Buffs' Battey Vows To Make Most Of Redshirt Year
October 26, 2017 | Men's Basketball, Neill Woelk
BOULDER — Colorado freshman Evan Battey is no doubt disappointed that he will be required to take an NCAA-mandated academic redshirt this season.
But Battey has vowed to not only make the most out of his redshirt year on a personal level, but also to do everything in his power to help his teammates in every way possible.
"I know I can help this team off the floor better than anyone else in the entire country because I had experience doing it last year," Battey said Thursday morning, just after CU head coach Tad Boyle made the announcement. "One thing the Navy SEALS taught us (at a clinic this year), when stuff gets rough, focus on the team. When stuff's rough for me, I'm not considering it rough because I'm focused on those guys. There's no better person to fill this role than me."
Indeed, Battey has experience in such a role.
Battey must sit this year out, per the NCAA, because he repeated the ninth grade, in part due to what Boyle called "personal and family issues." He did not play basketball that year, as his mother insisted that he focus on academic responsibilities.
Since then, Battey has performed well in the classroom. "He got back on track," Boyle said.
But because he repeated ninth grade, he was ruled ineligible to compete as a high school senior in California — and he thus sat last season out, practicing with his team every day but not playing.
Now, those circumstances have affected Battey's NCAA eligibility, and he must spend another year following the same routine after the NCAA rejected a waiver request from Colorado to allow him to play this year.
"I'm still having to pay for setbacks from when I was 12 and 13 years old, as a 19-year-old today," Battey said. "It's also unfortunate that I got punished last year and I'm again being punished this year. But I'll take it with a grain of salt, learn from it and move on, and be there for my teammates."
The NCAA's denial of CU's waiver request clearly angered Boyle.
"I'm extremely disappointed," Boyle said. "It's a little bit ironic to me with all the things that are going on with college basketball ... North Carolina academic scandal, they lawyer up and fight the NCAA for two years and they win on a technicality. They get off scot free. There's an FBI investigation going on, there's been four assistant coaches that have been arrested by the FBI. As of today, nothing has happened to those four schools. No ramifications for those sorts of things. … (But) Evan Battey gets punished."
But, Boyle said, he is also not worried about Battey's state of mind. Mature beyond his years, Battey appeared to take the latest setback in stride.
"He's taken it like a man," Boyle said. "He's known it's a possibility. We've known for a couple months now that this was a distinct possibility. He's going to be fine. He's going to make lemonade out of lemons. I'm probably more disappointed than he is."
Battey, extremely quick and agile for a man his size, said he will use his redshirt year to continue to refine his body, something he's been working on since his arrival.
"I get to get my body right, get my body together, get more in shape for next year," he said. ""Last year I practiced with the high school team every day. But the difference in this year is I get this year back. I get my freshman year back. I get my four years of eligibility. … I'm looking forward to focusing on physical betterness, verticality, slimming down, overall just physical attributes improving."
Battey would have no doubt added some depth and power up front this year, but the Buffs still have three capable players there in senior Tory Miller-Stewart, sophomore Lucas Siewert and redshirt freshman Dallas Walton.
"He's going to get better in practice," Boyle said. "He already has since he's been here. The learning curve's going to be good. The silver lining is we get to be around Evan Battey for five years rather than four. I'll take that any day of the week. I love the kid, he's going to make the most of it. He's going to have a great redshirt year and we get him for four years after that. That is a silver lining."
OPEN SCRIMMAGE: The Buffs will host an open Black and Gold scrimmage Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. at the Coors Events Center. Tailgating fans and those arriving for the Colorado-California football game (noon, Folsom Field) are invited to stop by and watch the Buffaloes scrimmage as they finalize preparations for their exhibition game on Monday. Colorado will host Colorado Mines at 7 p.m. on Oct. 30.
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu
