Showing posts with label Colorado Basketball. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Colorado Basketball. Show all posts

Sunday, March 23, 2014

Buff Fans Should Look to Arizona and Lute Olson for Inspiration

Not all that long ago, the Colorado Buffaloes Men's Basketball program was the mostly forgotten little brother to the mighty CU Football program. Over the years, heck, over the decades, the CU hoopsters were a model of mediocrity. Not that they were lacking in excitement, mind you. On occasion they played top 20 teams very tough when they cam to Boulder. On the road, though, especially in conference play, the Buffs were frequently a guaranteed a big fat L in the loss column.

Those who are new to rooting for the Buffs have been spoiled by the excellence of head coach Tad Boyle. In his four years at the helm in Boulder, the Buffs have won 92 games. For you non-math people, that's an average of 23 wins per year. To put that number in the proper perspective, remember that in the more than 100 years that Colorado played basketball before Boyle arrived, they had exactly FOUR twenty win seasons. Boyle has had the same number in only 4 years.

The most dominant team in the Pac-12 for the last 30 years has been the University of Arizona. Indeed, most younger people seem to think that Arizona's basketball excellence goes back a LONG, LONG time like Kansas, Kentucky, or North Carolina. But it is not true. It was the arrival of Lute Olson in 1983 who turned Arizona into a basketball powerhouse.

Like Colorado, the University of Arizona had a long history of mediocrity in college basketball. Before the arrival of Lute Olson, the Wildcats were one of the worst teams in the entire country. Arizona did not make it to the Big Dance in Olson's first season in Tucson. The same can be said for Tad Boyle's first team at Colorado.

The next three years, Arizona and Colorado have in common three trips to March Madness and three early losses in the tournament (only the 2012 CU team got past the first game). For Arizona, they were the first three of 23 CONSECUTIVE trips to the Big Dance. Included in that 23 year run were a national championship, a runner-up, 4 trips to the Final Four, 7 spots in the Elite Eight, and 11 appearances in the Sweet 16.

The last team that won fewer than 20 games for Lute Olson was the 1986-7 team which finished only 18-12, but still made it to the NCAA tournament. The next year the Wildcats went 35-3 and made it to the Final Four.

Why the history lesson? Many fans of Colorado took the 3rd straight defeat in the opening round (Round of 64, maybe? I refuse to call it the 2nd round) as a sign that bad things are ahead for the Buff basketball program.

The truth is that this is the early stages of the the Golden Era for Colorado basketball. Earlier this year we were ranked in the top 15 in the country! A couple of injuries changed everything, and the Buffs limped into postseason play with one of the youngest teams in the country.

Next year the Buffs  youngsters will be a year older and a year stronger. New blood is coming in as well. Count on 20 wins again, and maybe considerably more. Also count on the Buffs to be in the NCAA tournament once again. And if the University of Colorado knows what is in the best interest of the school and fans, they will do what is necessary to keep Tad Boyle the head coach at Colorado for a long, long time.

Thursday, March 20, 2014

Colorado Buffs Embarrass Themselves at the Big Dance in Orlando

Although it is only halftime as this is written, it is perfectly safe to say that the CU Buffs are "one and done" at this year's Big Dance. Now, getting to March Madness for the third year in a row is something for the Buffs to celebrate. More importantly, right now, the Buffs should be celebrating that most fans back home in Colorado DID NOT see their atrocious performance against Pittsburgh because the game was started at 11:40 in the morning Colorado time.

HALFTIME SCORE: PITT 46, COLORADO 18

No, that is not a typo. The Buffs were behind by 28 points in the first 20 minutes of the game to a team seeded lower than Colorado. Boyle should send 5 guys (or maybe 4 guys and a girl) from the C-Unit out to finish the game in the second half, because they couldn't do any worse than his scholarship players.

I don't know if Colorado planned any extra-curricular activities in Orlando, but if they did they should cancel them. Or, at the very least, make sure that none of the players wears CU apparel out in public. That way they might be able to avoid the finger pointing and laughter that might be hurled their way. No worries, though, since they would not be able to catch anything hurled their way anyway... not if their play today was any indication.

For those of us fans who were unfortunate enough to be able to watch the first half, it was like going  back in time to watching the 2012 CU football team. The game against Fresno State springs to mind.

Thank goodness we can now focus our attention on the Spring practices of Mike MacIntyre's Buff football team. After winning four games last year, hopes are high that the Buffs will win at least six games this year and become bowl eligible for the first time since 2007. In any case, after today, CU football and men's basketball fans can't face another defeat until at least September.

And, hopefully, it will be much longer before either team gets destroyed as badly as the Buff got today.

Happy Vernal Equinox! It's a beautiful time of year to be doing something besides watching sports on TV.

Saturday, January 25, 2014

CU Basketball: Buffs Thrashed by ASU -- Time to Take a Cold Hard Look at the Future

One of the great things about having a ranked team when most of your players are underclassmen is that the future looks bright for your program. One of the bad things about having a team dominated by youngsters is the risk that they will wander aimlessly without a true leader.

Such is the case with Tad Boyle's Colorado Buffaloes, who have looked lost and clueless as to which way to turn since projected first round NBA pick Spencer Dinwiddie blew out his knee and was lost for the season. Add in that Tre'Shaun Fletcher hurt his knee and is lost for the next couple months, and the Buffs' psyche just added insult to injury.

After Dinwiddie went down with CU enjoying a lead on the road at Washington, the Buffs proceeded to fall apart and lose that game. The shocking loss of one of the best players in the country gave a viable excuse to the Buff faithful. Even the next game, a loss at home to a ranked UCLA team, seemed reasonable as the Buffs looked to retool their game without Dinwiddie.

Thankfully, a bad to mediocre USC team came into town and the Buffs jumped on them early before coasting to a 21 point win. Unfortunately, what the Trojans gave the Buffs may very well have been bad medicine.

Their next game was on the road at the #1 team in the country, the University of Arizona. The Wildcats did to CU what the Buffs had done to USC.  Arizona raced out to an 18-4 lead before coasting to a 12 point win in which they were never challenged.

Buff fans held out high hopes that the loss to Arizona was to be expected even WITH Dinwiddie in the lineup, and that the 69-57 loss was MUCH better than the 90-65 shellacking the Buffs took last year in Kansas. Fans said the only game the Buffs could expect to win on this trip was against Arizona State in Tempe.

Unfortunately, the Sun Devils exposed the Colorado team to be a rudderless team without a captain to lead them. ASU destroyed the Buffs 72-51. Colorado fell out of the top 25 last week and after the game at ASU, the chances they make it back this year are slim and none.

After starting the season 14-2, Colorado has lost four of the last five. The Buffs now own a record of 15-6 and have ten games remaining in the regular season to see if they can win five and salvage a 20 win season. Two of those games come against Washington State and USC, who are the the only weak basketball links in the Pac-12. (Some might argue that Oregon State belongs in that list, but the Buffs don't play them again anyway).

The rest of the Buffs schedule is much tougher. They can look forward to their next three games being played here in Boulder at the Foam Dome, where they have been very tough to beat since Boyle became the coach. Then it's off to Los Angeles for two games, back to Boulder for two, then they play their last three on the road in Utah and the Bay Area.

Can the Buffs win five of the last ten? Not if they continue to play like they did tonight. Earlier this year, the Buffs set a team record by making ALL 27 free throws in game. Tonight, CU tossed brick after brick from the line and made only 9 of 24. Sadly to say, even if they had made the other 15, they still would have lost.

The next three games will be key for Colorado. If they win all three (and they should be winnable at home), the team has a chance to right the course. Winning even two of the three will be a good sign. If they win one or none, the season is effectively over. Even the NIT will look the other way.

Boyle really needs to evaluate the best and most efficient way to use this team. Maybe they need to run on offense and pressure on defense to take advantage of their athleticism. The problem with the young guys is that if you give them too much time to think, they end up thinking too much and forgetting to play the game.

NOTE: The Buffs have been slipping all over the floor the last several games, going back to the Dinwiddie injury. Maybe CU should be taking a hard look at what shoes they are choosing to wear.











Monday, January 6, 2014

Buffs Drop 100 on Oregon Ducks, Jump to 15th in AP Top 25

The Oregon Ducks came to Boulder with a perfect 13-0 record and close to the lead for the highest scoring team in Division 1 at 89.4 points per game. After giving up 100 points to the Tad Boyle's Buffaloes (2nd time this year OU has given up 100), the Ducks left Boulder with their first loss of the season.

The AP Top 25 for Men's Basketball came out this morning and Buffs leaped all the way to #15 from their prior ranking of #20. Strangely, San Diego State was ranked #21 last week and leapfrogged the Buffs all the way to #13 after defeating #16 Kansas while the Buffs were taking down the #10 team in Oregon.

What makes it stranger still is that the Buffs defeated Kansas when they were a top 10 team, and that win barely moved them up the polls in comparison. For now, though, the Buffs can bask in the glow of being the second highest rated team in the Pac-12 behind overall #1 Arizona. Oregon dropped to 17th in the latest poll.

It's been a down year for many of the traditional basketball powers. Indiana, North Carolina, Connecticut, and UCLA are out of the Top 25. Duke and Kansas are behind the Buffs in the rankings, and preseason #1 Kentucky is only a single place above Colorado in the latest poll. It's the first time that Boyle's Buffs have been ranked higher than his alma mater Kansas.

The Buffs play the Cougars of Washington State on Wednesday before taking on the Huskies of Washington on Saturday.

Saturday, December 7, 2013

Video: Colorado Buffaloes Win 9th Straight, Defeat Kansas Jayhawks 75-72

Things are starting to look pretty damn good for Tad Boyle's Colorado basketball team. The only team they have lost to this year, Baylor, took down #3 Kentucky last night. And today, the Buffaloes showed why they deserve to be well into the Top 20 in the country with a 75-72 win over #6 Kansas as the Coors Events Center in Boulder. The win was the 9th straight for the Buffs.

On a bitter cold day in Boulder, with outside temperatures hovering just a bit over zero, Buff fans and the famed C-Unit made the interior of the Foam Dome a pressure cooker at just the right temperature for roasting Jayhawks. With the game tied at 72 and three seconds on the clock, Colorado inbounded the ball to Askia Booker. 'Ski took the ball across midcourt and launched a long three point shot with half a second to go... and the three-point shot was all net as time expired. Colorado students and fans flooded the court after the shot and the victory.

Check out the video of Booker's incredible shot to win the game.

The win ended a 19-game losing streak to Kansas that went back to January 22, 2003. Like that game, Kansas entered the game as the #6 team in the country. And like that game as well, Kansas heads back home to the land that denies evolution with a loss.

Considering that Colorado was a mediocre basketball team for most of the years that they played in the same conference as Kansas, the KU fans and players must be awful happy now that Colorado has moved on to the Pac-12. Indeed, Kansas fans used to refer to the Coors Events Center as "Allen Fieldhouse West" because their games against CU in Boulder usually featured at least half the arena filled with Jayhawk fans.

That is no longer the case as head coach Tad Boyle has turned Boulder into a basketball hotbed. The Foam Dome has an official seating capacity of 11,064, but several hundred more were in attendance today. Truly, the crowd was "standing room only." According CU records, the record attendance at the Events Center was 11,363 in 2001 (also against Kansas). Today's final tally may surpass that.

Colorado was led in scoring by Spencer Dinwiddie and Askia Booker, each with 15 points. Xavier Johnson and Josh Scott added 14 apiece for the Buffs. Kansas was led by Super-Frosh Andrew Wiggins, who scored 22 points. Many analysts predict that Wiggins will be the NBA's #1 draft pick next April.

The Buffs do not play again until next Friday, when they host Elon. On December 21st, they will play #9 Oklahoma State in Las Vegas.





Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Boyle's Colorado Buffaloes Run Win Streak to Four Games with 23 Point Win Against Arkansas State

Following an opening game loss on the road to #20 Baylor, the Colorado Buffaloes basketball team has taken four straight games at home to bring their record to 4-1. Colorado defeated Arkansas State 93-70 at the Coors Events Center Monday night. The Gauchos of UC Santa Barbara visit Boulder this Thursday.

Coach Tad Boyle knew he had a talented but young team coming into the season, and after five games he has four players averaging double figures in scoring. Sophomore Josh Scott leads the team at 14.6 points per game, followed by Spencer Dinwiddie (Jr.) at 12.4, Xavier Johnson (So.) at 11.0, and Askia Booker (Jr.) at 10.4 points per contest. Just below double figures is redshirt freshman Wesley Gordon at 9.4 ppg.

The 93 points scored by the Buffaloes against Arkansas State represented the third time in four games that CU has scored more than 90 points in a game. During the entire 2012-13 season, the Buffs scored more than 90 points only one time. For the season, the Buffs are averaging 80.2 points per game while only giving up 67. The 80.2 points per game represents an almost 13 point increase from last year.

The Buffaloes have collectively made up for the loss of Andre Roberson, one of the top rebounders in the country the last several years. A first round NBA draft pick, Roberson left Colorado following his junior year. The Buffs are averaging 39.6 boards this season, which is an additional 2.4 rebounds per game over last year.


Saturday, November 9, 2013

Colorado Hoopsters' 72-60 Loss in Opener to Baylor Raises Questions About Leadership

Coming into the opening game of the season, head coach Tad Boyle had expressed some reservations. He knew his team had talent, but he wasn't sure the team was mature enough to put that talent to good use. At one point, when asked to describe his team in one word as they got ready for the season opener, the verb "overrated" was the one he chose. Turns out that Boyle has a pretty good reading of his team.

Colorado does indeed have a lot of talent, but they really need to dial that talent in if they expect to win on the road against a Top-25 opponent. Baylor entered the game as the #25 team in the country, and they did what was necessary to take care of business against a Colorado team with high expectations.

Many people around the country and the Pac-12 conference expect the CU backcourt tandem of Askia Booker and Spencer Dinwiddie to be the strength of the Buffaloes. After all, Dinwiddie is expected to be a first round draft pick next summer and Booker is one of the best streak shooters in the country when he is on fire.

When they fail to deliver, however, the Buffs are in for a tough road. Booker and Dinwiddie each played 36 minutes in the opening game to lead the Buffs. Unfortunately, they were a combined 7 for 28 from the field. To add insult to injury, the Buffs were a paltry 2 for 19 from three-point circle. All in all, it was testament to the athleticism of the Buffs that the final score was as close as it was.

For those who recorded the game but do not really have time to watch the entire thing, you can save yourself lots of anxiety and heartbreak by watching just the last 2 minutes and change. It is an effective microcosm of the game for the Buffs.

Colorado was down by 12 with around 4 minutes left, and had cut the lead to 6 and had the ball with two minutes on the clock. Then, to Boyle's and Buffs fan's chagrin, the team ran the clock down as if they were ahead. With less than 5 seconds left on the shot clock, Colorado heaved up a horrible shot without a prayer. It missed, of course, and Baylor got the rebound before promptly moving down the court to score and put the Buffs away.

Later, after the lead had been rebuilt to 12, the Buff's final shot was taken by Booker as the clock expired. It was supposed to be a slam dunk, but instead it ricocheted off the rim high into the air. It was a fitting end to a bad game, and one that the coaching staff hopes will inspire the Buffaloes to play smarter. If not, one of the toughest schedules in the country looks to be a lot tougher.