BARTHELEMY ADDS VERSATILITY,
Montreal native adding another element to Buffs’ backcourt
Mckinley Wright IV averaged 34.9 minutes per game last season for the Colorado men’s basketball team. That number inched up to 35.8 in Pac-12 play and, down the stretch, Wright played fewer than 34 minutes just once over the final 16 games of 2019-20.
That didn’t leave much time for things to fall apart for the Buffaloes whenever their floor general wasn’t in the game. Yet it usually fell apart without Wright anyway.
This season, the Buffs have a legitimate secondary option at point guard in redshirt freshman Keeshawn Barthelemy. Wright again is certain to play big minutes as a senior this season, yet Barthelemy’s ability to run the point and also play alongside Wright will, if the plan comes to fruition, take some of the overall pressure off CU’S leading scorer and play-maker.
“Keeshawn, one of the things I love about him is his ability in the open floor,” Boyle said. “He’s got different gears. He can get from point A to point B very quickly. Probably faster than any player on our team. If we can get him in space, in transition, he’s a dynamic player. And he can make plays for himself as well as for teammates. We just have to get him playing off two feet, not charging, and play under control. But Keeshawn is going to be a big key for this team.”
Shane Gatling, Eli Parquet, and Daylen Kountz each had opportunities to spell Wright at various times last season, and none of them did so efficiently. In their defense, none of those three players could be described as natural point guards. That won’t be the case this season with the 6-foot-2 Barthelemy in the
mix, and the Montreal native has an entire season of practice time alongside Wright to build upon.
“Practicing alongside (Wright) has been great for me, just learning from a great point guard in college basketball,” Barthelemy said. “Playing alongside him will be great for our team. We’ll play uptempo and just run with the guys. It will be fun.
“I still play with the same energy I had last year. It’s just this year I get to play. It’s been competitive so far in practice. With the new guys coming in it’s more fun. I have some freshmen with me. We’ve started to bond.”
MTES scuttled
Boyle has spoken several times about the hurdles of arranging a nonconference schedule amid COVID-19 concerns, and those challenges were on full display Monday. As first reported by The Athletic, ESPN has abandoned its plans to host all 10 of the multi-team events it owns in an NBAlike bubble in Orlando on the opening weekend of the season.
The network reportedly is hoping to salvage two of those events — the Jimmy V Classic and the Champions Classic — at another location. Even if those events unfold, Monday’s news leaves marquee teams like Texas Tech, Florida State, and Virginia, in addition to a number of mid-major programs, scrambling to fill multiple games less than one month before the Nov. 25 season tipoff.
Stressful summer
Barthelemy endured a few stressful moments over the summer in regard to his student visa at CU. Not only has the Us-canada border been closed to non-essential travel since late March, but in July the Trump administration threatened to rescind student visas for all international students whose schools were reverting to online-only course instruction. The rule was quickly rescinded, and Barthelemy’s status with the Buffs never grew tenuous, but the situation nevertheless forced Barthelemy’s pulse to quicken a few times.
“That was stressful times. From May to July I was just wondering what was going to happen,” Barthelemy said. “As soon as I got the call that I would be able to come back, it was great. I got here and it’s been worth every single day since then. I’m happy to be here.”