Rider Portela getting acclimated with Colorado basketball’s large freshman class

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready… When Rider Portela joined the Colorado Buffaloes, he was projected as the only freshman in CU’s 2026 recruiting class. Seven months later, when Rider went through his first official workout at Colorado, his face was just one of many in what grew into a bloated rookie class. Portela’s journey to Boulder might not quite qualify as the sort of thing that is becoming a dying breed in college basketball, but in an era of massive roster overhauls every spring, landing early signees out of high school no longer is the norm. Signing early also…