The next time Mckinley Wright IV walks into the CU Events Center, it will be as an alumnus and a fan.

Yet his presence can still be felt within Tad Boyle’s program as Colorado prepares for its first season since 2016 without the program’s all-time leader in assists.

Despite his 6-foot frame, Wright IV couldn’t have left bigger shoes to fill in Boulder.

“Mckinley’s loss is a big one,” Boyle said at CU’S media day last week.

Even that comment from Boyle might be an understatement.

For four years, the identity of Colorado basketball was Wright.

He’s not only the best passer in program history, but he’s also the Buffs’ all-time leader in games with double-digit points and double-digit assists. On the Pac-12 level, he’s the only player in conference history with 1,800 points, 600 assists and 600 rebounds.

So, the biggest question surrounding Boyle and the Buffs this season is: How on earth do you a replace a player like that?

“We were very Mckinley Wright dominant last year, and have been the last four years, which, for good reason,” Boyle said. “He’s a heck of a player who made unbelievable plays and we won a lot of games. This year’s team’s gonna be different because we’re gonna be a little bit more balanced. I think we’ve got a lot of weapons that can really hurt people offensively.”

The obvious answer and the likely starting point guard on opening night is sophomore Keeshawn Barthelemy.

“Keeshawn had the most difficult role on our team last year backing up Mckinley,” Boyle said. “He didn’t know if he was going to play, or how much he was going to play. There were times where Mckinley went down with what we thought was a concussion and he came back and Keeshawn filled in, I thought admirably, when he was called upon.”

One of those big moments for Barthelemy came in the semifinal game of the Pac-12 Tournament against USC. Wright took an elbow to the head in the first half and missed a few minutes of action. Barthelemy knocked down a pair of threes in that short stint as the Buffs knocked off the Trojans, but the overall body of work just wasn’t consistent enough to get a real sense of Barthelemy’s capabilities as a starter with big minutes.

“He just didn’t get the significant minutes that he needed to prove what he can do,” Boyle said. “He’s going to get that this year, so he’s capable, but I don’t want to put it all on him.”

If he were asked to fill Wright’s role all by himself, that might be an even tougher situation for Barthelemy than he had last year, but luckily he’s got two talented freshmen that are eager to prove themselves and contribute in a big way this season.

“We’ve got two freshmen guards in KJ Simpson, and Julian Hammond, who are fully capable as well of running the team and playing point,” Boyle said. “I look at it as a three headed monster. Some of those guys will play together in the backcourt. We can play with the three-guard lineup, you know with Eli, Keeshawn and either KJ (Simpson) or Julian, or KJ Julian and Eli the three. This team is going to have a lot of versatility.”

Simpson is a 4-star guard out of Southern California.