Day one brought a very welcome nugget of good news for the Colorado Buffaloes. Bangot Dak is back.

Sidelined by a knee injury over the summer, the talented and versatile junior forward is one of the biggest keys in the quest of the CU men’s basketball team to climb out of the Big 12 basement. Cleared to resume workouts without restrictions, Dak took his place alongside his teammates on Wednesday as the Buffs went through their first official practice of the preseason.

The Buffs struggled to a 14-21 mark last season, starting 0-13 in the program’s return season in the Big 12. It was just the eighth 20-loss season in team history, and it was by far the Buffs’ worst record since head coach Tad Boyle took over ahead of the 2010-11 season.

Dak, though, was one of the bright spots, joining the starting lineup for good early in league play. His continued development one year after becoming a regular rotation player will be critical for CU going forward.

“It was frustrating because I knew how big the summer was for me in terms of my development and what I know I need to get better at,” Dak said. “I kind of had to take a step back from that. But regardless of the summer, I feel like I still improved a lot.”

Dak said he was back in his hometown of Lincoln, Neb., shortly after the end of the school year and was playing in a pickup game when his knee buckled awkwardly. While he avoided a more significant injury like a torn ACL, Dak said he suffered a torn medial meniscus.

Dak was able to travel with the Buffs over the summer while they took a four-game exhibition trip through Australia, but he did not play. That will make the next five-plus weeks ahead of CU’s Nov. 3 season opener against Montana State critical to getting Dak back up to speed.

“You watch the reps in practice, you pay attention to swelling in the knee and just how he’s feeling,” Boyle said. “You can’t go from zero to a hundred in one day. He’s been building up to coming back that last three, four weeks. So it’s not like he’s starting at zero. It’s just there’s no substitute for five-on-five and that ball is live and defense is live and you’re getting up-and-down.

“But again, he’s used to that. It’s not like he’s a freshman. It’s not like he’s new to it. It’s going to take some time, though.”

One of just three players to appear in all 35 games, Dak finished the season averaging 8.2 points and 3.9 rebounds, shooting .489 overall but just .280 on 3-pointers (14-for-50) and .693 at the free throw line. Although it was a truncated offseason for Dak, he enters his junior season with a bigger frame, as he is listed at 7-foot, 203 pounds (he was listed at 6-11, 185 pounds last year).

The addition of reinforcements in the frontcourt — like freshmen Tacko Ifaola, Alon Michaeli and Leonardo Van Elswyk — plus the continued development of 6-foot-11 sophomore Sebastian Rancik should alleviate some of the pressure on Dak having to become a stronger paint presence. Which, in turn, would give Dak the freedom to create mismatches anywhere on the floor.

Of course, the first steps will be to regain confidence in the knee while improving his conditioning.

“I’m not behind in anything,” Dak said. “Team-wise, it’s just knowing the plays, knowing the concepts. I feel the only thing I’m going to have to work on a lot this preseason is my confidence and my conditioning. Just knowing that I’m able to be out there and play, knowing I can trust my knee to go out there and make the same plays I was already making.”