The Colorado men’s basketball team announced Thursday afternoon senior small forward Xavier Johnson has suffered a tear to his left Achilles tendon, and will miss part if not all of the upcoming season.
In a report released by the men’s team on Thursday, head coach Tad Boyle expressed his concern for Johnson but reassured fans that his surgery last week went well and that they weren’t about to count him out just yet.
“The entire Buffalo basketball family is disappointed with this injury, especially for Xavier, who has meant so much to our program through the last three years,” Boyle said. “(His) surgery went well and we’re expecting a full, and hopefully a speedy recovery. We’re not putting a time-table on anything; we’re looking forward to helping Xavier through this process and getting him back healthy, and help this program win more games.”
This will certainly be a big blow for the Buffaloes, who relied on Johnson to score 10.3 points per game and grabbed 5.6 rebounds last year. Perhaps Johnson’s greatest contributing skill was his ability to shoot from the three-point range, where he shot 36.7 percent his junior season. Downtown shooting was undoubtedly one of the Buffaloes’ biggest weaknesses last year, and Johnson helped to fill that void.
But fret not, CU fans, these Buffalo boys are a hardy bunch. Whether or not Johnson will see playing time this year will be irrelevant as far as three-point shooting goes.
After sitting out the previous season per NCAA transfer rules, junior guard Josh Fortune—who joined the Buffs after leaving Providence—will finally be seeing some court time in a black and gold jersey during the upcoming season. During his sophomore season with the Friars, he averaged 8.4 points and 2.1 assists per game. And guess what—he shot 35 percent from behind the arc. Fortune will definitely be on Colorado’s side.
They’ll also be getting some foreign aid from the likes of Thomas Akyazili of Belgium and Kenan Guzonjic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Both have a little experience making the threes.
According to his scouting report in ESPN Insider, “Akyazali is a shooting guard that also can help at the point. He is an excellent shooter mostly off the catch on spots ups or coming off screening acting preferably pin downs. He is deceptive athlete, good ball handler and passer. Akyazali has a pretty good all around perimeter game.”
Guzonjic, who will be coming in as a sophomore from Midland Junior College, also has the knack to attack from downtown. According to Colorado’s own scouting report, he can not only help in that area of Colorado’s game, but also has the talent to bring some firepower to the low post.
Additionally, George King will be returning after decidedly sitting out his true sophomore season to sharpen his skills. During his freshman season with the Buffaloes, King only averaged 1.5 points and 1.5 rebounds. While those stats may not get you too excited, don’t count out King just yet.
As one of the CU Independent’s men’s basketball beat writers, I observed a number of practices and watched King improve his game more and more as his off-year progressed. And after watching him overcome various hurdles, I can honestly say he looks ready to come back and add to CU’s depth as he makes smarter basketball plays, both on defense and offense.
Will Colorado miss Johnson’s presence on the court throughout the upcoming season? Without a doubt. But as for the rest of this team, it’s not over until the fat lady sings.
Contact CU Independent Assistant Sports Editor Alissa Noe at Alissa.noe@colorado.edu and follow her on twitter at @crazysportgirl1.
