BOULDER – Throughout her eight years as head coach of Colorado women's basketball, JR Payne has built. Little by little, her staff constructed a bottom-feeder of the Pac-12 into an NCAA Tournament mainstay, with three straight March Madness appearances and back-to-back trips to the Sweet 16 in the past two seasons.
Despite this success, modern elements of college sports now pose a unique challenge as the page turns to year nine of Payne's tenure.
Heading into a new era in the Big 12 conference, just four players remain (one of whom redshirted) from a 2023 team that ranked as high as No. 3 in Associated Press polls and had a 20-3 record until a mid-February slump. Their sustained winning in a brutally difficult conference and sharp talent development has not been very attractive to those that entered the transfer portal this past offseason. In fact, the opposite became the case.
Nine players from last year's squad, many of whom were underclassmen, entered the portal as early as just three days following CU's Sweet 16 loss to Iowa on March 30. Those that departed from the Buffaloes to head elsewhere include:
Aaronette Vonleh – Baylor
Tameiya Sadler – Ole Miss
Brianna McLeod – Southern Methodist University
Mikayla Johnson – Pittsburgh
Jadyn Atchison – Old Dominion
Shelomi Sanders – Alabama A&M
Saulele Tanuvasa (redshirted) – USC Upstate
Ruthie Loomis-Goltl (redshirted) – South Dakota
Vonleh can comfortably be considered the toughest loss of this bunch for her All-Pac-12 level of production, but losses such as McLeod and Johnson, who appeared to be on a firm upward trajectory into the Buffs' rotation, cannot be discounted.
The reasons for these departures may vary, but one thing remains the same: college sports is in an era of enormous change, for better or for worse. Colorado's struggle for NIL (name, image, and likeness) funding compared to more established programs, especially when squeezed into the budget alongside the Deion "Coach Prime" Sanders-centric football team, hurt the Buffaloes massively in this spring's transfer cycle.
To their credit, CU went big game hunting. Former Oregon State guard Talia von Oefhoffen took an official visit to Boulder and had the black and gold as one of her four transfer finalists. Her Beaver teammate and Littleton native, Raegan Beers, also was rumored to have the Buffs on her radar. Unfortunately for Colorado, both two-time All-Pac-12 honorees went with more historic programs in USC and Oklahoma, respectively.
Missing out on their high-profile choices periodically left the Buffaloes in a bit of no man's land, not only having to replace the nine transfers out, but also the five other graduates that included vocal leaders and savvy veterans in Jaylyn Sherrod and Quay Miller.
However, the players CU have managed to bring in this offseason are solid foundational pieces for what will feel like a much different team on the court, though not so different off of it.
"While very difficult, it also is very exciting," coach Payne told BuffZone in May of the offseason. "We’ve worked really hard to find not just the right players ... but making sure that we’re recruiting the type of people that want to contribute to a meaningful environment."
Former Iowa State forward Nyamer Diew was the first to commit of the Buffs' six new faces from the transfer portal fans will get to know in 2024. The versatile fifth-year senior spent her freshman campaign at Butler before finding a rock-solid role with the Cyclones and aiding their run to the Big 12 Championship game last season.
Diew has never been a player to fill stat sheets (5.7 points and 3.3 rebounds per game for her career) but has also never been afraid to do the dirty work. She seems poised to fit right into coach Payne's team-first mantras, as well as bringing three years of Big 12 experience.
The same can be said regarding time in the Big 12 for Lior Garzon. The 6-foot-1 wing spent two seasons and was an All-Big East selection with Villanova before transferring to Oklahoma State following a sophomore season in which she averaged 13.1 points per game. CU's first Israeli player in program history brings sharp shooting (41% from 3 in 2022-23) to possibly help fill the void left by Maddie Nolan's graduation.
With both Diew and Garzon in their final years of eligibility, though, an influx of youth also felt necessary. CU got that, along with much-needed size in Jade Masogayo.
A former Missouri State Bear, Masogayo dropped into a barren room of bigs on May 2 that had lost the likes of Miller, Vonleh, McLeod and Charlotte Whittaker in the previous month of the offseason. However, the 2022-23 Missouri Valley Conference Freshman of the Year has a unique arsenal and fits an athletic profile the Buffs direly needed.
"We have always loved Jade’s game and believe that her athleticism and skillset can really translate at this level," Payne said in a press release following her signing. "We will definitely love to have Jade’s length on the court and know that she can impact both the offensive and defensive ends of the floor."
While the 6-foot-3 incoming junior will bring 8.2 points, 4.9 rebounds, about a steal and a block per game to Boulder, CU also nabbed two relatively unproven talents at the collegiate level, Emilia "JoJo" Nworie, and Ayianna Johnson, to fill their other frontcourt gaps.
Nworie has yet to play at the NCAA level after being signed by Texas Tech in 2022, though she was the nation's top-rated junior college prospect at the College of Southern Idaho. The 6-foot-5 native of Nigeria failed to see the floor due to a blood clot issue her first year and an ACL tear last year. If she can overcome her health concerns, the tallest CU player since the 2017-18 season could provide critical energy to the retooled roster.
Meanwhile, Johnson brings 31 games of experience to the table from the Minnesota Golden Gophers along with a powerful 6-foot-3 frame of her own. As a freshman, she averaged 3.1 points in 10.3 minutes per game on 55% shooting. She was also a multisport athlete before college, becoming a two-time track and field state champion in high school.
Lastly, Johanna Teder packs a dynamic punch to a guard room still in dire straits for shot creation and a high-octane scorer. Over three seasons at Washington State, the Estonian averaged 8.4 points per game with a formidable 3-point shot (33.6% for her career) before missing 2023-24 due to injury.
Colorado's high school recruiting has been nothing to slouch at as well, filling up several more scholarship spots through the international front that could see action sooner rather than later.
Tabitha Betson passed up offers from USC, Maryland, Syracuse and others to commit to the Buffs in 2023. The four-star forward out of Melbourne, Australia could certainly find herself in the rotation this upcoming season, receiving notable buzz at DME Academy, a sports development institution in Florida similar to IMG Academy.
Perhaps the future could be the brightest in the backcourt. While Kindyll Wetta and Frida Formann will lead the charge one final time this season, Grace Oliver, Lova Lagerlid, Erin Powell and redshirt freshman Kennedy Sanders are multifaceted four-star talents with high upside well on their way.
All this portaling, recruiting and rebuilding leaves Colorado with five freshmen on their roster, eight international players and yet just three rotational returners from last season. Wetta, Formann and Sara-Rose Smith will carry a heavy burden not just within the X's and O's, but in helping the fresh mix of talent adjust together and generating competitive basketball.
"It’s gonna be such a different team," Payne mentioned to Buffzone. "But I also think we’re going to surprise a lot of people."
The Buffs pushed all their chips to the middle of the table for their last season in the Pac-12, and while the vast majority of the old guard is now gone after an unforgettable campaign and ongoing transition into the Big 12, the foundation has still been set for CU to overachieve and succeed as they have so many times before.
While their expectations may have been adjusted down a few pegs, all Payne has to do is keep building.
Cover photo by Roberto Patrick Gerra/Sko Buffs Sports
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