There’s been so much anticipation for the upcoming Colorado Buffaloes basketball season, as Tad Boyle managed to lose almost none of the team’s contributors while adding some of the nation’s most elite freshman talent to the squad and snagging some intriguing transfers. That excitement took a sizable hit following the news that CU will be without Javon Ruffin for the entirety of the 2023-24 season.

After suffering a setback with his knee following his third procedure on the limb, back in April, Ruffin will officially miss all of next season.

Javon Ruffin joined the Buffs as the fourth-highest-rated member of their 2021 recruiting class — a class that also featured Lawson Lovering, K.J. Simpson, Quincy Allen and Julian Hammond — but was prevented from carving out a role for himself as knee issues hampered the start to his collegiate career.

He redshirted his freshman season with a dislocated kneecap that required surgery to fix some cartilage damage, and as he tried to return late in the year, he was met by a setback that required yet another surgery. Ruffin finally made his debut in 2022, where he became an immediate sparkplug off the bench for CU.

Javon Ruffin averaged 6.0 points on 14.7 minutes per night and even managed to start two games, as he immediately took over Quincy Allen’s place in the rotation — leading to Allen’s transfer this offseason — but unfortunately, Ruffin’s knee issues began to crop back up again in January, and he was sidelined once more.

Now, fans of the Colorado Buffaloes will have to wait until 2024 to get Ruffin’s help in the rotation, which could be painful, considering how much high-end talent is likely to leave after the 2023 run.

“It sucks. I just love playing basketball and that’s the reason I’m here,” Ruffin said via Pat Rooney of BuffZone. “It sucks having that taken away from me for another year. But I’m pretty optimistic about it. I didn’t feel a hundred percent before the surgery. Even all last year. I’m just hoping that this can get me back close to 100% as I can be.”

Tad Boyle and Co. were going all-in on the 2023-2024 season, and now they’re without one of their key chips.