Prep forward Bangot Dak commits to CU Buffs men’s basketball – BuffZone

Colorado men’s basketball head coach Tad Boyle completed his 2023-24 roster by getting a commitment from Bangot Dak. (Cliff Grassmick/Staff Photographer)

Confident that his team’s biggest offseason concern was met when Eddie Lampkin Jr. committed to Colorado earlier this spring, men’s basketball head coach Tad Boyle has professed patience with the final open roster spot at his disposal.

And although a bigger guard with a dependable outside shooting touch appeared to be the most glaring remaining need as the spring progressed, Boyle also has professed confidence with the makeup of his roster, and that the open spot likely would turn into a “best available” scenario.

That spot instead has been used to stockpile future frontcourt depth.

On Wednesday, prep forward Bangot Dak announced his commitment to the Buffaloes via social media. A 6-foot-9 forward out of Lincoln Southeast High School in Nebraska, Dak joins a 2023 recruiting class that includes Cody Williams, the No. 4 prospect in the nation according to 247Sports, Courtney Anderson and 6-foot-10 forward Assane Diop.

Boyle and his staff originally over-signed for the 2023 class, inking the trio of Williams, Diop and Anderson to letters of intent last November while scheduled to lose only two seniors in graduate transfers Jalen Gabbidon and Ethan Wright.

That numbers crunch became moot when two starters, Lawson Lovering and Nique Clifford, opted to leave the program via the transfer portal, as did Quincy Allen.

Lampkin, who averaged 6.6 points and 6.1 rebounds the past two seasons at TCU, filled the void left by Lovering when he committed to CU in April. Next in line on the offseason to-do list might have been to find an outside shooter, as the Buffs finished with a .322 mark from 3-point range. Only one other team, the 2013-14 squad, compiled a lower 3-point percentage (.318) in Boyle’s 13 seasons at CU, and that Buffs team played the second half of the season without its best 3-point shooter, Spencer Dinwiddie.

Personnel-wise, the Buffs also might have been in the market for a bigger guard following the departure of Clifford and the uncertain status of Javon Ruffin, who underwent knee surgery in April after struggling with knee issues the past two seasons. Neither of the Buffs other two bigger guards, Anderson and RJ Smith, who is coming off a redshirt season, have yet to play a minute of college basketball.

Instead, Boyle opted to secure further frontcourt depth. Dak averaged 11.8 points and 9.8 rebounds while leading Lincoln Southeast to its first state tournament appearance in nine years. Dak graduated this spring but had been ticketed to spend a prep year at Sunrise Christian Academy in Kansas before deciding to join the Buffaloes instead.

Although final personnel decisions are never cemented until the season gets rolling, Dak likely will face a redshirt season in 2023-24. Barring any injuries, CU’s frontcourt…