Colorado basketball has never featured a one-and-done talent.
That changed this past season. And that one-and-done designation for Cody Williams became official on Wednesday night.
Williams highlighted a historic first round of the NBA Draft for the CU men’s basketball program, getting picked 10th overall by the Utah Jazz during the draft’s opening night at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
Williams became the 10th first-round pick in CU men’s basketball history, but that number soon grew to 11 when Tristan da Silva was picked 18th overall by Orlando. Williams and da Silva increased the number of CU draft picks in 14 years under head coach Tad Boyle to nine, while increasing the total of first round picks under Boyle to five (also Alec Burks, 12th overall in 2011; Andre Roberson, 26th in 2013; and Derrick White, 29th in 2017).
Boyle and the Buffs still might watch those all-time draft totals rise during the second round on Thursday, as KJ Simpson still awaits his draft fate (2 p.m. MT, ESPN). Williams became the highest draft pick of the Boyle era, and he is the fourth-highest draft pick in program history, trailing Chauncey Billups (third in 1997), Scott Wedman (sixth in 1974) and Cliff Meely (seventh in 1971).
“I’m extremely proud of all three of them,” Boyle said. “We knew Cody’s potential when we recruited him and then we signed him. He’s not necessarily dropped in his stock. His stock has done nothing but get better as he progressed through his freshman year and through the pre-draft process.”
Injuries limited Williams to 24 games during his lone season at CU, playing the final six off the bench during the postseason while still limited by an ankle injury that cost him the final four games of the regular season.
At times, Williams was dominant, combining with Simpson to keep the Buffs in the game during a Nov. 29 loss at Colorado State by going 8-for-12 with 21 points — scoring all of those points in the second half while going 8-for-9. Williams again scored 21 points in the following game, a home win against Pepperdine on Dec. 3, but he suffered a fractured wrist that sidelined him the next seven games.
Despite the setbacks, Williams still averaged 11.9 points while shooting .552 overall and .415 on 3-pointers, numbers that were even loftier before struggling to regain his shooting touch during the postseason.
Da Silva finished his four-year CU career ranked 13th on the all-time scoring list (1,456) and ninth in made 3-pointers (150). The versatile, 6-foot-9 forward was a first team All-Pac-12 selection in 2023 and a second team honoree this spring.
Like one-time recruiting classmate Jabari Walker, now playing for Billups with the Portland Trail Blazers, da Silva will have an opportunity to play for another former Buffs player in Orlando coach Jamahl Mosley.
It is the first time in the modern history of the draft that CU has boasted a pair of first-round picks. If Simpson gets picked in the second round, it will mark the first time in the modern draft the Buffs have had three players picked. CU also had three picks in 1981, but the Buffs’ highest selection in that era’s bloated 10-round draft was Joe Cooper at No. 96 overall.
Colorado native and former Northern Colorado standout Dalton Knecht, who starred in a bigger spotlight during his final collegiate season at Tennessee, was selected one pick ahead of da Silva by the Los Angeles Lakers.
“It says a lot about our coaching staff, assistant coaches,” Boyle said. “It says a lot about our strength and conditioning staff and (strength coach) Steve Englehart. It says a lot about our training staff. (Team trainer) Rawley Klingsmith doesn’t get a lot of credit, but he keeps these guys healthy and gets their bodies right. Steve does a great job. Our nutrition program. We’ve invested a lot of money in nutrition at the University of Colorado for our student-athletes over the last two to three years. You see a guy like Cody come in and gain 11 or 12 pounds his freshman year. Or Tristan, who’s gained 25 over the course of his career.”