#13/12 Dayton Lookalike & Game thread - MBB (Chicago, Saturday, 12/21, 4:30 PM MT, CBS SN)

[ZandiBuff]

“Fight with me!”
“Match my intensity!”

Battey had an unbelievable 9 offensive rebounds while pushing and challenging his teammates.

He’s on track to enter Spencer/Chauncey territory as my favorite all-time player at CU.

He's already there for me. He's everything I want in a player - effort, leadership, heart. I can handle losses when the team / players try their best, I cannot stand losses due to lack of effort.

Evan is perfect from all of those standpoints

 

[wsp4820]

Maybe I'm only remembering his highlights. But in my mind, CB is way better in terms of athleticism, strength, outside shooting, post play and ball handling. Ya, pretty much everything.

Whenever Kountz is dribbling, I'm worrying about TO, every single time. It's that bad IMO.

You are largely remembering his highlights. You’re also forgetting that you are remembering a fifth year senior and transfer with a **** ton of experience. Will Kountz get to his level? Maybe, maybe not. But it’s not fair to compare Carlon’s last season with DK right now.

 

[cnbuff410]

You are largely remembering his highlights. You’re also forgetting that you are remembering a fifth year senior and transfer with a **** ton of experience. Will Kountz get to his level? Maybe, maybe not. But it’s not fair to compare Carlon’s last season with DK right now.

Sure, it's not like Carlon was bad in his Utah year. His sophomore year in Utah already shows better ball handling and athleticism.

My biggest concern is the ball handling. Is it a skill that can be improved? Sure. But we see plenty of guys having same ****ty ball handling throughout all 4 years. It has nothing to do with his confidence, it's simply the case that his foundament is unsound.

 

[tante]

Buffs increase NCAA tourney odds to 84%. Most likely seed is the dreaded #5

Colorado Buffaloes

Colorado Buffaloes team page with results, picks, power rankings, odds and stats.

www.teamrankings.com

 

[BuffLuke80]

He's already there for me. He's everything I want in a player - effort, leadership, heart. I can handle losses when the team / players try their best, I cannot stand losses due to lack of effort.

Evan is perfect from all of those standpoints

I was glad he just cramped up, and it wasn't something else. You could definitely tell when he wasn't out there.

 

[RiverBuff]

I found it interesting that the Buffs only needed two points to win it at the end of OT. Kin had a great inlet pass to Bey who drove to the basket. He was collapsed on and found Shwartz out past the three point line.

Shows how comfortable and ingrained from practicing that Shwartz was out there. He could have been closer for a 'easier' two point basket, but stood and shot where he's most confident at. Great awareness of the clock by all.

It was great to see that drive by him for a layup with about a minute left.

 

[DBT]

What does a shot like the one Schwartz made do for his confidence? It’s gotta be huge. And the most important thing a shooter needs is confidence.

 

[Buffnik]

Buffs increase NCAA tourney odds to 84%. Most likely seed is the dreaded #5

Colorado Buffaloes

Colorado Buffaloes team page with results, picks, power rankings, odds and stats.

www.teamrankings.com

I'd love a 5 seed. These days, unless you're a 1 or 2 then you're going to be playing a team that is very capable of winning a tournament game without it being an incredible upset. 12-seeds are damn good teams at the 2nd tier of the mid-majors, but those 13 and 14 seeds have also become crazy dangerous the past decade or so.

 

[Buffnik]

What does a shot like the one Schwartz made do for his confidence? It’s gotta be huge. And the most important thing a shooter needs is confidence.

For sure. He's our most gifted scorer, so it's huge. Not only for Schwartz's own offense, but what it means for teams defending us. Part of the problem we've been having is that teams have been collapsing to prevent Kin's drives and post-ups from our bigs. If they have to stretch the defense for Schwartz, it opens up the court. If we can then also get that from Gatlng along with the way Siewert already stretches the court, our half court offense turns from a struggle into a machine. Once things are clicking, I think we've got a Top 50 offense to go with being a Top 20 defense and Top 20 rebounding team. That will win a lot of games.

 

[jumped ship]

yeah, I agree with most of what Nik usually says, but not onboard with DK right now...he was a player who Tad said had a strong offseason, so I had some solid hopes...they've all been dashed

wouldn't be surprised if KB & DC take the bulk of his minutes next year, unless he is better with the ball and on D

 

[Buffnik]

yeah, I agree with most of what Nik usually says, but not onboard with DK right now...he was a player who Tad said had a strong offseason, so I had some solid hopes...they've all been dashed

wouldn't be surprised if KB & DC take the bulk of his minutes next year, unless he is better with the ball and on D

DK is a really good scorer in the open court. He's finding his way n the half court. The big thing is the 3pt shooting slump. He was only a 30% guy last year and he's been a 15% guy this year. That's worse than the sophomore Ski slump so far. But the encouraging thing to me with his shooting stroke is what we're seeing from him on the FT line. You don't hit 85% from the charity stripe if you don't have a good, repeatable stroke. He has that now. The rest will come.

 

[MtnBuff]

What does a shot like the one Schwartz made do for his confidence? It’s gotta be huge. And the most important thing a shooter needs is confidence.

For sure. He's our most gifted scorer, so it's huge. Not only for Schwartz's own offense, but what it means for teams defending us. Part of the problem we've been having is that teams have been collapsing to prevent Kin's drives and post-ups from our bigs. If they have to stretch the defense for Schwartz, it opens up the court. If we can then also get that from Gatlng along with the way Siewert already stretches the court, our half court offense turns from a struggle into a machine. Once things are clicking, I think we've got a Top 50 offense to go with being a Top 20 defense and Top 20 rebounding team. That will win a lot of games.

Wins like that are huge for the individual player but also huge for entire team.

A lot of winning close games in basketball is believing in yourself and expecting good things to happen. A win like that one sticks with a team.

 

[Goose]

You are largely remembering his highlights. You’re also forgetting that you are remembering a fifth year senior and transfer with a **** ton of experience. Will Kountz get to his level? Maybe, maybe not. But it’s not fair to compare Carlon’s last season with DK right now.

This. And for the record CB had a 53.3 TS% and shot 30.7% from 3. Last year DK shot 51 TS% and 30.8% from 3.

(In the interest of full disclosure DKs numbers are a dumpster fire this year).

 

[ahoelsken]

I'd love a 5 seed. These days, unless you're a 1 or 2 then you're going to be playing a team that is very capable of winning a tournament game without it being an incredible upset. 12-seeds are damn good teams at the 2nd tier of the mid-majors, but those 13 and 14 seeds have also become crazy dangerous the past decade or so.

I want out of the 8-9/7-10 games. Our body of work is good enough to where if we don't lose one we shouldn't (Cal in Berkeley for example) we're in a really solid spot.

 

[LifeofaBuff]

DK is a really good scorer in the open court. He's finding his way n the half court. The big thing is the 3pt shooting slump. He was only a 30% guy last year and he's been a 15% guy this year. That's worse than the sophomore Ski slump so far. But the encouraging thing to me with his shooting stroke is what we're seeing from him on the FT line. You don't hit 85% from the charity stripe if you don't have a good, repeatable stroke. He has that now. The rest will come.

DK is the TWTH. ...
...
...
TURNOVER WAITING TO HAPPEN

 

[cnbuff410]

This. And for the record CB had a 53.3 TS% and shot 30.7% from 3. Last year DK shot 51 TS% and 30.8% from 3.

(In the interest of full disclosure DKs numbers are a dumpster fire this year).

With completely different volume. Also DK was mostly playing against other bench players.

As I said above, it's not just about stat. Even with the same number, I am at least confident that when the ball is in CB's hand something horrible won't happen, not sure if I can say the same thing about DK.

There are many other things about a player than just shooting percentage

 

[Buffnik]

With completely different volume. Also DK was mostly playing against other bench players.

As I said above, it's not just about stat. Even with the same number, I am at least confident that when the ball is in CB's hand something horrible won't happen, not sure if I can say the same thing about DK.

There are many other things about a player than just shooting percentage

CB was a great leader and had the clutch gene. That’s a different conversation. I was just using his game as a comparable to DK and how DK can be the type of scorer Tad’s offenses require to avoid inefficient dry spells. He can get to the rim, finish and draw fouls. Developing his shot and his PG skills.

 

[cnbuff410]

CB was a great leader and had the clutch gene. That’s a different conversation. I was just using his game as a comparable to DK and how DK can be the type of scorer Tad’s offenses require to avoid inefficient dry spells. He can get to the rim, finish and draw fouls. Developing his shot and his PG skills.

I think our biggest difference is the PG skill. I don't see it. But I do hope I'm wrong. I'm just so disappointed for his performance this year. Not just the offensive struggling. Also the effort level.

 

[pigdog]

I mentioned to my family the foul on the 3 pt shot where Dayton guy made 3 free throws was going to be the game decider. I thought that was going to be significant and result in a loss. Thankfully, we powered through

 

[ahoelsken]

One more thing with last night-we should be playing at least one game like that every Nov/Dec.

 

[Ruckus]

Huge ****ing win. So much to be happy about. Can’t stop smiling. Why the **** are we debating Brown vs Kountz in this thread and ****ing that all up?

 

[Goose]

Huge ****ing win. So much to be happy about. Can’t stop smiling. Why the **** are we debating Brown vs Kountz in this thread and ****ing that all up?

At least we’re not discussing our fourth best big or a ****ty coach who hasn’t been here in over a decade. Progress?

 

[ahoelsken]

At least we’re not discussing our fourth best big or a ****ty coach who hasn’t been here in over a decade. Progress?

Maybe, but my expectations were a lot higher for this team. This group should make the NCAA Tournament in the 3-6 range.

 

[cu3x]

YouTube has a half-hour version of the game

 

[jumped ship]

Huge ****ing win. So much to be happy about. Can’t stop smiling. Why the **** are we debating Brown vs Kountz in this thread and ****ing that all up?

could move it to the offensively inept thread, but this discuss is certainly on topic with how the game last night played out and our success going forward

we won last night despite our lack of bench contribution

my last thought on this is — DK’s potential play looks more like a Dinwiddie (drive to the rim and either finish or draw a foul) than a Carlon Brown (who used his size to bully some people, I loved his iso game) — obviously DK has gone the wrong direction so far this year, but he did come on strong late last season, so hopefully he can repeat that

if not, well, I feel as though his time at CU will have a similar result to a more recent Brown who was on the team

we’re all in agreeance, we need a serviceable second guard option to hit our ceiling, whether it’s someone like SG stepping up, or if it’s by committee

 

[FM-Buff]

YouTube has a half-hour version of the game

 

[tante]

I mentioned to my family the foul on the 3 pt shot where Dayton guy made 3 free throws was going to be the game decider. I thought that was going to be significant and result in a loss. Thankfully, we powered through

Maybe bragging about how you incorrectly predicted the buffs demise on a message board of buffs fans isn't your best idea. Probably a better place to sniff your own farts.

 

[Buffnik]

Took a look at KenPom to see where our Buff rank tonight:

#20 in Adjusted Defense
#85 in Adjusted Offense
We have a +15.25 on Adjusted Efficiency Margin -- good for a #40 national rank.

On the Four Factors (statistically, the things most tied to winning):

Effective FG%: O #246 (very bad) / D #49 (very good)
Turnover %: O #277 (awful) / D #45 (very good)
O Rebounding %: O #50 (very good) / D #53 (very good)
FTA/FGA: O #24 (excellent) / D #48 (very good)

Basically we're doing everything very well on the defensive end. We really don't have a weakness as a team that plays straight up without getting a lot of steals or blocks, but still forces a lot of turnovers and a low shooting percentage without fouling much or giving up many offensive rebounds. About as solid and frustrating for an offense as it gets.

On the offensive side, we do a great job of getting 2nd chance opportunities and on getting to the line. We're an average or better 3pt shooting team. But we don't take care of the ball and too many of our bad possessions aren't just turnovers but steals that will lead to opponent transition points.

My biggest concern with this stuff is on eFG% for our offense. A team that's shooting reasonably well from 3pt and getting to the line at a great rate should not suck on this Factor. For some reason, we're making the game a lot harder than it needs to be because we're missing the shots that players at this skill level probably make 80-90% of the time in a shoot around. Got to start making the easy ones and we've got to take care of the ball much better.

 

[Ruckus]

At least we’re not discussing our fourth best big or a ****ty coach who hasn’t been here in over a decade. Progress?

Yeah, but at least if it was about him, we could just move it to the Patton sub-forum.

 

[Da Lama]

CB was a great leader and had the clutch gene. That’s a different conversation. I was just using his game as a comparable to DK and how DK can be the type of scorer Tad’s offenses require to avoid inefficient dry spells. He can get to the rim, finish and draw fouls. Developing his shot and his PG skills.

Denver East players are HUGELY overrated. Wish we steered clear of them TBH.