Just two years ago, Colorado women’s basketball coach JR Payne and her staff had the luxury of knowing almost exactly what they’d get every day from their team.

Going into the 2023-24 season, the Buffs were led by Jaylyn Sherrod, who had 106 games in a CU uniform under her belt before that campaign began. Overall, that team had seven multi-year Buffs and a roster with a combined 539 games in CU uniforms going into the season, and they reached the Sweet 16 for the second year in a row.

It’s a whole new world now in college basketball, with the transfer portal being a more significant part of roster building than ever before.

As the Buffs prepare for the 2025-26 season, which tips off officially on Nov. 6 with a home date against New Mexico, they are breaking in 10 new players for the second year in a row. This year’s roster, with only three returners, has a combined 72 games of experience as Buffs.

“I don’t think any coach would say they like it,” Payne said of the annual roster overhaul. “I will say that I absolutely love this year’s team.”

Last year, CU brought in 10 new players and, despite numerous injury issues, still wound up going 21-13. The Buffs fell just shy of a fourth consecutive NCAA Tournament.

The bulk of that group is now gone, but CU’s staff is adapting its recruiting to where it hopes this year’s squad is even better.

“We have a group that is just more bonded,” Payne said this week, after the Buffs completed their first week of preseason practices. “I think our chemistry is as good as it possibly could be, and as good as it’s ever been during our 10 years here, which is really difficult to do in six months, which is all we’ve had together so far, if that.”

In reality, it’s only been about four months since the roster came together on campus, but the growth in that time has been significant.

“I think that bodes really well for what we’re going to be capable of doing,” Payne said. “The longer we can be together, the better we’re going to be.”

Two years ago, the Buffs could be player-led at times because so many of them were familiar with the program and scheme. That’s certainly not the case this year, but it’s a group that has been coachable.

“We have a really good group this year,” said redshirt sophomore guard Kennedy Sanders, who is the only player left from two seasons ago, as she redshirted in 2023-24. “Everyone’s willing to learn, asking questions, like, putting in the extra time to learn our offense and everything like that. So I really can’t complain.”

Payne said that while she may not like massive changes year to year, she does enjoy the challenge of bringing a whole new group together and trying to win.

“That part of it has been really exciting, just because it’s every day,” she said. “Even as we’re planning practice, it’s not just, ‘Well, just do what we did last year on Oct. 1.’ We have to be very intentional and very thoughtful about every single drill we do. How do we manage it? Who should lead it?  Just to make sure that we’re continuing to grow in every possible way.”

In the early going, the biggest challenge for the staff has been navigating injuries. A few players are banged up, which has limited what the Buffs can do in practice. That hasn’t stopped them from being productive in practice, however.

“I think it’s been great,” Payne said of the first week. “It has been hard with some people out with injury, so we’ve had to kind of plug in different people in different spots. We’ve had to stay in the half court a lot because we had a couple that were practicing but couldn’t go full court.

“But we’ve coached long enough that we can figure it out, and we have enough of a not veteran at Colorado, but enough of a veteran group that they can play different positions and things like that.”