King must reign if Buffs are planning to dance

Tuesday afternoon another monarch was born from Colorado’s perimeter. In a long line of royalty from Tad Boyle’s perimeter, redshirt sophomore George King might just be another majesty following in the footsteps of his bloodline. King has seized the spotlight and the throne may follow soon. This season could see him running a diarchy with Josh Scott as leaders of the CU hoopsters.

For the Buffs, scoring was one of the biggest questions going into the year with the graduation of Askia Booker. Even last year with the explosive guard, the Buffs had trouble scoring from the perimeter which was something new for a Tad Boyle team. In the past Corey Higgins, Alec Burks, Carlon Brown and Spencer Dinwiddie have led the Buffs outside the paint with their scoring touch. The common trait between those four players is each was elite.

For this year’s team, Coach Tad Boyle is not concerned with its ability to put up points. Already the Buffaloes have answered this question scoring 153 points in the first two games.

“I think we have a lot of talented guys,” Boyle said. “The one great thing about this team is offensively we have a lot of balance. I knew coming into this season that we would be a better perimeter shooting than we were last year.”

Though very early, providing the spark on the perimeter is the six-foot-six wing Geroge King. He has shown on the team’s first road trip that he has special talent, and that talent has translated onto the stat sheet with him scoring 41 points in 59 minutes of play. Where King has really stood out is his ability to put the ball in the basket efficiently, he has shot 13-23 from the field, 8-14 from behind the arc, and 7-11 from the stripe.

It’d be irresponsible to say King could drop that many points as economically as he has for the rest of the season. The fact is his play to this point has been stellar, but his shooting percentage is most likely unsustainable. However, that doesn’t mean King won’t be counted upon to be an impact player and perhaps the second best player on the team.

“I know he can score,” Boyle told of King. “Geroge has played two very good games for us, but there is room for improvement in his game as well.”

Boyle said King needs to improve his consistency and defense to step into the category of being the team’s second-best player – stating that he had good numbers offensively, but his zero assists and four turnovers against Auburn were concerning.

That is certainly something that needs to improve for the Buffaloes who have had a revolving door with ball carriers since Dinwiddie got injured. Dominique Collier and Xavier Talton have looked okay thus far but in a Boyle offense getting assists from the wings is a huge boost. So far Tre’Shaun Fletcher is chipping in a bit, but if King were to add that aspect to his game the Buffs would have a clear and steady wing option, even in the absence of Xavier Johnson.

“I had four turnovers against Auburn which is not going to cut it,” King said. “That’s one of the things, individually, I’m trying to work on.”

Speaking of work, that’s all King did the past year as a redshirt.

“My redshirt year I put a lot of work in,” King noted. “But also, because I was a redshirt, nobody saw me play last year, they don’t know what to think of me when they see me. So as a player they don’t know that I can play. I can shoot, I can dribble, and they don’t know what I can do. I’ve been taking advantage of that.”

The San Antonio Texas native has not only added new aspects to his game, he’s taken it to an entirely new dimension thus far. Not only King’s play but his rapid improvement has Buffs fans drooling. This improvement will need to continue if the Buffs plan to punch a ticket to March’s Big Dance. It has become apparent that King holds the keys to this team’s success. He is the one player, on the outside, that has shown this kind of promise.

“I think we’ll be a tournament team this year no matter what my play is,” King said with a smirk. “It’s only been two games so who knows if I keep this level of play up, but if it were to keep up, the sky is the limit for us.”

He’s right about one thing, if he remains playing at the high level he is playing at right now the Buffs are once again going to make some serious noise in the Pac-12. But I do have to quarrel with King stating they will make the tournament no matter what. His clutch shooting, equalizing three-point shot, and rebounding skills are all needed if the Buffs are planning to be a tournament team. King explicitly has what the Buffs have been lacking. Not to say a player like Fletcher won’t be a key piece, but King has already molded himself a role as a key piece. Now he just needs to keep improving to make his role a forcible one.

“We know Geroge is a good shooter,” Boyle boasted. “Geroge is a very talented player.”

Just like a fellow King’s tool, Arthur’s Excalibur, George’s dagger will be relied upon to use to conquer opponents.

“I do (feel comfortable taking big shots),” King told. “Hopefully taking big shots doesn’t come, hopefully, we’re playing Colorado Basketball, we have a good lead and we don’t have to take to big shots. But if the ball ends up in my hands, and it is time to make a play, I’d be more than happy to make it.”

The big shots will need to taken at some point, and it’s good for the Buffs that they have found a man who wants the ball in his hands. The key, of course, is King will need to knock them down. In a sport that has many games deiced in the final moments, King’s shot could be the difference. His stroke along with his keen sense of the boards and his strength when driving to the basket were all things sorely missed from last year’s Buffs. With George King providing what Colorado has lacked, the sky could be the limit when it comes to the Buffaloes dancing in March.