Changes are coming, but foundation set for CU Buffs women’s basketball – BuffZone
ALBANY, N.Y. – Certainly, the season did not end the way the Colorado women’s basketball had hoped it would.
Anything short of a national title would have been disappointing for a team that believed it could win every time it stepped on the court. In the wake of Saturday’s 89-68 loss to Iowa in the Sweet 16, however, CU head coach JR Payne was quick to point out the good that her team has done.
“I would just like to start by saying how unbelievably proud of our team that I am for the season that we had and for the women that they are and for the leaders that they are and the way that they contribute not only to our basketball program but to our community,” Payne said. “I’m so proud to be their coach, proud of everything that they’ve accomplished on and off the court. As I told them, it was an incredible season that was not defined by this one game.
“Really proud of the season that we had and excited to see what some of these seniors are going to do and excited for where our program is headed.”
What the Buffs (24-10) accomplished on the court was impressive, not only this year, but over the last three seasons.
Seven players on this year’s roster were a part of a three-year run in which the Buffs went 71-28 (.717 winning percentage) and went to three consecutive NCAA tournaments and two consecutive Sweet 16s.
CU had not won as many as 71 games in a three-year period since 1995-97, had not been to three consecutive NCAA tournaments since a four-year run from 2001-04 and hadn’t been to the Sweet 16 since 2003.
During CU’s first 10 seasons in the Pac-12 (2011-12 to 2020-21), it had more last-place finishes (two) than NCAA Tournament appearances (one). In its last three years, CU was one of the best teams in the Pac-12.
Before this year’s NCAA Tournament began, BuffZone asked senior guard Jaylyn Sherrod if the tournament would define her career.
“I’m not hanging my head, no matter what,” she said. “I came here and I did what I said I was going to do. … At the end of the day, I said I was coming here to change the culture and be a part of something better and leave it better than how I found it, and I can legitimately say that. If I came here and said I was gonna win a national championship, I would have a different conversation with you. The natty wasn’t even in their thought process when I come here at 17. It was winning a conference game.”
Sherrod and the Buffs won a lot of conference games – and four NCAA Tournament games – in the last three years.
Now, CU looks ahead to a new era.
Three starters – Sherrod, Quay Miller and Maddie Nolan – played their final college games on Saturday. Charlotte Whittaker and Sophie Gerber are also seniors who played their final games.
Guard Tameiya Sadler was a senior and has one year of eligibility remaining because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but she went through senior day festivities on March 2 and hasn’t announced her plans for next year. And, in the transfer portal era, there’s sure to be other changes coming.
The Buffs will have a much different roster next year and they will also leave the Pac-12 for the Big 12 this summer.
With so many unknowns for 2024-25, it’s difficult to forecast another Sweet 16 appearance for the Buffs, but Payne is happy with the foundation laid by the current group.
“I think what we’ve established, it’s not just the coaches or the staff,” she said last week. “I keep talking about our upperclassmen, but they came here when we were not good and they knew we were not good. We talked to them about the amount of work it would take daily to get better and to achieve what we wanted to achieve. They signed up for that and wanted that.
“So I think the culture of our program is very, very strong. … I think if you can continue to recruit great players that want that and will buy into that and believe in a system, believe in unselfish play and things like that then I think the sky’s the limit. I think we can keep getting better every year.
“I think if you have the right people in place, nothing can stop us.”
