A ustin Dufault is still a big man on campus.

But the 6-8 freshman from Killdeer, N.D., isn't the only big man on his basketball team anymore. Dufault is adjusting to life at Colorado after arriving in Boulder on June 1 to take summer classes and workout with his new teammates.

Dufault, who averaged 26 points and 12 rebounds as a high school senior, is one of five incoming freshmen CU head coach Jeff Bzdelik and his staff are counting on to get the Buffs out of the Big 12 basement and into the NCAA Tournament in the next four years.

The Camera plans on introducing you to the class -- which also includes Trey Eckloff, Ryan Kelley, Toby Veal and Nate Tomlinson -- one by one this summer.

Here's our first conversation with Dufault ...

BC: Tell me about Killdeer, N.D.

AD: It's definitely a small town, there's only about 700 to 800 people in the town. My high school was 120 kids, grades nine through 12. I've talked to a lot of guys on the team and they're like, 'Seven hundred people in your town? I had that many kids in my class.' It's kind of hard for them to imagine that small of a town, but it's a great town and I liked growing up there. There's a lot of great people back there and they're very supportive of me coming out here. A small town feel is a nice thing. Everybody supported me pretty well and I had a lot of fun there.

BC: So what did you do for fun growing up?

AD: Played a lot of hoops, I guess. I fished a lot when I was younger, hunted a lot when I got older. There's a lot of outdoors stuff to do, we have the Badlands right there so you can go hiking and there's a lot of recreation you can do outdoors. BC: How long have you been the tallest guy in your hometown?

AD: Probably since my freshman or sophomore year. I was about 6-5, 6-6 as a freshman and then about 6-7 as a sophomore.

BC: Where did you get your height from?

AD: It's funny, my dad is actually only 5-11 and my mom is 5-8. But her side of the family has all the height on it, so that's where I got my height from.

BC: When did you realize you had the talent and were good enough to play major college basketball?

AD: I'd have to say at the beginning of last summer on the AAU circuit. I played in some smaller tournaments and did really well and it just kind of carried into the bigger tournaments in July. Then I just started picking up more interest and eventually it started building. I kind of realized that my dream was coming true and I was going to have the opportunity to play at a major college.

BC: You made a visit to Arizona State and some other BCS schools (Minnesota, Washington State) made you scholarship offers. When it came time to make your decision, why did you decide to come to Colorado?

AD: Mostly because of Coach Bzdelik's style of play. It seemed like it would be a really good fit for me. And also when I came here for my visit I heard a lot about the area and how nice it was and that was another thing I really looked forward to on my visit. When I came here it was true, it is a really nice area. And then meeting all the players on my visit is one of the things that also sealed it. They're a great group of guys and everybody gets along pretty well. Those are the three main things that sold me on it.

BC: Did Bzdelik make a trip to Killdeer during the recruiting process?

AD: Yep, Coach Bzdelik came out once and Coach (Steve) McClain came out twice. I took them around Killdeer, it wasn't a very long ride. But it was nice having them come to Killdeer and then they saw a couple games this winter. It was good.

BC: What have your first couple of weeks in Boulder been like?

AD: I like the campus a lot, it's very scenic with the mountains and everything. I like my professors in the classes I have. As far as the guys, I get along with all of them great and I like them all. We have pretty good chemistry. Hopefully we can just start to build and start doing some things around here.

BC: Bzdelik has done a lot of bragging about your recruiting class since the early signing day last November, have you guys talked amongst yourselves about what you can do over the next four years together to turn this program around?

AD: I'm rooming with Trey right now and he's pretty excited to be here. I've talked to Nate kind of on the Internet, he's back in Australia right now. They're both excited for the future and both of them just talk about how if we work hard we have an opportunity to become a good team and have good team unity and things like that. I haven't talked to Ryan or Toby yet, but talking to Trey and Nate and knowing how excited they are to be here kind of gets me excited to know I'm going to be playing with guys who are ready to start working hard.

BC: Coach Bzdelik says he'll probably have three freshmen in the starting lineup next season. How much of a motivating factor is it to know you guys are going to be thrown into the Big 12 fray right away?

AD: It definitely pushes you in the summer having that in the back of your mind. A lot of times you think of a workout and you kind of dread it. But when you think you have an opportunity to play you have to make the most of it. This summer is very important with all the workouts and pick-up games. Playing with my teammates is very important so I can start to jell with them and in the weight room start to get stronger and quicker so hopefully I will have the opportunity to play.

BC: What about your game fits well with this system?

AD: I'm pretty versatile. I can play a number of positions, and in Coach Bzdelik's system everybody has to be able to handle the ball, you have to be able to shoot, dribble and pass. With my size I think I fit in pretty well with that.

BC: How have the older players treated you so far? I guess there aren't that many of them with Jermyl Jackson-Wilson being the only senior in the program.

AD: I've talked to Jermyl a little bit and he's always giving me and Trey advice. The older guys are always helping us out and trying to instruct us. They're just trying to teach us how to play the game the right way, the way they want us to play with them. And it has helped out a lot. They've been great leaders so far.