Regardless of the disappointing finish, the FIBA U19 World Cup provided an early boost for the 2023-24 Colorado men’s basketball team.
Head coach Tad Boyle and the program’s most coveted recruit in decades, Cody Williams, took advantage of an early start to their working relationship.
From the start of the USA Basketball U19 tryout camp in Colorado Springs last month, Williams and Boyle, the U19 head coach, spent the better part of three weeks together, culminating in a loss against Turkey last week in the bronze medal game. Itap three weeks of work the duo wouldn’t have been able to utilize as expansively in Boulder, and despite Team USA coming home from Hungary without a medal after winning three of the previous four U19 World Cups, the experience should provide a jump-start when the Buffs reconvene at the start of the school year.
“It was great (to play with Boyle). I get a head start of what I’m going to see at Colorado,” Williams said. “I get to learn his principles and stuff and he can also just teach me and help me get better. He’s obviously a great coach. I’m lucky that all of this will be able to carry me over to Colorado. I felt like I just got a sneak peak of what I’m going to see at Colorado. I love that he’s not afraid to coach me, and he’s not afraid to yell at me and tell me if I’m slacking. Itap going to help me become a better basketball player.”
Williams put together one of his finest performances of the seven-game tournament during Team USA’s quarterfinal win against Japan, going 6 for 7 with 15 points and three rebounds. Williams also stood out during the pool play finale against Lebanon, going 4 for 8 from the field and 4 for 5 at the free-throw line with 13 points, four rebounds and three assists.
Overall, Williams finished the World Cup averaging 7.9 points and 3.6 rebounds. He shot 41.7% from the field (20 for 48) and 76.5% at the free-throw line (13 for 17), but he went just 2 for 8 on 3-pointers. Williams averaged 16.3 minutes per game, collecting eight assists, seven steals, four blocked shots and six turnovers.
In the two-plus months remaining before the Buffs begin preseason practice, Williams’ challenge will be to add a little more muscle to his 6-foot-8, 180-pound frame.
“It was pretty obvious that the only thing that he lacks from becoming a really, really good college basketball player — and certainly pro, in time — is just the physicality and the strength thatap going to come in time,” Boyle said. “Itap going to come with his physical maturity and age, but itap also going to come with time in the weight room.
“The best thing about Cody Williams is that he got home (on Tuesday), and his body is going through jet lag just like mine, and I walk in the weight room the next morning he’s in there working his tail off. To me, that just shows what Cody Williams is all about. It was certainly good to get to know him better and spend time with him. But just to see how he’s handled coming back and getting right back in the weight room, thatap why he’s going to become the player he’s going to become.”
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