready or not treatment.

Richard Roby elected to return to Colorado last season after earning first-team All-Big 12 honors in 2005-06. His 17.3 points per game were slightly overshadowed by his 38.3 percent shooting and his 26.8 percent from three-point range. But Roby is talented, he is the younger half-brother of Kenyon Martin, and we can expect this kid to do his best to try to carry the Buffs this season. He’ll have to do more than last season if Colorado wants to finish out of the Big 12 cellar where most sportsbooks have picked them. The return of Marcus Hall should help Roby and the offense. Hall averaged 8.7 points per game in 2005-06 before being sidelined last season due to academics. Hall has already cracked the top ten at CU in assists and is a proven three-point shooter.

Bzdelik will modify his already slightly modified Princeton offense to suit his personnel. It should help this team immediately, but more than anything, he just needs to get his players and the athletic department feeling confident that they can turn this thing around. In my opinion, Bzdelik is the best guy the Buffs could have scored. He went 50-16 in two seasons at Air Force reaching the NCAA Tourney and the NIT. He won at Air Force with players he didn’t recruit in a place where hoops is an afterthought. Can he do it again in Colorado? Only time will tell.

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