After a recent practice, Felix Kossaras stood at the side of the court handling an interview request.
Kossaras had only begun to explain his personal expectations as he embarks on his second season with the Colorado men’s basketball team when assistant coach and college basketball all-timer Danny Manning wandered closer to observe the proceedings.
Asked if he needed Kossaras for something more critical than a post-practice interview, Manning smiled and replied, “No. I just like to hear him talk.”
Following a solid finish to his rookie season, the soft-spoken Kossaras will be happy to let his play do the talking this season.
“I was always confident, but to build off those games coming into the offseason helped,” Kossaras said of his freshman finish. “You just gotta keep going. It’s a process. You just gotta get better every day, and that’s my mindset.”
Kossaras, a 6-foot-6 guard from Montreal, endured a typical freshman journey, getting double-digit minutes in a few of the Buffs’ early nonconference blowouts before seeing his playing time reduced drastically as the competition stiffened.
Kossaras didn’t play in five of CU’s first eight Big 12 games but he gained traction late, putting together his best performances of the year during the postseason. Kossaras’ top two scoring efforts occurred in the final three games of the season, including when he came off the bench to score seven points in CU’s win against West Virginia in the second round of the Big 12 tournament.
That performance helped Kossaras land his only start of the season in a loss against Villanova in the College Basketball Crown. He responded by going 2-for-4 on 3-pointers and scoring a season-high nine points.
Kossaras hit the postseason with momentum, but also with a directive to improve his shooting touch. Although it was a limited sample size, Kossaras finished just .413 overall (19-for-46), with a .313 mark on 3-pointers (5-for-16) and a .557 mark at the free throw line (15-for-26).
Although CU’s roster was overhauled, Kossaras opted to stay at CU despite knowing an influx of bigger wings were on the way in freshmen Jalin Holland (6-foot-5), Ian Inman (6-6) and Josiah Sanders (6-5). The Buffs also added 6-foot-7 Denver transfer Jon Mani, and have 6-8 redshirt freshman Andrew Crawford in the mix as well.
“I love Boulder. It’s a real, real nice place,” Kossaras said. “I felt like we just had a bad season and we have some unfinished business to get back to. I think we have a great core of guys coming back with the guys that stayed. And the new freshmen guys are really good as well. Practice has been real competitive. We’re pushing each other and getting better.”
Last year, the options were limited for head coach Tad Boyle in terms of the bigger guards on the roster. Javon Ruffin and RJ Smith were coming off injury histories, while Courtney Anderson rarely got off the bench before transferring to Montana. This season, Kossaras is in a rugged competition for playing time with the other big wings, all of whom could stake a claim to a piece of the Buffs’ rotation.
“It’s been good competition,” Sanders said. “Every day we’re all coming in with that mindset that we have to beat each other out. That makes us that much better. And the matchups are different every day. I may be with Jalin today, but I might be with Jon (Mani) or Drew (Crawford) tomorrow. So just kind of having that different team every day definitely helps.”