At this stage of the season, reality is settling in for those players at the end of the bench. With more than a month’s worth of games in the books and the start of conference play inching closer, life on the bench probably isn’t going to change much for those stuck there, barring an unforeseen injury. Given that trend isn’t likely to change going into Big 12 play, and the fact Colorado’s rotation so far has been set in stone, the freshman trio of Andrew Crawford, Ian Inman and Tacko Ifaola are being tasked with staying sharp without the reward of consistent playing time. “Those guys, they’re all wonderful young men,” CU head coach Tad Boyle said. “They’ve not pouted, they’ve not quit working. Andrew was as good at practice (Tuesday) as he’s been all year. You’ve just got to be ready when you’re number’s called. We’ll see how it all plays out. But those guys are an integral part of our team in practice. It’s a long season, and those guys are early in their career. There’s a lot of basketball ahead for those guys. “I don’t want them to get down. Just be ready when your number’s called because, who knows? Sickness, injury, things happen. Those guys got to be ready.” Last year, injuries and ineffectiveness forced Boyle to utilize 18 different starting lineups in 35 games. None of them were used more than six times. It has been the complete reverse so far this year. CU has used the same starting lineup throughout its 8-1 start — Barrington Hargress, Felix Kossaras, Sebastian Rancik, Bangot Dak and Elijah Malone — while settling on a four-player rotation off the bench with the freshman quartet of Jalin Holland, Isaiah Johnson, Alon Michaeli and Josiah Sanders. Inman and Ifaola are true freshmen, but Crawford is in his second year with the Buffs after redshirting last year. Boyle has previously said if a game dictated the need for 10th player it would either be Ifaola in the frontcourt or Inman along the wing, depending on the need. That has almost entirely left out Crawford, who has played just a combined 9 minutes, 49 seconds in three brief appearances off the bench. Crawford missed the Thanksgiving week trip to the Acrisure Holiday Classic due to an illness. He scored the first four points and grabbed the first two rebounds of his collegiate career during CU’s rout of Alabama State on Nov. 17. “It’s all about staying ready, keeping a chip on my shoulder in practice and just making it hard on the coaches, making that decision hard not to play me,” said Crawford, a former standout at ThunderRidge. “Obviously I respect their decision, and there’s nothing I can do about it but keep working my butt off and keep on getting better every day and staying ready.” Inman made appearances in each of the first five games, but has logged just a lone 56-second appearance against Cal Baptist in the four games since. Ifaola has played only slightly more than Crawford, totaling a little more than 10 minutes of action in his three brief cameos off the bench. “It’s a fine line, sometimes. A lot of thought, a lot of debate, a lot of data went into it,” Boyle said. “It’s a fluid situation. That’s why practices matter, for sure.” ...read more read less