The Colorado Buffaloes’ championship hopes received a tremendous boost on Wednesday, as First-Team All-Pac-12 forward Tristan da Silva announced he would be drawing from NBA Draft consideration to return to CU for his senior season.
Da Silva will use this opportunity to help bolster his draft stock for 2024, when he hopes to launch his NBA career.
“The experience has been really good, but I still feel like I can be in a way better spot next year than I am now,” Da Silva said, via ESPN’s Jonathan Givony. “I would rather go back for another year to improve my stock and get higher onto NBA boards and work myself up to being a first-round draft pick instead of settling this year.”
Retaining Tristan da Silva, who was the team’s foremost leader along with being their primary scoring threat, makes the Buffs considerably more fierce, as they now have the established talent to pair with their drool-worthy incoming recruiting class.
Da Silva should pair with Cody Williams (who ranks anywhere between being the nation’s best player and the No. 7 best player, depending on the ranking service you prefer), and TCU transfer Eddie Lampkin Jr. to form one of the conference’s most potent frontcourts.
“The numbers are important, but for us as a team, it’s really important to string some wins together,” Da Silva told ESPN. “My position is being a leader and making sure we actually live up to the expectations we’ve set for ourselves.”
With so many of last season’s key contributors set to return for the CU Buffs, and so much incoming talent joining the roster, 2023-2024 projects to be one of the best seasons in the history of the program.
