BOULDER — George King was a physical anomaly.
When he arrived at the University of Colorado, King was a dominant post player who nonetheless could not bench-press his own weight.
It’s just two weeks into the 2015-16 season, yet King, a redshirt sophomore, already has morphed from a huge question mark into a breakout star for the Buffaloes heading into Sunday afternoon’s home game against Northern Colorado.
Through five games, King is averaging 18.2 points and 5.4 rebounds per game while shooting .480 (12-for-25) from 3-point range and .500 overall.
He is no longer a secret. The extra time King spent on the practice floor and in the weight room during last season’s redshirt season clearly is paying dividends.
“I came in my freshman year at about 200 pounds, and I couldn’t even bench my weight,” King said. “Now I’m about 225, and I’m maxing out at 265 on the bench. That’s a lot for a basketball player. My squat, it’s still not great, but it’s improved. My body fat has gone down, my weight has gone up. I credit that to Laura (Anderson), our nutritionist, and obviously our strength and conditioning coach, James Hardy.”
A post player who was required to outlet the ball the moment he grabbed any rebound for Brennan High School in San Antonio, King appeared in 27 games as a true freshman in the 2013-14 season but contributed minimally, averaging about 5.5 minutes and 1.5 points per game while adjusting his game to playing away from the basket.
Head coach Tad Boyle proposed the somewhat unorthodox notion of having King redshirt his second year, instead of during the more customary first year on campus.
Although it was an unusual approach, Boyle and Hardy noted that often it helps young players to get a true taste of the competition at the next level before understanding the level of commitment required not only to compete but to thrive.
“If you redshirt them as a freshman, they don’t know what college basketball is all about,” Boyle said. “They haven’t been exposed. They haven’t been on the road. They don’t know what their weaknesses are. They play their freshman year, and they find out, ‘Hey, I’m not very good defensively. My jump shot, I’ve got to get it off quicker at this level.’
“They find out where those weaknesses are in their game their freshman year. So then their redshirt year, they can work on those things they know they have to work on. If they’d never gone through that, they don’t know what their weaknesses are.”
