Bzdelik doesn't sweat attrition

CU's 'cultural change' regarding academics seen as positive step

By B.G. Brooks, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Instead of a detriment, coach Jeff Bzdelik believes the attrition in his University of Colorado men's basketball program sends a positive signal about being recruited by the Buffaloes.

Bzdelik said a "cultural change" is under way at CU and parents and high school coaches "know we're not giving lip service" when he talks of players being held to high academic standards and there being no compromise in maintaining eligibility.

Since Bzdelik's arrival a year ago, six scholarship players have left CU, with a seventh contemplating a transfer. Sophomore Jeremy Williams has returned to Memphis, Tenn., to discuss his future with his parents.

Bzdelik said the 6-foot-7 forward is ineligible and would have to raise his grade-point average during the summer to return. Williams redshirted last season to concentrate on restoring his eligibility.

"We have extended ourselves to him, to continue to work with him the best we can to see if we can get it right, academically," Bzdelik said, adding he has "no answer" about when to expect Williams' decision and to his knowledge the player "never officially asked" for his release.

In a wide-ranging interview Thursday, Bzdelik, who recently returned from Australia and New Zealand, said CU hopes to benefit from recruiting abroad. Thanks to a relationship established by assistant coach Derrick Clark, who played professionally in Australia, CU already lists one Australian recruit, point guard Nater Tomlinson, among five incoming freshmen.

But Bzdelik believes the surface Down Under barely has been scratched and CU's recent lack of success is no deterrent to recruiting abroad.

"International players are oblivious to tradition," he said, noting it's more important for prospects' parents to "feel comfortable (with coaches) when their sons are 10,000 miles away."

A Sydney native who played at Lee's Academy in Maine last season, Tomlinson will join CU signees Austin Dufault, Trey Eckloff, Toby Veal and Ryan Kelley. Bzdelik said all are academically qualified, and two open scholarships could be held until fall.

Among the other topics discussed:

* Plans for constructing a basketball practice facility are "several months ahead," Bzdelik said. The men's and women's offices already have been moved to the Coors Events Center and locker rooms are in the final stages of renovation. Also, a new court is scheduled for the events center, with a weight-training room still in the planning stages.

* CU's 2008-09 nonconference schedule will include home games against Harvard, Lafayette, Montana State, Colorado State and Texas Christian, with trips to Stanford and Southern Methodist. CU will also play in the Rainbow Classic.

* Bzdelik wants to play Colorado State, Wyoming and Denver in alternate years but not his former school, Air Force, because of his close friendship with Falcons coach Jeff Reynolds.

* In Australia, Bzdelik encountered Tony Bennett of Washington State, a school Bzdelik holds up as a model for what can be done at CU.

"(Bennett) said his dad stayed the course and took a lot of bullets for him," Bzdelik said, referring to former Cougars coach Dick Bennett, who was succeeded by his son.

• May 15, 2008

  3:13 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  LingLingfor_prez writes:

  Love the headline, now my head is cloudy. I wonder if my future is cloudy too.

• May 15, 2008

  3:30 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  Fishbear writes:

  This isn't news.