Kennedy Sanders\u2019 primary goal in the closing weeks of last season was to help the Colorado women\u2019s basketball team win as much as possible.<\/p>\n
In the process, she provided a glimpse into the future \u2013 a future that has now become the present.<\/p>\n
A third-year sophomore who is the longest-tenured player on the team, Sanders is hoping to build off her strong finish to last year as she prepares for the upcoming season.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m very excited,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m just excited for the year to start, and start playing games.\u201d<\/p>\n
A 5-foot-8 point guard from Chaska, Minnesota, Sanders redshirted during the 2023-24 season when CU reached the Sweet 16 for the second year in a row. Last year, she was the top backup to Kindyll Wetta on a rebuilt CU team.<\/p>\n
Now, Sanders is the projected starter for a squad that is rebuilt again, with 10 new players.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t know yet (who will start), but just being able to lead has been important,\u201d Sanders said. \u201cIf (starting) happens, it happens. If it doesn\u2019t, it doesn\u2019t, but either way, I\u2019m gonna use my leadership role.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve obviously been here for a couple years, so just helping those kids that haven\u2019t been here as much. Obviously, we have so many freshmen, so they all are kind of in the position that I was my freshman year, so just being able to help them is important.\u201d<\/p>\n
Whether she starts or not remains to be seen, but Sanders proved herself last year.<\/p>\n
Playing in 29 games (with one start), she averaged 18.0 minutes, 4.9 points and 2.3 assists. Her season included four double-digit scoring efforts in the last 10 games, including 18 points in a win against Houston and 14 in a Big 12 Tournament win against Arizona.<\/p>\n
Sanders was also relied upon more, playing 21-plus minutes in 10 of the last 12 games.<\/p>\n
\u201cI definitely felt a lot more comfortable, just confident in what I was doing (late in the season),\u201d she said. \u201cI knew our offense, what we wanted to do on defense. Just being able to understand how we wanted to play, I feel like I was much more comfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n
After last season, Wetta and five others graduated, while five players transferred. Sanders chose to stay in Boulder.<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean, I love our coaches. I love it here,\u201d she said. \u201cI love the way we play, everything about it. I love our drive.\u201d<\/p>\n
As one of only three returners \u2013 along with forward Jade Masogayo and center JoJo Nworie \u2013 Sanders is now in a position to step from the shadows of last year\u2019s veterans and become a leader.<\/p>\n
\u201cKennedy has been incredible,\u201d CU head coach JR Payne said. \u201cShe\u2019s playing really well. She\u2019ll never be the loudest kid in the gym, and that\u2019s OK. You can still be a phenomenal leader and lead in your own authentic way, which we want for her.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s done a great job, like Jade, organizing things, getting everybody together, making sure they know how we want things done. Also on the court she\u2019s talking a lot, is grabbing kids, bringing them in, coaching them up; like, doing a really, really good job.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Sanders, it\u2019s part of the natural growth in college athletics that is almost unique in the transfer portal era. Fewer players than ever are willing to develop through redshirt and backup seasons, while waiting for their time to shine.<\/p>\n
Sanders, however, is eager for the next step in her career.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like it\u2019s just been good (at CU),\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019ve been able to kind of learn. My freshman year, I learned from all those older kids, kind of like their leadership roles and stuff like that. Then obviously learned from Kindyll and everything last year.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a little different (this year). Obviously, I know what we\u2019re running because everyone\u2019s so new, so yeah, it\u2019s been a little different, but it\u2019s been good.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kennedy Sanders\u2019 primary goal in the closing weeks of last season was to help the Colorado women\u2019s basketball…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":277809,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[1339,4437,4438,4441,1428,1369,53225,4439,9577,4440,1370,728,1317,1337,1338,50,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-277808","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-basketball","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-boulder","10":"tag-boulder-county","11":"tag-buffzone","12":"tag-college-football","13":"tag-college-sports","14":"tag-college-womens-basketball","15":"tag-colorado","16":"tag-colorado-news","17":"tag-front-range","18":"tag-latest-headlines","19":"tag-local-news","20":"tag-ncaa","21":"tag-ncaa-basketball","22":"tag-ncaabasketball","23":"tag-news","24":"tag-sports","25":"tag-united-states","26":"tag-unitedstates","27":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115317450015003525","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=277808"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277808\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/277809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=277808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=277808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=277808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}