This offseason, more than 1,500 Division I college women’s basketball players put their names into the NCAA transfer portal — roughly 4.2 per team.

These days, it’s almost more of a surprise when a player doesn’t transfer. For Colorado’s Tabitha Betson, however, leaving was never a serious consideration.

“I definitely have a really good relationship with the coaches, which I love,” the rising sophomore said. “I feel like a lot of other places don’t have that — the open door policy, the willingness to communicate. I personally love that.

“And then I also feel like I’m just not really a type of person who wanted to transfer after the first year. When I committed here, I imagined myself graduating, spending the four years here, making Colorado, like, a home. So I feel like I just want to stay and keep building on that vision.”

Next year will once again be a dramatic change for the Buffs. For the second year in a row, they’ll have just four players back. After falling just short of a fourth consecutive NCAA Tournament, the Buffs (21-13, 9-9 Big 12) will have at least nine new players next season.

Head coach JR Payne will rely heavily on the four returning players, though, including Betson, who made significant strides during her freshman season in Boulder.

“I am so happy that Tabitha decided to stay,” Payne said. “So many freshmen don’t stay, and she is a really, really loyal kid and believes in what we’re doing and the university in general. And, I think she believes in herself and knowing that she’s going to have an opportunity to have a really big impact. I’m just really, really excited for what I think is going to be just a major breakout year for her.”A 6-foot-2 forward from Melbourne, Australia, Betson came into last year with high expectations. The highest-ranked freshman recruit in the Big 12 last year (per ESPN’s HoopGurlz), she was voted by conference coaches as the preseason freshman of the year.

Betson didn’t meet those expectations. In fact, she didn’t make the postseason all-freshman team, finishing with 5.4 points and 3.8 rebounds per game.

That’s not the say the season wasn’t a success, however. For a young player moving to a new country, adapting to a new culture and a new style of basketball, her growth was evident to her and the coaches.

“I feel like I had a little bit of a bumpy road here,” Betson said. “I mean, all freshmen have their own struggles and whatever, but I feel like my development over the year was really good, and I think a lot of it was to do with the coaches and my relationship to them. Just knowing that no matter how I was playing at certain points, to just stay consistent and kind of believe in what they’re telling me and believe in the system. So I feel like I’ve grown a lot in that, and grown a lot just getting used to the college game and the speed and the type of players, and especially the Big 12, as well.”

Betson admitted that being projected as the preseason freshman of the year “did get in my head a little bit,” but believes she’s learned valuable lessons from that.

“I think I got too focused on results and expectations, and the way I was supposed to play and what I was supposed to do rather than just kind of enjoying the moment,” she said. “So I think, honestly, that experience helped me to figure that out, and I’m kind of happy to have learned that now for the future.”

Looking to the future, Betson is eager for a more comfortable second season with the Buffs.

“Towards the end of the year, I was just kind of getting better,” she said. “I think going somewhere else would have disrupted that. So I think the excitement of having a bigger role (at CU) and then also knowing the system more was a big part of me staying, as well.”

Payne is eager to see a more developed Betson next season and said she’s already seen a change since last summer.

“It’s already a different Tabitha,” Payne said. “It feels like she’s really coming into her own, as a player, as a young woman, just in general what it takes to be a successful collegiate athlete. I think she knows what she wants. I think she’s capable of really developing into some leadership this year, and I’m excited to really challenge her and support her in that development.”