Senior forward Anaëlle Dutat drives towards the basket in the game against Colorado School of Mines at the CU Events Center on Oct. 29, 2025. (Peter FitzGerald/CU Independent)
With a new team comes new expectations. That’s why the Colorado women’s basketball team and head coach JR Payne are excited to see their new product hit the court after a ninth-place finish in the Big 12 last year.
A 21-13 season and 9-9 in conference play was good enough to be a No. 1 seed in the 2025 Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament last year. However, the Buffs look very different this year. With five transfers and five freshmen, the locker room remains to be molded.
Payne’s tenth year with the program includes three returning players from last year: senior forward Jade Masogayo, redshirt sophomore guard Kennedy Sanders and fifth-year center JoJo Nworie. All three of them will look to take steps forward – especially Masogayo.
“Jade Masogayo has taken a tremendous amount of ownership of who we are going to be moving forward,” Payne said during the University of Colorado Boulder’s Winter Media Day.
Last year was Masogayo’s first year in the black and gold after transferring from Missouri State, shooting nearly 60% from the court while averaging 12.5 points and 4.8 rebounds per game.
Forward Jade Masogayo blocks a New Mexico player during Colorado’s game against New Mexico at the CU Events Center on Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025. (Tyler Phillips/CU Independent)
Heading into this year, Colorado’s success will hinge on the performance of Masogayo. As expectations continue to grow, the senior forward was among ten players to be named to the All-Big 12 Women’s Basketball Preseason Team.
“[I] just play my game and just not really think about that,” Masogayo said. “I’m just trying to play basketball.”
As the face of this Buffs team, Masogayo helped bring in the types of players that would be a good fit for the culture of Colorado.
“She was a phenomenal recruiter this past spring,” Payne said. “[She] really invested in the players that we were recruiting, the type of people that she and we wanted to bring into our program.”
Among those new faces is senior Rhode Island transfer Anaëlle Dutat. Dutat averaged 8.0 points per game and 7.0 rebounds per game last season, including four double-doubles. In the season opener win against New Mexico, Dutat led the Buffs with 16 points and 13 rebounds.
“[Dutat] is a really, really high-IQ basketball player,” Payne said. “I could put her in any single position. If we had to play tomorrow, I could play her one through five.”
The 6-foot senior was also named to the Atlantic 10 All-Defensive Team, averaging 1.7 steals per game and 0.5 blocks per game. Her defensive presence will be felt this year, as she put up four steals against New Mexico.
Despite being a returner, JoJo Nworie remains a wildcard. The Texas Tech transfer has suffered season-ending injuries during both the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons. Last year, Nworie appeared in ten games, averaging 2.5 points per game.
Nworie went back home to Nigeria to be with her family during the offseason, arriving back in Boulder last month.
“Being home was really, really good for JoJo,” Payne said. She looks really strong. She’s feeling good. I think she’s very recovered from her knee injury from the year before that she was working on.”
“I’m here to give all I have, all I got,” Nworie said.
Freshman forward Logyn Greer goes for a layup in the game against Colorado School of Mines at the CU Events Center on Oct. 29, 2025. (Peter FitzGerald/CU Independent)
One of the biggest offseason splashes for CU has been the addition of four-star freshman Logyn Greer, who comes in at 6-foot-4 with a 6-foot-10 wingspan.
“We definitely wanted to bolster our backcourt with some athleticism and some defensive prowess,” Payne said.
“I’m a big shot blocker,” Greer said. “I try to model my game after [Kevin Durant].”
Colorado plays all four preseason top-25 Big 12 teams (No. 14 Iowa State, No. 16 Baylor, No. 17 TCU and No. 22 Oklahoma State).
“I definitely feel like we can do what we need to do to get back to the top,” Payne said. “We were building our program. It’s culture, it’s cohesiveness, it’s understanding our identity and leaning into that.”
Colorado ranked ninth in the Big 12 Coaches Preseason Poll, just one behind eighth-place Utah.
It’s a new look team for Payne, and there’s no reason the Buffs can’t reach for March.
“We’re going to be able to play fast and exciting in transition,” Payne said. “It’s going to be a really good brand of basketball to watch.”
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Jake Chau at jake.chau@colorado.edu.
