McKinley Wright IV promises a trip to the NCAA Tournament in his senior season

BOULDER – McKinley Wright IV has unfinished business.

The senior guard had just lost out of the Pac-12 Tournament in LAs Vegas when the COVID-19 pandemic hit American sports, ultimately stopping the NCAA Tournament before it started. It would have been Wright’s first-ever March Madness appearance, and Colorado’s first appearance since 2016.

“The end we had in Vegas wasn’t what we wanted but we were ready to start our new season, which was the NCAA Tournament,” Wright told reporters Wednesday. “That got cut short, so obviously I was emotional, not necessarily for myself but for my seniors, Luke (Seiwert) and Shane (Gatling). Those guys didn’t get to play and their dream was the NCAA Tournament.”

After the season, Wright considered a entering the NBA Draft, which will be held in just over a month, but decided that it wasn’t in his best interest to turn pro quite yet. He talked with NBA scouts and executives during the draft process to learn what more he needed to do to make an impression on the NBA.

“I got a lot of positives,” Wright said. “For me, (I need to improve upon) turnovers, obviously, shooting the ball at a higher clip.”

Wright has been working to improve in those areas during the offseason. CU’s director of basketball operations, Bill Cartun, found clips of every one of Wright’s turnovers last season and cut them into one video. Wright said he’s been studying that video and that he watches it at least once per week.

“Just to see  areas where I can improve, what reads I can make better and stuff like that,” Wright said.

While the turnovers and shooting percentages are what Wright has been focused on, there’s one more way he can impress NBA executives.

“Those are really the two biggest areas,” Wright said. “Then we know that the biggest thing for me and that the NBA wants to see is winning, so that’s my main focus is to win games you know whatever I got to do.”

Despite the NCAA’s reported decision to grant one more year of eligibility to student-athletes who participate in winter sports, this will be Wright’s “last ride” at Colorado, he said.

And he has lofty expectations.

Colorado will have a chance to win quite a few games this year with a team that Wright say has a potential to be better than last year’s. That’s why he’s guarunteeing that the Buffs will make their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2016.

“I haven’t played their yet, but I can guarantee–I could make a promise–that we’ll be back there this year and we’ll be dancing,” Wright said.