(Author’s note: There was no available Average Length of Possession (APL) for CU’s exhibition with Australia, so I measured it myself for the first 70 possessions of the game. I stopped when the Buffs had to start forcing shots early in the shot clock in the final two minutes, down five points. The final stat is not official.)<\/p>\n
College basketball is the only version of the sport played with a 30-second shot clock.<\/p>\n
Yet, the Colorado Buffaloes had to play like the professionals in their four-exhibition trip to Australia this summer.<\/p>\n
“The game is different here [Australia],” CU head coach Tad Boyle<\/a> told the ESPN+ broadcast<\/a> of his team’s contest versus the Australian Boomers.\u00a0 “The 24-second shot clock and the FIBA rules are different than what we’re used to. It’s been a nice change.”<\/p>\n Boyle added that his staff’s goal of “slowing down” the game for his young team, including six freshmen, will be made easier by the\u00a0trip abroad, which is only allowed every four offseasons.<\/p>\n However, the game against the Boomers didn’t seem too fast for the youthful Buffs, as they only lost by six points and scored 87 points on 43.4% shooting from the field in their lone televised contest of the trip.\u00a0Colorado posted solid numbers in the first two affairs, versus Hoop City and the Gold Coast Rollers (NBL1 North), as well.<\/p>\n Of course, the Buffs will look slightly different by November and are sure to use more of the NCAA’s 30-second shot clock; Boyle has never had an Average Length of Possession (APL) shorter than 16.6 seconds (2022-2023) in his tenure with the Buffs, according to KenPom<\/a>. Yet, Colorado’s offense was productive in just 14.8 seconds per possession (70 possessions) against Australia, offering even more optimism for the 2025-2026 Buffaloes’ offense and their ability to play at a fast pace. CU’s APL versus the Boomers would have placed them No. 18 among NBA teams last season (according to Inpredictable<\/a>), between the New Orleans Pelicans (APL: 14.4 seconds; No. 25 Offensive Rating) and Minnesota Timberwolves (APL: 14.7 seconds; No. 8 Offensive Rating).<\/p>\n While the shortening of possession length against Australia was\u00a01.8 seconds less than Boyle’s\u00a0shortest APL with Colorado, which was natural, it was 3.1 seconds shorter than the 17.7-APL (180th percentile) the 14-21 Buffs posted last season. CU’s half-court offense\u00a0often stalled\u00a0this past year, as it struggled to hit\u00a03-pointers (32.1% 3P%; 27th percentile, according to CBB Analytics<\/a>) and drive the ball, creating\u00a0over-dribbling and\u00a0side-to-side passes\u00a0on the perimeter.\u00a0The Buffs\u00a0often had to rely on their fastbreak opportunities, as they scored 14.8% of their points (74th percentile).<\/p>\n In the brief first glance at the new developing squad, though, Colorado’s quick offense was led by UC Riverside transfer point guard Barrington Hargress<\/a>, who played nearly 30 minutes, dishing five assists to one turnover, and handled the shorter clock quite well for a player arriving from a school that had an 18-second APL last season (231st percentile). The general\u00a0handling of the quicker clock\u00a0from the Buffs was impressive, but especially from the freshmen, such as backup PG Isaiah Johnson<\/a>,\u00a0even though the majority of whom had never played with any shot clock less than 35 seconds.<\/p>\n