Tag: J’Vonne Hadley

UCLA shows interest in Colorado transfer J’Vonne Hadley

J’Vonne Hadley is on UCLA’s radar/

The UCLA Bruins are keeping a close eye on a number of players with the transfer portal officially open. One name to watch is J’Vonne Hadley, who transferred from Colorado after the Buffs loss to Florida in the Round of 32.

Hadley averaged 11.6 PPG, 6.0 RPG, 2.4 APG for a talented Colorado team that won a pair of NCAA Tournament games before falling to the Gators.

As of March 28, Hadley had heard from the following schools, per The Portal Report: 

  • Michigan
  • Michigan State
  • Minnesota
  • Nebraska
  • Depaul
  • Texas Tech
  • BYU
  • Iowa State
  • Texas A&M
  • Grand Canyon
  • Arkansas
  • Cal
  • Oregon State
  • Florida
  • Utah

However, a report came out on Sunday that Hadley has a Zoom meeting scheduled with both Iowa State and Michigan State, per Joe Tipton of On3.

Nonetheless, UCLA is showing interest in the senior guard and Hadley is set to make his decision in the next week.

UCLA seems to be a longshot but you never know.

J’Vonne Hadley earns first career Pac-12 Player of the Week honors

J’Vonne Hadley has been critical to Colorado’s recent turnaround

After Colorado men’s basketball closed the regular season on a six-game winning streak, J’Vonne Hadley became the second Buffs player in the past three weeks to earn Pac-12 Player of the Week honors.

Hadley won the award on Monday following strong performances against Oregon and Oregon State last week, helping the Buffs to two much-needed wins. While the senior guard has continued to be Colorado’s premier defender, his improved offensive numbers is why he’s gaining more respect.

He hit a career-high four 3-pointers on four attempts against the Ducks while totaling 20 points and 12 rebounds in his third double-double of the year. Against the Beavers on Saturday, Hadley added 15 more points and seven rebounds.

With the award going to Hadley, he became the third Buff to receive the conference’s player of the week nod this season, joining Tristan da Silva and KJ Simpson.

Hadley has seen an increase in minutes during his second year with the Buffs, leading to an increase in production as well. As the season has progressed, he has continuously made strides in his game, even after suffering a facial fracture earlier this year.

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Masked-up J’Vonne Hadley playing through facial fracture

J’Vonne Hadley shared his thoughts on playing through a fractured cheekbone

J’Vonne Hadley has been dubbed the “glue guy” of the Colorado men’s basketball team, often surpassing that label this season with his all-around play.

After missing the end of last season — his first with the Buffs — due to a pinky fracture, the senior guard has found himself injured again with a fractured cheekbone. The injury came during his career-high 24-point performance in the Buffs’ win over Washington on Jan. 24.

Hadley, known for his hustle and tough nature, is now playing through this injury with a mask protecting his face.

“Everybody knows it’s a fracture and stuff like that,” Hadley said following practice on Thursday afternoon. “It’s kind of hard to deal with a lot of different things with that. There’s a lot of pain with it. I just got to be comfortable with being uncomfortable.”

In addition to the pain, Hadley has dealt with the issue of finding a mask that fits. The mask he wore on Saturday at Washington State wasn’t fit to his face, obscuring the premier defender’s field of vision. Hadley scored only two points against the Cougars, ditching the mask at halftime.

On Thursday, he was practicing with a mask that had a better fit.

“It is what it is at this point,” Hadley said. “It’s either sit out or play, so I’d rather just take the chance to play.”

With Hadley finding a seemingly better solution, the Buffs are looking to bounce back against the Utah Utes on Saturday afternoon. Tipoff for an important Pac-12 matchup in Salt Lake City is set for 3 p.m. MT on the Pac-12 Network.

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Led by J’Vonne Hadley’s career night, road Buffs beat Washington

J’Vonne Hadley’s career night led the Buffs to their first win at Washington since 2015

J’Vonne Hadley is quickly becoming a valuable offensive weapon for the Colorado men’s basketball team.

In the Buffs’ 98-81 win at Washington on Wednesday night, the former junior college player dropped a career-high 24 points on 8-of-10 shooting from the field. Hadley’s dominance in the paint, along with all four other CU starters scoring at least 10, gave the Buffs their first win at Alaska Airlines Arena since 2015.

Even more, Colorado secured its first true road victory of the season while improving to 15-5 overall and 6-3 in the very winnable Pac-12.

Wednesday’s performance was about as impressive as Colorado’s blowout win over then-No. 15 Miami on Dec. 10. Eddie Lampkin Jr. finished with his sixth double-double of the season (14 points and 10 rebounds) Cody Williams dropped 19 and KJ Simpson flirted with a triple-double (16 points, eight rebounds and eight assists). Colorado shot 55% from the field, 46% from deep and went 21-for-23 from the stripe.

While allowing Washington to score 81 on 54% shooting isn’t ideal, head coach Tad Boyle’s squad might be playing its best basketball of the season.

“I thought our guys really came together tonight,” Boyle said (h/t CUBuffs.com). “I told them for the last two days that now is the time to go get a road win — and they went out and did it. They played with great toughness, overcame some adversity early and were really dialed in.”

Colorado will be at Washington State on Saturday for a 3 p.m. MT tip (Pac-12 Network).

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Colorado men’s basketball 2023-24 player profile: J’Vonne Hadley

Winning teams typically have a player like J’Vonne Hadley on their side

The Colorado Buffaloes have star players on this year’s squad. But if a team wants to accomplish something special, it needs players who are willing to do the little things, and CU has a great one in Swiss Army knife J’Vonne Hadley.

Hadley made his way to CU via Indian Hills Community College and made an immediate impact last season, earning a starting spot and becoming a fan favorite because of his gritty play style. While listed at 6-foot-6, he regularly guarded opposing post players and battled for every loose ball that hit the court.

Keep reading for more on Hadley:

CU men’s basketball below full strength early in preseason camp

Tad Boyle’s squad began preseason camp on Monday with a few key players looking to get healthy

With as much attention as the Colorado football team is currently drawing, the Buffs men’s basketball team should draw plenty of eyeballs as well in their upcoming 2023-2024 season.

Top prospect and projected NBA lottery pick Cody Williams is a huge reason why, and head coach Tad Boyle is trying to do whatever it takes to make the NCAA Tournament.

The Buffs, however, held their first preseason practice on Monday without a few prominent names, per Nikki Edwards of CU Sports Report.

J’Vonne Hadley is dealing with an illness but should be back later in the week. KJ Simpson, who should be one of the Pac-12’s top point guards this season, has an ankle injury and Eddie Lampkin Jr., a center who transferred in from TCU, has a back injury that is going to keep him out for some time.

None of that is good news, although the situations with Hadley and Simpson are temporary and Lampkin is expected to be ready when the season begins.

As training camp continues, it will be interesting to see if the Buffs can stay healthy heading into the season, especially with high expectations.

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CU Buffs men’s basketball 2022-23 season in review

We put the 22-23 CU men’s basketball season under the microscope

The 2022-23 season was a rare downturn for Colorado in the Tad Boyle era. But with another year of experience and a big recruiting class, the Buffaloes have the weapons to make a big turnaround in 2023-24. As the old saying goes, sometimes you have to look back in order to move forward. So what can we learn from this past season?

The closest comp has to be the 2014-15 season. CU had a nearly identical overall record, Pac-12 record, points per game and points against that season. The Buffs had just lost an all-time great to the NBA in Spencer Dinwiddie and relied on a young group, much like CU did this year. CU would rattle off 20-win campaigns in five of the next eight seasons with a 19-win season in that stretch as well.

Check out our season in review for the 2022-23 Colorado Buffaloes men’s basketball team:

J’Vonne Hadley impresses in CU Buffs’ season-opening win over UC Riverside

J’Vonne Hadley provided a big spark for Colorado in its first win of 2022-23

Most of the talk surrounding Colorado men’s basketball this offseason was centered around the returns of Tristan da Silva and KJ Simpson.

In the background, though, was J’Vonne Hadley preparing for his first season in Boulder. He’d had an impressive offseason of his own, but how would the JUCO product fit in when he actually hit the floor in the Pac-12 Conference?

The pride of Indian Hills Community College and the former Northeastern Huskie reserve fit in just fine. A standout, in truth. Hadley scored a team-high 16 points on 6-of-12 shooting for the Buffs in their 82-66 win over UC Riverside Monday in their season opener.

But it was more than that for the Minnesota native. He tallied nine rebounds and three assists as well, showing the proper patience and ability to see and make the right play, and flustered he was not. Beyond that, he was extremely active defensively, getting one steal and a block.

Additionally, he provided well-timed help for the Buffaloes on defense, playing a large part in stymying UC Riverside’s duo of Zyon Pullin and Flynn Cameron. Cameron improved in the second half, but by then it was far too late for the Highlanders to make a legitimate comeback.

Colorado’s starting five in large part played well, but it was Hadley pulling the strings during a strong Buffs effort.

“Right out of the gate, we had a lot of energy,” Hadley said. “We knew that our head coach is always emphasizing we were 0-0 being out there. We had the Wyoming and Nebraska scrimmages, but this is our biggest one yet.”

If Hadley can continue this level of production, it will provide another element for the rest of the Pac-12 to keep an eye on aside from da Silva and Simpson — and it could even elevate Colorado to the upper echelon of the conference.

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How Colorado men’s basketball assistant Mike Rohn found a steal in J’Vonne Hadley

The Buffs typically don’t recruit JUCO players, but J’Vonne Hadley is a worthwhile exception

The Colorado Buffaloes men’s basketball team watched a flurry of players leave in the offseason: Jabari Walker, Evan Battey, Elijah Parquet and Keeshawn Barthelemy, most notably.

Another significant loss was Bobi Klintman, who ended up leaving Boulder due to academic issues. Those losses all hurt Tad Boyle’s team, but they were able to land J’Vonne Hadley on a junior college transfer.

With the 2022-2023 season approaching for the Buffs, it has been Hadley who is giving this team a surprising spark, and all the credit goes to assistant coach Mike Rohn (h/t Pat Rooney of BuffZone):

“Kudos to Mike Rohn. We had a little bit of a curveball thrown at us with the recruitment of Bobi Klintman last spring,” Boyle said. “When that went south, we were in desperate need of a big guy. Especially with Jabari (Walker’s) decision to leave for the NBA, we knew we had to sign a good, quality big. We thought we had that with Bobi.

“When that didn’t happen coach Rohn, who is the ultimate grinder in recruiting, said he let this kid (Hadley) know if we had an opening in the spring, we’re going to be interested. And we did. He was still available, and we got a hell of a player.”

With Boyle saying that the Buffs could come out of the gates struggling a bit, Hadley has a perfect opportunity to emerge and earn some quality minutes.

The former JUCO transfer loves what he is seeing in Boulder thus far, too.

“Ever since I got here me and Steve (Englehart, CU’s strength coach) have been working every day. I grew a little bit. I can see my body transforming, and that was kind of the goal as I made my decision here. His program that he puts us through is outstanding.”

If Hadley continues to develop, he could end up being a steal of the offseason and a blossoming piece for Boyle’s squad this season.

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JUCO guard J’Vonne Hadley transfers to CU men’s basketball

The Buffs got themselves a JUCO guard

It’s always great to see a junior college player achieve their Division I dreams. Colorado men’s basketball hasn’t had many JUCO players transfer into the program in recent years but on Monday, Indian Hills Community College guard J’Vonne Hadley announced his commitment to the Buffs.

Hadley, who spent his freshman season at Northeastern in 2020-21, averaged 10.9 points last season and led the Warriors with 6.2 rebounds per game.

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Here is what Tad Boyle had to say about the acquisition (h/t Pat Rooney of BuffZone):

“We don’t make a habit of recruiting junior college players. But the four (year school)-two-four kids, which is what J’Vonne is, he was a qualifier out of high school. He’s not your typical junior college player, or junior college student. It just felt like he fit exactly what we need.

“(Hadley) is probably a little undersized in terms of playing inside. But he can rebound the ball. He can rebound the ball. He can score in a lot of different ways. He’s a defensive guy who can guard multiple positions with that 6-foot-6 size. With Bobi Klintman and that situation that went down, we felt like we needed somebody who could come in and play right away, especially with Jabari still up in the air.”

Hadley’s former head coach Hank Plona at Indian Hills also shared his admiration for Hadley:

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