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2014 Colorado @ Arizona basketball game thread

New to the forum, but have been reading the game threads this year. A few of the previous posts by BIGEZ321 and Shldr2Shldr are on the money. There are reasons to be positive about the team's play since the UW game; however, the freshmen lack experience, and the results will continue to show that throughout the year. Most of the younger players are not yet skilled at generating their own shots, and it is clear that the offense leaned on Spencer's ability to pull opposing defenders and draw fouls. I don't know much about Collier and how he could impact guard play next year, but I would suspect that Hopkins will surprise a lot of people when things click for him and he starts reacting instead of thinking. Looking forward to the ASU game.
 
Wow - didn't see the game, saw the score and thought we'd acquitted ourselves well.

Then I saw the not-so-highlights. Seems like we got our asses kicked.
 
CVilleBuff said:
not to hijack the subject but i look across the country and it seems finding decent college level SF's is not particularly difficult. (Not really CU related). Seems some teams almost have too many at the expense of other areas of need.
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That's CU in a nutshell though right? XJ, Fletch, Hopkins, King and Thomas are all variations of the same player.
 
I haven't followed the whole thread, picked up a few things, so bear with me. I don't mind our recruits at all. We are trying to get athletic and long. Starting to get there, need more. I'm hoping our game becomes more up tempo and pressing the hell out of people, that is what I've always heard about Tad, since I knew who the hell he was lol. It's the style of ball I like as well. There were a few flashes of that type game tonight.
 
My answer, I'm aware it isn't ball these days, is to put Johnson and Gordon on their ass. I assume your talking about their guys talking, I didn't follow Twitter or whatever.
 
Hope it's an out of context misquote. Don't like talk like that, and if you do it you damn well better back it up. That said, I expect us to be far more post-injury gelled on Feb 22 and I think beating Arizona is a distinct possibility. Going undefeated in a regular season in a major conference is a damn hard thing to achieve. They'll drop a game or two and Boulder (at the end of a 3 game road swing no less) and Berkeley look like the most likely places for that to occur, though Oregon in Eugene may have woken up by March 8 and you never know what Sendek and his goons may do in Tempe. Arizona is deservedly #1, but the nature of a 30+ game college basketball season almost universally translates into a loss or two no matter who you are. This is a team that trailed Drexel by 19, they aren't invincible...
 
Regarding the Buffs' FG% tonight, understand that AZ is second in the nation in eFG% defense. They have only allowed two teams this season to shoot above their average FG%. They are tops in the nation in defensive possession length, meaning they make opponents work hard for shots and when they finally shoot it's usually not an easy look. This is by far the best defensive team AZ has had in the Olson and Miller eras, and they've been wearing teams down all year. Based on raw efficiency margin, this is the second-best team in that same time span, trailing only Lute's '88 F4 team, widely considered the best team in AZ history.

Without Dinwiddie, CU stood no real chance at McKale. Maybe another year with a beast like Roberson and a talent like SD against a Mark Lyons led offense and a sporadic effort plagued defense, the Buffs come into the PAC 12's toughest venue and compete for the win, but tonight there's no shame in dropping this game or even being blown out as they were until the end of the game.

Now going to Boulder is another story. AZ has played very well on the road this year and if they're on top of their game when they visit they should win. But it won't be "easy."

As for recruiting... hate to break it to you but as slick as Boyle has been in identifying talent and even snagging some reputable recruits here and there, Miller is one of the better recruiters in the nation recruiting to an established brand through a pipeline that was built by 25 years of Olson's success. It's going to take a lot for CU to ever consistently match or exceed Miller's recruiting impact at AZ. Hell, even UCLA, which holds one of the greatest geographic recruiting advantages in the nation and has one of the greatest traditions in CBB, has struggled competing with AZ for recruits in recent years.

If Boyle is going to continue building up CU over the years it's going to be because he's a solid game and player development coach. Additionally, he and the program need continued support from the fanbase, during good times and bad.

I'll finish with this, it's a shame what happened to SD. For him and the program. But it's time to move on. None of this if we had SD then X would have happened. It does nothing but aggravate the misery of the whole situation. It's time to get behind the team that remains and hope for the best. I mean, really, isn't that all we can do?

Best of luck until we see you in Boulder.
 
I'm not sure how I feel about XJ's comments. I don't like that stuff. At all. But part of me is thinking that some bravado is what this team needed. We'll see. He's got to back it up at ASU or he ends up looking like a whiny punk.
 
Buffnik said:
I'm not sure how I feel about XJ's comments. I don't like that stuff. At all. But part of me is thinking that some bravado is what this team needed. We'll see. He's got to back it up at ASU or he ends up looking like a whiny punk.
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Yep. It's not just about showing up and backing up the talk against Zona in Boulder. XJ needs to put the team on his back and get us a win at ASU. Huge 4 game stretch coming up for us. Need at least 3 wins. Carry us XJ. Given what ASU did to us last year, these Buffs better come out ready to settle the score. Big, big game. Quality road win we really need with some serious standings implications. And yeah, it's personal after last year.
 
I'm disappointed with the loss. But more disappointed in the way we played. newazcat makes a good point, we faced an excellent defensive team last night and it showed. I thought our improved play in the second half showed some character.
Seattlebuff is anxious to see us take the next step and aren't we all, but the Buffs are pretty young and I haven't seen anyone really step into the role of leader since Spencer went down. 2 Junior starters, then we lost one and everyone else is younger than that except for some senior reserves that see the floor if we are up by 20 with 5 minutes to go. I think Ski and Xj are capable of being leaders but their inconsistency really hurts us. Often we don't get rolling until the second half and against a good team that is going to kill us every time.
Losing Spence and Tre is something we don't fully recover from this year. I am still hoping for 20 - 22 wins and a trip to the dance as a lower seed. Not what we could have accomplished if fully healthy, but if we can do this I would still feel progress has been made from last season.
I do think newazcats is a little off base in his take on our recruiting. We aren't bringing in the 5* one and done athletes yet, but I think we are recruiting very good athletes. They are long and athletic and this will only get better as time passes and we get more well known as a brand. De'Ron Davis would be huge for us. Not all of our kids are Tad's recruits but I am anxious to see what we will look like when they are. The players he is bringing in are also ideal for his system. System can equal elite in NCAA basketball, just ask any Hoosier or Heel fan during the Knight/Smith years. There are other examples of this as well. We may not bring in a starting 5 of future NBA players for quite some time but I think we will recruit to a level that will build a great rivalries with traditional PAC-12 contenders and keep us in the top 25 and dancing every year. I'm not sure I want many "one and dones" anyway, I like having players around long enough to get used to them.
 
Things that stood out to me:

1: AZ has the most talent I have seen so far this year and they play together, dangerous combo.
2: We must make sharper entry passes, stop lobbing across court passes when we sense the slightest pressure, and for God's sake stop leaving our feet to pass (XJ, SKI, HOP) Ball Security please!
3: Josh Scott is a force and we need to feed him the ball more on the low block. This will either result in a bucket, an O-reb opportunity for Wesley, or a kick out to an open shooter. Our perimeter play is too deferential without Spence.
4: Ski needs to take it to the rack more often and stronger. You can see him anticipating contact that doesn't come and ends up tossing up a soft shot.
5: Teams can and will run off ball weakside screens on us all day. How many dunks did AZ have last night by going back door on these last night?
6: XJ better not worry so much about 'Zona and get his head right for ASU, big game needed.
 
One more thing to add here: We have won 1 road game outside the state of colorado (Wazzu), with losses in dallas (baylor), vegas (ok st), seattle and tuscon.
 
wyobuff said:
One more thing to add here: We have won 1 road game outside the state of colorado (Wazzu), with losses in dallas (baylor), vegas (ok st), seattle and tuscon.
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Considering those four losses are against the 3 best teams we've played, plus the game we lost Spencer, i think that's understandable.
 
I just realized that Arizona beat us like we beat USC. The only difference is Arizona played their starters the whole game.
 
Buffnik said:
Bizarre, too. It's usually pretty easy to find decent guards. Guard depth last year was a huge hole and it wasn't fixed.
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Yup. And I think jhop has GREAT potential (absinthe) but hes obviously a project with big limitations to his game. Just too many holes at guard right now, over two classes....
 
thenewazcats said:
Regarding the Buffs' FG% tonight, understand that AZ is second in the nation in eFG% defense. They have only allowed two teams this season to shoot above their average FG%. They are tops in the nation in defensive possession length, meaning they make opponents work hard for shots and when they finally shoot it's usually not an easy look. This is by far the best defensive team AZ has had in the Olson and Miller eras, and they've been wearing teams down all year. Based on raw efficiency margin, this is the second-best team in that same time span, trailing only Lute's '88 F4 team, widely considered the best team in AZ history.

Without Dinwiddie, CU stood no real chance at McKale. Maybe another year with a beast like Roberson and a talent like SD against a Mark Lyons led offense and a sporadic effort plagued defense, the Buffs come into the PAC 12's toughest venue and compete for the win, but tonight there's no shame in dropping this game or even being blown out as they were until the end of the game.

Now going to Boulder is another story. AZ has played very well on the road this year and if they're on top of their game when they visit they should win. But it won't be "easy."

As for recruiting... hate to break it to you but as slick as Boyle has been in identifying talent and even snagging some reputable recruits here and there, Miller is one of the better recruiters in the nation recruiting to an established brand through a pipeline that was built by 25 years of Olson's success. It's going to take a lot for CU to ever consistently match or exceed Miller's recruiting impact at AZ. Hell, even UCLA, which holds one of the greatest geographic recruiting advantages in the nation and has one of the greatest traditions in CBB, has struggled competing with AZ for recruits in recent years.

If Boyle is going to continue building up CU over the years it's going to be because he's a solid game and player development coach. Additionally, he and the program need continued support from the fanbase, during good times and bad.

I'll finish with this, it's a shame what happened to SD. For him and the program. But it's time to move on. None of this if we had SD then X would have happened. It does nothing but aggravate the misery of the whole situation. It's time to get behind the team that remains and hope for the best. I mean, really, isn't that all we can do?

Best of luck until we see you in Boulder.
Click to expand...
While I agree with you, it's not just the fans taking that angle (which is natural to do especially given the season it was supposed to be with our basketball history) -- the media is really playing it up. How many times was it mentioned in the game yesterday? The more CU struggles, the more it will be mentioned. ESPN also had in it's headline, "Perfect Zona tops Dinwiddie-less Colorado." We do have to make the best of a bad situation but it's hard not to think about it.

Also, I agree with you in terms of recruiting -- I doubt we'll be what you guys and UCLA are, but were in a much better position than we were.
 
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