Buffaloes’ Barthelemy, Parquet reportedly enter transfer portal

The Colorado Buffaloes will reportedly lose two veteran players to the transfer portal, according to various sources including Pat Rooney of Buffzone.com. Keeshawn Barthelemy and Eli Parquet have played their final games in Boulder.

Keeshawn Barthelemy has not officially put his name in the portal, but he plans to explore transfer options this offseason. Kee’s potential transfer is not really surprising, since there are young guards on the CU roster who earned minutes over him as the year progressed. He had been starting all year, but Julian Hammond took over that role, while fellow freshman KJ Simpson played the most minutes at point guard and looks like the team’s future star.

It seems that Tad Boyle prefers guards who set the table for the rest of the offense rather than a guy who is more of a pure scorer. Barthelemy was best suited as a sixth man for this particular roster, but he’s too good to not start somewhere else. Despite already being on campus for three years, he will have three years of eligibility remaining, as he used a redshirt year and played the free Covid season. He’s going to have a lot of options to start in a power conference.

Elijah Parquet’s transfer follows the same pattern as D’Shawn Schwartz and Dallas Walton’s departures last offseason, as he will fulfill his four years at CU before moving on as a veteran transfer. It might seem tough that Boyle has not retained any old players in their extra years of eligibility, but he’s made it clear that he will prioritize developing younger players who would otherwise be blocked on the depth chart. Besides, in the context of Parquet, he was injured halfway though the year and was outplayed by Tristan da Silva and Nique Clifford.

As for Parquet, he’s going to be a steal on the transfer market. He’s an elite defender who can play the 2 or the 3. He was named Pac-12 All-Defense as a junior and opposing players voted him as the toughest one-on-one defender in the conference. He’s somewhat of a limited offensive player, mostly scoring on threes and cuts, but he’s come up with some special plays, most notably his last minute, game-tying three that helped defeat Arizona in 2021. (Go ahead at watch that full game).

As more and more players transfer, we will continue keeping an eye on former forever Buffs and celebrate their games as if they were still here.

Not to bury the lede or anything, but Boyle will also be prepared to replace Jabari Walker, as he is testing the NBA Draft waters. He’s projected as a late second round draft pick, so hopefully he’s going to talk to teams and see how he can develop his game for future drafts, just like McKinley Wright did after his sophomore and junior seasons. We don’t have any inside information so we have no idea what’s going into Walker’s decision.