Contact CU Independent Assistant Sports Editor Alissa Noe at alissa.noe@colorado.edu and follow her on twitter @crazysportgirl1
Freshman walk-on guard Mitch Lombard sacrificed a lot to play basketball at the University of Colorado, but it’s something he’s always dreamed about as a kid from Castle Pines, Colorado.
“This was one of my dreams since I was growing up,” Lombard said. “I remember in sixth grade I actually came to my first game here. That was back when they were still in the Big 12, but ever since then I really wanted to play here.”
Back in 2009, when Lombard attended his first Colorado basketball game, the Buffaloes stampeded over Kansas State under the leadership of Jeff Bzdelik, head coach Tad Boyle’s predecessor. Although the Buffs ultimately lost that game 77-75 in overtime, the impression the program left with Lombard stuck.
“Seeing college basketball for the first time and growing up here, it really made me want to play here,” he remembered.
Two seasons later, when current head coach Tad Boyle and his staff took over the program and made a semifinal run in the National Invitation Tournament right away, Lombard’s devotion to the school grew even stronger.
“Just seeing the success (Boyle) had early on and just his staff coming in and just making an immediate impact, that really affected my decision in coming here,” Lombard said. “It’s just a great coaching staff, and that’s always what I wanted to play for.”
Because he only lived about an hour south of Boulder growing up, Boyle and his staff kept an eye on Lombard during his tenure with the Colorado Hawks AAU team.
“I was always in communication with them and since I was a hometown kid,” Lombard said. “They kind of got to see me better, and that’s how the relationships started.”
At Rock Canyon High School, Lombard lettered in basketball all four years as he led his team with 15.6 points per game, 4.8 assists per game and 3.8 rebounds per game. He made the All-Continental League first team during both his junior and senior years of high school and was named to the second team all-state during his senior year.
His high school performance garnered the interest of some Division-I schools, who in turn offered him scholarships to come play for them. Colorado was not one of them.
“I had a lot of Ivy League interest, and schools like Wofford and Pepperdine,” Lombard said. “I actually had a few scholarship offers from schools like (the University of Denver) and things, so definitely it was a hard choice to make in coming here.”
But in the end, he believes the sacrifice of paying full tuition is worth the opportunity to play for Colorado basketball.
“Definitely,” Lombard said. “My time here so far has been really great. I just look forward to earning my dream and playing here one day.”
Although he already made the team and practices with his teammates every day leading up to the start of season, Lombard still has a long way to go before he catches up to Boyle’s style and pace of play.
“I think right now it’s just getting up to the speed of the game,” Lombard said. “I was fortunate enough to be able to come here every summer and get into that more, so that helped. But I just need to get stronger, more athletic and as my time here increases, I’ll learn the offense and things like that more. It’s just getting comfortable right now and improvement.”
That won’t deter him from achieving his end goal, though.
“My dream for CU is to eventually earn a scholarship and be able to play meaningful minutes one day,” he said. “It’s a long road, but just like Coach Boyle and all his staff would want to make the Elite Eight or the Final Four one day, I have my dream of playing here.”
