KJ Simpson, Julian Hammond III set to run the point for CU Buffs

KJ Simpson and Julian Hammond III are both set for big sophomore campaigns

The 2021-2022 Colorado Buffaloes men’s basketball team had a decent season. Unfortunately, it ended in a first-round NIT loss to St. Bonaventure.

Jabari Walker headed for the NBA with the Portland Trail Blazers, Evan Battey went to play overseas and Keeshawn Barthelemy transferred to Oregon, so Tad Boyle’s team looks quite different.

So, there are quite a few changes for the Buffs going into the 2022-2023 basketball season. One of the biggest questions is regarding the point guard position.

As the roster stands, both KJ Simpson and Julian Hammond III should be getting ample minutes at point guard. As the Buffs navigate their first week of official practice, head coach Tad Boyle said he is confident in his two sophomores (h/t Pat Rooney of Buff Zone):

“It’s not just Julian and KJ, but those are the two main guys in terms of returning (players). I’ve got a lot of confidence in both of them. And it’s not an either-or situation.”

Boyle even compared the Buffs’ current situation at guard to how Spencer Dinwiddie and Nate Tomlinson were used together.

“I look at Julian and KJ the same way. As long as defensively I feel like we can get done what we need to get done, those two kids could play together a lot. We’ll see how that goes, but I feel really good about both of them.”

Simpson and Hammond were both Pac-12 Freshman of the Week Award winners last year and if they can progress anything like Tomlinson and Dinwiddie, that is terrific news for Boyle’s team, especially considering the losses from last year’s group.

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RECRUITING: CU Buffs showing interest in Julian Hammond III’s younger brother

Could the Buffs showcase a sibling duo in 2023?

Christian Hammond, a class of 2023 point guard from Denver and the younger brother of current CU Buffs guard Julian Hammond III, is being actively recruited by Tad Boyle’s staff, according to Adam Munsterteiger of 247Sports.

The younger brother recently led Cherry Creek High School to a 5A football state championship, much like the older one did in 2019 and 2020, as the Bruins quarterback.

Christian Hammond currently plays for a Colorado-based club basketball team, Colorado Prep, which competes in the Grind Session. Listed at 6-foot-3 and 180-pounds, he’s about the same size as his older brother.

He has not been given an official offer from Colorado yet, but it’s still early in the recruiting cycle. Christian Hammond has, however, received an offer from Wyoming and has had talks with Utah and Butler, per 247Sports. The Buffs also extended an offer to his Colorado Preps teammate, Baye Ndongo.

Julian Hammond, who’s currently a true freshman guard, has played in 21 of Colorado’s 25 games this year and was the Pac-12 Freshman of the Week back in early January. He would be a junior when/if his younger brother comes to Colorado.

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Julian Hammond III’s strong weekend earns him Pac-12 Freshman of the Week

Julian Hammond III was money for the Buffs over the weekend

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When fellow freshman guard K.J. Simpson went down with an injury early in Thursday’s game against Washington State, everyone in the CU Events Center knew that Julian Hammond III would have to step up.

He did just that and then some.

The pride of Cherry Creek High School grabbed five rebounds and had four assists in the Buffs’ victory — just what CU needed from its bench point guard.

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His scoring ability then shined against Washington when he went 4-for-4 from three. Hammond’s 14 total points on Sunday marked a career-high for the true freshman.

Following those two strong showings, Hammond was named the Pac-12 Freshman of the Week on Monday.

Hammond is now the second Buff to win the award this season after Simpson received the honor in late November.

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Tad Boyle shares frank thoughts on how good he thinks the Buffs are

Tad Boyle shares his thoughts on the 6-3 Buffs

Following a 15-point home loss to Tennessee aided by 15 Colorado turnovers, Tad Boyle didn’t hold much back in his postgame presser.

“Right now we’re an average team,” Boyle said. “At best, Colorado’s an average college basketball team right now, at best. We got to change that.”

Considering how young the Buffs are, this stretch of adversity is likely new territory for many players. Boyle was asked after practice on Tuesday if he believes the Buffs are battling any confidence issues in the midst of a mini losing streak.

“I believe our guys think they’re better than they are,” Boyle said. “That’s not a lack of confidence, it’s a lack of reality.”

He went on to blame many of the Buffs’ woes on a lack of consistency. We saw the Buffs have spurts of excellence against UCLA and Tennessee, but it was difficult for them to sustain anything for long.

“We’re an inconsistent team,” Boyle admitted. “I’m not saying we can’t be good, we can be. We’re a dangerous team. We’re not a good team, we’re an ordinary, average team that sometimes decides they want to play defensively and sometimes we want to rebound; sometimes we want to share the ball and move the ball offensively, and other times we don’t.”

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To get a player’s perspective, I caught up with Julian Hammond III. The poised freshman guard hit a three-pointer against Tennesse in what Boyle would agree was initially a winnable game for the Buffs.

“We feel like those teams (UCLA and Tennessee) are good teams that we can beat,” Hammond said. “We’re trying to bounce back this week and win our two games and then move on to the other weeks. We want to take it game by game and not look down the road.”

Looking down the road (which reporters are allowed to do), the Buffs have Eastern Washington, Milwaukee and CSU Bakersfield coming to Boulder in the next 11 days. While Boyle said Eastern Washington isn’t going to be easy on Wednesday, the Buffs an opportunity to correct their aforementioned issues before No. 8 Kansas arrives.

The best stats from Colorado’s 90-46 win over Maine

Colorado blew out the Maine Black Bears 90-46

Now that was fun. In one of the most lopsided wins of the Tad Boyle era, the Colorado Buffaloes thoroughly beat the Maine Black Bears, 90-46. Yes, Maine isn’t exactly a powerhouse, but who says confidence building isn’t important?

We all love gaudy numbers and here are a few of them from the Buffs’ third consecutive win to start the season.

Total rebounds: Colorado 45, Maine 23

We learned that Colorado could rebound against New Mexico and the Buffs showed their fight on the boards once again vs. Maine. I’m probably most proud of Lawson Lovering’s seven boards. The 7-footer has gotten better each game and he delivered against an albeit undersized Maine team. Evan Battey also had seven and Jabari Walker brought down six.

Colorado turnovers: 10

Basically, the only reason Colorado’s previous two games were close was because of turnovers. The Buffs had a combined 34 against Montana State and New Mexico but they only had 10 total vs. Maine. Plus, the starting unit of Keeshawn Barthelemy, Jabari Walker, Evan Battey, Tristan da Silva and Eli Parquet —all of whom played at least 20 minutes — committed just three total. None of them had more than one as well.

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Luke O’Brien and Julian Hammond III combined points: 12

The debut of Julian Hammond III was as advertised. In 16 minutes, he shot 2-of-4 from the field, including a three pointer, and hauled in four rebounds. His three personal fouls, however, was not a good sign. With Barthelemy’s career-high 22 (an honorable mention on this list) and Simpson impressing again, the emergence of Hammond made for a scary group of guards.

After struggling in CU’s first two games, O’Brien was given more minutes in a blowout game and looked better. He made a three pointer in the second half and excelled defensively. Maine wasn’t a particularly clean team, but O’Brien snuck in four steals in just 14 minutes — an impressive number for a bigger guy.