At 6-foot-11, Sebastian Rancik owned the distinction of being one of Colorado’s tallest players last year.
This season, he’s just one of the Buffaloes’ plentiful trees.
That’s not to say Rancik will be lost in the crowd. Quite the contrary. Back for his sophomore season after a rookie campaign full of promise, as well as the typical first-year ups and downs, is arguably the most versatile of the Buffs’ suddenly abundant big men.
“Strength is always a thing that I need to improve on. And then I knew this year I would play with the ball in my hands a lot, so ball-handling was a focal point of the offseason,” Rancik said. “And then I’m working on my shot every day, perfecting my shot. Pretty much the whole package, but I really locked into ball-handling and my shot.”
Retaining Rancik was critical for the Buffs, who welcome back just five scholarship players in Rancik, Bangot Dak, Elijah Malone, Felix Kossaras and Andrew Crawford, who redshirted last year.
When the spring roster shuffling was complete, Rancik appeared to once again be on track to be one of the bigger Buffs. But with the summer acquisition of 7-foot-1 Leonardo Van Elswyk and 6-foot-9 Alon Michaeli, CU fortified its bulk up front to combine with Rancik, 7-foot freshman Tacko Ifaola and Dak, who was listed at 6-foot-11 last year but is at 7-foot this year.
“You’d like to think theoretically that size would help you with rebounding. What I’ve found out is size is not always the most important thing,” CU head coach Tad Boyle said. “It’s aggressiveness. It’s toughness. It’s going and getting the ball. Just go get it. You don’t have to have size to be a great rebounder. Certainly if you have it, it should give you an advantage. But that’s not always the way it works. So we’ll see.”
Among that array of big men, Rancik is the best ball-handler and has the potential to be the top 3-point shooter, although he finished with just a .258 mark from long range last year. Overall, though, it was a solid debut season for Rancik, who took over a starting role early in Big 12 play and finished the year averaging 5.9 points and 2.8 rebounds with a .425 field goal percentage. He made a telling statement at Kansas with his best game of the season, posting season-highs of 19 points and nine rebounds.
Watching Rancik develop provided a small silver lining during a 14-21 campaign that was just the eighth 20-loss season in program history. This year, though, Rancik will be counted upon for much more production, and the reinforcements up front will free Rancik from the paint to put his myriad skills to work.
As a freshman, there was little to no pressure on Rancik’s shoulders to produce. With the Nov. 3 season opener against Montana State still more than a month away, Rancik says he is embracing the challenge.
“There’s no pressure. I’ve worked for this since I was seven years old,” Rancik said. “The expectations and what coach expects from me is something I love. I’m grateful to coach that he puts me in that position and I’m really looking forward to the year, because this is what I’ve worked for.”