Coming into the 2025-26 season, the Colorado Buffaloes and head coach Tad Boyle are looking to get back to the NCAA Tournament after missing the Big Dance last season. As Colorado prepares for their season opener on Monday against Montana State, they got a key injury update on sophomore forward Sebastian Rancik, as per Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports.
Per Tad Boyle via Rothstein, Sebastian Rancik is expected to be available for Colorado’s season opener, making his return from an ankle injury. Rancik initially suffered the injury during the Buffaloes’ exhibition schedule, and has been sidelined since.
A native of Slovakia, Rancik a solid freshman season with Colorado after a standout high school career at JSerra Catholic in Southern California. He appeared in a total of 33 games, including 11 starts, at a little over 17 minutes per game.
He averaged 5.9 points and 2.8 rebounds with splits of 42.5 percent shooting from the field, 25.8 percent shooting from the three-point line and 69 percent shooting from the free-throw line. He had eight games where he reached double figures in scoring, including his season-best 19 points back on Feb. 11 against Kansas.
Rancik is expected to play a big role for Colorado this season as they try and bounce back from a losing record in 2024-25 at 14-21. The Buffaloes actually made college basketball history in reaching the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Tournament where they lost to eventual national champion Houston.
This will be the 16th season with Boyle at the helm for the Buffaloes. During that time, he’s led Colorado to six NCAA Tournament appearances, although they have not advanced past the Sweet 16.
Colorado is coming into the season having lost seven players to the transfer portal. However, they did pick up a couple of potential impact transfers in former UC Riverside guard Barrington Hargress and former Denver guard Jon Mani. They also have six incoming freshmen in guard Josiah Sanders, center Leonardo Van Elswyk, forward Ian Inman, guard Isaiah Johnson, center Fawaz Ifaola and guard Jalin Holland.
