Bangot Dak has not yet played the first game of his third season with the Colorado men’s basketball team. Yet his Buffaloes career already has run the gamut.
Two years ago, Dak was a late signee for a team that shook off a spate of injuries to turn in one of the more memorable seasons in program history, winning a pair of games at the NCAA Tournament before sending three players — Cody Williams, Tristan da Silva and KJ Simpson — into the NBA Draft.
Dak embraced a bigger role on the floor last year, but he had to embrace adversity as well, as the Buffs finished with their worst record (14-21) in 15 seasons under head coach Tad Boyle.
Dak is back, but he is one of the few. As Colorado hosted its annual winter sports media day on Monday, Boyle took the stage to discuss the 2025-26 Buffs, most of whom played no role in a forgettable season that included an 0-13 start in Big 12 play that marked the second-longest losing streak in team history.
Ten CU players have yet to play a single minute of basketball for the Buffs. That group includes seven freshmen, and inexperience is going to be an inevitable hurdle. But CU is bigger, deeper, and far more versatile than the group that finished last in the Big 12.
“I like this team. I like the talent level that we have,” Boyle said. “We’ve got great length. We’ve got great explosiveness. We can shoot the ball. I think we can be a good defensive team. We’re certainly not there yet. A lot of different weapons. I like the depth. It’s going to be a work in progress, though.
“I know on Nov. 3, when we tip it off against Montana State we will not be in midseason form. But we’ll hopefully be a heck of a lot better than we are today.”
Monday’s event marked the midpoint of the preseason for the Buffs — three weeks removed from the start of practice, and three weeks away from the opening date against Montana State. While he still is battling his way back to 100% after offseason knee surgery, Dak, the Buffs’ longest-tenured player, has attempted to expand his role as a team leader, particularly given his experience as a young player on CU’s last NCAA Tournament team.
“I’d say the characteristics of this team is a little underdog-like, but we all know the big picture,” Dak said. “I feel like physicality-wise, we’ve got the roster set up. I feel like we’ll be able to compete in the Big 12.
“For me personally, I feel like I’ve just got to take a big role in leading. Last year, I feel like we didn’t have a real leader. My freshman year, I feel like KJ Simpson, regardless how he played, Tristan da Silva, regardless of how he played, we knew the message that they were giving us. I feel like last year we didn’t have that guy that can give us that message night in and night out. I feel like that’s something I want to do this year.”
In addition to the seven-player freshman class, the Buffs added UC Riverside transfer Barrington Hargress, likely to be CU’s new lead point guard, as well as Denver transfer Jon Mani. Certainly a number of preseason question marks need to be answered — like who will play leading roles on the glass and along the 3-point line — but Boyle is grateful for the jump-start the Buffs’ summer exhibition trip through Australia provided for a team still learning to play together.
“Without that (trip), I’d hate to think about where we would be with the youth and the inexperience that we have,” Boyle said. “But being around young people and those youthful guys (that) bring a lot of energy every day, which gives me energy. We’ve got to feed off each other.”
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