From the time she arrived in Boulder as the head coach of the Colorado women’s basketball team in the spring of 2016, JR Payne has had a blue collar approach to building a roster.

From 2022-24, the Buffaloes reached the NCAA Tournament three years in a row with a roster filled with players who took on an underdog and blue collar mentality. This past season, the Buffs were just outside of the tournament.

In the still somewhat-new transfer portal era, where players are changing teams almost annually and collecting a lot of money to do so, CU’s approach won’t change.

CU won’t be in the mix for the high-priced, top-rated transfers, such as Olivia Miles (who went from Notre Dame to TCU), Ta’Niya Latson (from Florida State to South Carolina) and MiLaysia Fulwiley (from South Carolina to LSU).

This offseason, though, the Buffs have added four transfers that they believe fit what they need to be successful.

“We are thrilled,” Payne said. “We made a commitment to our returners and to ourselves, of course, but we talked with our four returners about the fact that we would be really, really intentional about recruiting great people to come in and focus on being a great teammate, being really competitive, wanting to help us win. Just recruiting the right people, and I 100% believe we’ve done that.”

Focusing on the perimeter, the Buffs have added guards Maeve McErlane (from DePaul), Claire O’Connor (Gonzaga), Zyanna Walker (Kansas State) and Desiree Wooten (North Texas).

“We’ve filled some needs that we have, and we’ve also done it with people that line up culturally, at least as much as we can tell, without having coached them before,” Payne said.

For the second year in a row, the Buffs have just four players remaining from this past season. That group includes senior forward Jade Masogayo, junior center JoJo Nworie, sophomore forward Tabitha Betson and sophomore guard Kennedy Sanders.

In addition, the Buffs have five incoming freshmen. It’s a group they like, but it’s also a group lacking experience.

The four transfers will bring experience and depth to the perimeter, and all four fit the CU profile of unselfish playmakers.

Wooten averaged 11.5 points for North Texas, while also posting 2.6 assists per game. Walker averaged 8.2 points and 3.4 assists, while O’Connor averaged 7.6 points and 1.2 assists. McErlane missed last season with an injury, but in 2023-24 she averaged 4.6 points and 2.9 assists.

“It’s what works for us,” Payne said. “We haven’t just had one player with a bunch of assists. Everybody shares the ball, and the scoring is really pretty balanced. And I think that works well for us in the system that we run, so I’m really grateful to see those type of numbers in the players that we have coming in. It shows their ability to score, but also their unselfishness and being ready to make the extra pass.”

CU also places high importance on tough defense. Walker and Wooten were all-defensive team players in their conferences.

With the newcomers, CU has 13 players on board for next year, which is two below the NCAA maximum of 15. There might be another addition at some point, but Payne said she’s happy with the roster as it sits now.

“I guess the important thing to focus on is we tried to recruit players that cared a lot more about the impact that they can have on the floor, the type of culture they want to be a part of, over just chasing a bag,” Payne said. “Everybody in this day and age wants to be a part of NIL, and everybody is, but we recruited people that care more about having an impact, being a great teammate, going to a winning program, being in an environment where they can really develop.

“We’ve had so many pros in the last few years; almost everyone that’s graduated has gone pro, and so things like that were much more important to the players that we signed this spring.”