Boyle Stressing 'Sense Of Urgency' In Buffs' Summer Workouts

BOULDER — With nine players on the roster who have never played a minute for the Colorado Buffaloes, this summer's trip to Italy and accompanying practices couldn't have come at a better time for Tad Boyle's Buffs.

The extra 10 practices allowed to prepare for the trip should prove to be invaluable for Boyle's team as springboard into the 2017-18 season.

Boyle isn't expecting the Buffs to look like a crisp, well-seasoned team when they play their four games in Italy. But he does believe the time together this summer will be a huge boost when it comes to establishing the foundational tenets of the program.

"We're not going to be great in Italy," Boyle said after Sunday morning's practice, the second of eight the Buffs will have this week before departing for Italy. "I just want to get better. I want them to understand that it's about establishing a culture and a mentality on defense, every day getting better."

Boyle is welcoming five scholarship freshmen and one freshman walkon to the team this year. Along with the six newcomers, three Buffs on the roster last year — redshirt freshmen Dallas Walton and Alexander Strating, plus transfer Namon Wright — have yet to play in a game in Buffs uniform.

"The whole experience of this foreign trip will be a big help," said Buffs senior George King. "Those guys will get some reps, some time on the floor and get familiar with what we do. That way when November rolls around, they'll have something under their belts. It's also a great team chemistry builder."

While the practices may be in August and the first game that counts isn't until November, the attitude in the summer practices has had all the atmosphere of a midseason workout.

"My thing is understanding a sense of urgency, that when you step on a college basketball floor it's the real deal," Boyle said. "You can't just walk out and beat people with talent, especially with the league we play in. Having a sense of urgency on the offensive end and defensive end of what needs to be done and then going out and doing it."

The Buffs have six workouts remaining until they depart for Italy on Aug. 14, where they will play four games against Lithuanian and Italian teams, while also getting in some sightseeing and cultural activities.

Boyle plans to make the most of the time the Buffs have remaining in Boulder.

"We've got six (practices) left," he said. "We'll probably do some two-a-days at some point next week just to get more reps in. We have so many new faces and so many new guys that are just trying to learn what we expect and what we want. We were much better today than we were yesterday and I expect us to be better tomorrow. Just keep getting better."

CONDITIONING WORK: Boyle is less than pleased with the condition of many of his players, indicating they may not have kept up a strict conditioning regimen in their time off between their June practices and now.

"There's one thing I'm disappointed in, our guys did not come back in great shape," Boyle said. "But we have a solution for that. You can't play this game the way we want to play it if you're not physically in tip-top shape. We're not there yet, but we're working in that direction."

STRONGER WALTON A RIM PROTECTOR: Redshirt freshman Dallas Walton had a couple of big blocks in Sunday's scrimmage session, something Boyle is pleased to see from his 7-footer. Walton has added about 20 pounds of muscle to his frame since arriving at CU last summer.

""He was a legitimate rim protector in practice today once we started scrimmaging at the end," Boyle said. "Dallas has had a really good summer, he's worked extremely hard in the weight room and I know he's excited to step on floor and see what he can do."

Walton, who suffered a pair of ACL tears as a junior, is now so confident in his newfound strength that he no longer is wearing knee braces and he's quickly becoming a defensive presence.

"That's always been my role, no matter what team I'm on," Walton said. "At 7-foot with like a 7-5, 7-6 wingspan, you have to be that rim protector for the team so if somebody makes a mistake on defense, they can rely on you and have the trust of the team that I'm going to block it."

BUFFS NOTES: The Buffs have added freshman walkon AJ Martinka to the roster. Martinka played high school ball in Stanwood, Wash. … Maryland coach Mark Turgeon and a former Kansas teammate, Chris Piper, paid a visit to Sunday's practice. Turgeon and Boyle were also teammates at KU, and Boyle later coached with Turgeon at Oregon, Jacksonville State and Wichita State before Boyle took his first college head coaching job at Northern Colorado.

Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu