Tad Boyle had no clue who Eddie Lampkin Jr. was. Yet during the pair’s first encounter, roughly 10 months before Lampkin decided to join Boyle’s program at Colorado, the former TCU center turned heads.
Next week, Boyle begins his duties as the head coach of USA Basketball’s U19 World Cup team, with the team training camp set to begin on Sunday in Colorado Springs. Last year, Boyle filled the same role for the US U18 team at the FIBA Americas Championship, leading the team to the gold medal.
Prior to that tournament run, Boyle’s squad played a scrimmage during the team training camp in Houston, taking on a team of local college players. Lampkin, a Houston native, dominated the day.
“I got a firsthand look at him last summer,” Boyle said. “When I was coaching the U18 team last summer and our training camp was in Houston. There was a couple days where we had local college players in the area come and scrimmage against us. He showed us and he was an absolute beast. He was killing our guys inside. We had no answer for him. I thought he was a pro from Europe who was home for the summer. Just his body and his physicality. Then someone said no, he’s going to be a junior at TCU. I’m like, holy cow. He’s a beast inside. He makes beastly plays and he just overpowers people.
“He does it with his energy and his effort and his motor. Itap big time.”
As for Lampkin, he sheepishly admitted about that scrimmage, “Yeah, I killed it.”
Boyle and Lampkin are on the same side now, as Lampkin joined the Buffaloes this spring after a productive career at TCU. On campus and working out with his new teammates, Lampkin is trying to write a new chapter after dealing with a wealth of off-court issues the past year.
Lampkin’s departure from TCU was an abrupt one, as he left the program ahead of the Big 12 Conference tournament amid allegations of misconduct leveled at TCU coach Jamie Dixon. Even worse for Lampkin, his brother, former Oklahoma football player Du’Vonta Lampkin, was killed in apparent homicide in Dallas in May 2022. A trial is pending.
Seeking a fresh start is a common theme among most transfers. It rings particularly true for Lampkin.
“I wanted a new start,” Lampkin said. “It was going away from Texas. My brother played at (Oklahoma), so he moved out of the state. I tried to find a school that was out of the state and I found something that was more home. The coaches were treating me like family when they got on the phone. Coach Boyle was the first head coach to call me back-to-back. It was family the first time I talked to them.”
Lampkin already has an established friendship with CU guard KJ Simpson, as the pair formed a sort of mutual-admiration bond over social media. On the floor, Lampkin is expected to replace Lawson Lovering, CU’s 7-foot-1 starting center who transferred to Utah following the season. After losing Lovering, Boyle made a telling statement to BuffZone when he said, “Having coached Lawson now for two years and having coached Evan Battey for five, we’re going to look at all avenues.”
Lampkin’s game resembles Battey’s. The 6-foot-11 Lampkin probably won’t be the outside threat Battey developed into — Lampkin didn’t attempt a 3-pointer in three seasons at TCU — but he has a similar reputation for playing with energy and emotion. In the past two seasons, Lampkin played in 57 games for TCU (51 starts), averaging 6.6 points and 6.1 rebounds with a .583 shooting percentage.
“It was very easy when Colorado reached out to me,” Lampkin said. “I’d seen how coach Boyle played with Evan Battey, and I loved his game. I said if I got a chance to play in the same position as he did, I can get to where I want to be in a year or two.”
