![\"Colorado](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/DCC-L-CUWBB269.jpg\")
Colorado senior Anaelle Dutat works during practice women’s basketball practice Wednesday at the CU Events Center. (Cliff Grassmick\/Staff Photographer)<\/p>\nColorado senior Anaelle Dutat works during practice women’s basketball practice Wednesday at the CU Events Center. (Cliff Grassmick\/Staff Photographer)<\/p>\n
Following a practice this past week at the CU Events Center, Anaelle Dutat had just a quick moment to talk to a visitor.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have class in about 20 minutes,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Such is the life for Dutat this summer, a newcomer to the Colorado women\u2019s basketball team who hasn\u2019t had much time for anything beyond school and hoops. It\u2019s well worth it for the opportunity she has with the Buffaloes, however.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m taking 20 credits in the summer to be eligible in the fall,\u201d said Dutat, a senior transfer from Rhode Island. \u201cI\u2019m at full classes. It\u2019s busy, but it\u2019s manageable.\u201d<\/p>\n
The last of five transfer additions for CU this offseason, Dutat signed in May and brings an intriguing skillset to the rebuilt Buffaloes. At 6-feet tall, she played in the paint a lot at Rhode Island, but will be an athletic wing for the Buffs.<\/p>\n
\u201cAD is, like, our prototypical wing,\u201d CU head coach JR Payne said. \u201cShe\u2019s long, she\u2019s super bouncy, she\u2019s really athletic, she has a phenomenal motor. And she just has the mental toughness and wherewithal to just persevere. No matter what, she just gets the job done. So she\u2019ll be someone that we can rely on, on both sides of the floor.\u201d<\/p>\n
And in the classroom.<\/p>\n
Dutat, who was born in Rang-du-Fliers, France, is a biomedical engineering major. After an exceptional junior season at Rhode Island, she entered the transfer portal and was recruited by several schools, but chose CU in part because it offered her the best educational opportunity.<\/p>\n
\u201cI went on a visit (to CU) and I really liked it, and also they make it work with my classes and stuff,\u201d she said. \u201cI came to the U.S. to be able to do basketball and some good studies, because in France, it\u2019s really hard. Like, usually you go pro and you don\u2019t have that much time for studies and stuff so that\u2019s the main part of why I came to the U.S.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s why it was really important for me to finish it, get a degree at the end, and get an education.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dutat enjoyed her time at Rhode Island, she said, but \u201cafter spending three years out there, I wanted something different, playing at a higher level.\u201d<\/p>\n
While the educational component of CU was important to Dutat, so is the opportunity to challenge herself in the Big 12 Conference.<\/p>\n
Last year, Dutat led Rhode Island with 7.9 rebounds per game, while also averaging 7.9 points, 1.5 assists, 1.7 steals and earning all-defensive team honors in the Atlantic 10 Conference.<\/p>\n
At CU, she\u2019ll have the opportunity to play outside the paint more and expand her game.<\/p>\n
\u201cHonestly, I\u2019m really, really excited about it,\u201d said Dutat, one of just two seniors on the team, along with Jade Masogayo. \u201cI played mainly as a post player at Rhode Island; I played a little bit of everything, but mostly a post player. (At CU), it\u2019s really different, but really, I think it\u2019s a new challenge. I think I\u2019m up for it, so I\u2019m looking forward to it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Offensively, Dutat can drive to the hoop and she\u2019s working on her shot to become a threat from 3-point range, but the core of her game is defense and rebounding \u2013 two aspects Payne stresses heavily.<\/p>\n
\u201cHonestly, that\u2019s, like, just what I do, so it\u2019s not really like a task or anything,\u201d Dutat said. \u201cHonestly, like, defense and rebounding is, I\u2019d say, my base.\u201d<\/p>\n
CU doesn\u2019t have much depth or experience in the paint, especially with the recent departure of sophomore Tabitha Betson, but Dutat\u2019s rebounding ability figures to be a huge asset.<\/p>\n
\u201cI guarantee there will be a game, or many games this year, where she comes up with just an absolute clutch defensive rebound or offensive put-back or defensive stop,\u201d Payne said. \u201cShe just seems like that kid.\u201d<\/p>\n
Originally Published: July 19, 2025 at 1:14 PM MDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Colorado senior Anaelle Dutat works during practice women’s basketball practice Wednesday at the CU Events Center. (Cliff Grassmick\/Staff…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":77028,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[1339,4437,4438,4441,1369,53225,4439,4440,1370,1317,1337,1338,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-77027","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-sports","13":"tag-college-womens-basketball","14":"tag-colorado","15":"tag-front-range","16":"tag-latest-headlines","17":"tag-ncaa","18":"tag-ncaa-basketball","19":"tag-ncaabasketball","20":"tag-sports","21":"tag-united-states","22":"tag-unitedstates","23":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114883485018440927","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77027","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=77027"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77027\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}