William Whelan for AllBuffs
BOULDER, Colo. – Numbers can tell a story, any story. Depending on what one wants to convey, these statistics can often be manipulated to fit the desires of said storyteller.
Kind of like me, William Whelan, remembering that I was measured in at 6-foot-3 after my junior year of high school at a scouting combine. Kind of like me, and others, using that as the basis for a months-long debate over just how tall Dominique Collier is.
I’m 6-foot-2, by the way. Humph.
Alas, numbers can tell us a story about the Drexel Dragons, who at this moment in time are preparing for an opening night game inside Coors Event Center in Boulder, Colorado against Tad Boyle and his Golden Buffaloes. The Dragons (16-14, 8-8 a year ago), were just about as average as a team could be during the 2013-2014 campaign. After a Dec. 15 win, the team would fail to string together more than two straight victories for the remainder of the season, reaching two wins in a row only twice and two or more losses in a row three times. Up and down, up and down.
Of course, this would be the ideal time to insert a pun about the Dragons and their collective…fire…being put out after an early stretch of surprising competitiveness to start the season a year ago.
Yes, Drexel pushed both UCLA and Arizona, two teams that the Buffs failed to play within single digits of. The two losses were by five and four points, respectively.
Many of the pieces that contributed towards those contests have left Drexel, but one remains: Kazembe Abif. Sure to be one of the great names in all of college basketball, Abif averaged 18.5 points against the two Pac-12 foes and looked to be the primary option that head coach James Flint would throw at the Buffs on Friday night.
But he, as well as Major Canady (starting point guard), look to be out for the entire season. Coach Flint told CSNPhilly.com that Rashann London, a freshman, will see extended minutes with the news.
Beyond that, little is known about this particular edition of Philadelphia’s forgotten private research institution. There are few upperclassmen. Last year’s team struggled from beyond the arc, or anywhere in the field to be frank, while also getting out-rebounded for much of the year, despite having respectable size for their level.
Meanwhile, this year’s Colorado team is about as equally unknown.
Legendary personality and Buffaloes aficionado Rumblin’ Buff already laid things out in his usually concise, structured and mild mannered way. Frankly, I’m just here to ride his coattail and loosely—by loosely, I mean not at all—cite my thoughts and information from his piece. In fact, why the hell am I even writing this? There’s a fifty-fifty chance that Rumblin’ and his raucous…band…of followers are sitting at the Dark Horse this very instant, ferociously planning their revenge against me for trying to steal his pregame, preseason flair. Eat it White Sox fan, with a side of fried egg and Jiffy.
Back to the subject at hand, a subject that is fleeting from my consciousness with every tap on my window from an unknown Chicago native.
Opening night of the college basketball season is a time for celebration, surely, but also anxiousness. All of the speculation through preseason camp, summer workouts and recruiting rankings come to a head on the floor, when the excuses inevitably used by 18-year-old freshman and even seasoned juniors carry less weight than CU-Boulder rasta-dealers post Amendment 64.
There will be a starting five, a group presumed to have separated themselves through precise execution, and hopefully not simply because they sucked less. There will be a sixth-man, an initial substitution that will set the tone for games to come and set off chatter on message boards by and for the fans. Someone’s dad will be in the stands pissed off as to why his son seems to be eighth in the rotation, and another will be elated that his got on the stat-sheet.
It’s the beauty and the beast of a season’s first tip-off. Reality ultimately settles in, with all of its lipstick and body odor. Every shot untaken over the summer, every hour spent on the couch and not in the weight room comes full circle. Fans who clamored for Player A to get on the floor because of his athleticism are shocked at his lack of fundamentals. Fans who hurled pitchforks towards Player B are shocked into submission by his composure, steady hand and well trimmed mustache, a Colorado staple at this point.
When the lights go on, starting lineups are introduced and the first ten players to see action find their spots around midcourt, a collective breath will undoubtedly be held.
That’s what Colorado basketball has turned into with Tad Boyle in town. It’s no longer a stop-gap between the end of football season and the spring practices that used to follow bowl games. Basketball in Boulder is the show, The Show.
Basketball has become Colorado’s main marketing tool on the national landscape of college sports, the window into a town that houses a renowned university, a coed population that looks as good with snow boots as they do in bikinis and…give me a minute…okay, ready…and a fan base that’s been waiting for a winner to reward all that they have been through over the last decade.
Ladies and Gentlemen, the college basketball season is here, made official from the moment a referee tosses the ball into the air at center court.
But if you ask most folks around these parts, it’s starting to feel like basketball season never left. Yes, #ItIsNovember
BOULDER, Colo. – Numbers can tell a story, any story. Depending on what one wants to convey, these statistics can often be manipulated to fit the desires of said storyteller.
Kind of like me, William Whelan, remembering that I was measured in at 6-foot-3 after my junior year of high school at a scouting combine. Kind of like me, and others, using that as the basis for a months-long debate over just how tall Dominique Collier is.
I’m 6-foot-2, by the way. Humph.
Alas, numbers can tell us a story about the Drexel Dragons, who at this moment in time are preparing for an opening night game inside Coors Event Center in Boulder, Colorado against Tad Boyle and his Golden Buffaloes. The Dragons (16-14, 8-8 a year ago), were just about as average as a team could be during the 2013-2014 campaign. After a Dec. 15 win, the team would fail to string together more than two straight victories for the remainder of the season, reaching two wins in a row only twice and two or more losses in a row three times. Up and down, up and down.
Of course, this would be the ideal time to insert a pun about the Dragons and their collective…fire…being put out after an early stretch of surprising competitiveness to start the season a year ago.
Yes, Drexel pushed both UCLA and Arizona, two teams that the Buffs failed to play within single digits of. The two losses were by five and four points, respectively.
Many of the pieces that contributed towards those contests have left Drexel, but one remains: Kazembe Abif. Sure to be one of the great names in all of college basketball, Abif averaged 18.5 points against the two Pac-12 foes and looked to be the primary option that head coach James Flint would throw at the Buffs on Friday night.
But he, as well as Major Canady (starting point guard), look to be out for the entire season. Coach Flint told CSNPhilly.com that Rashann London, a freshman, will see extended minutes with the news.
Beyond that, little is known about this particular edition of Philadelphia’s forgotten private research institution. There are few upperclassmen. Last year’s team struggled from beyond the arc, or anywhere in the field to be frank, while also getting out-rebounded for much of the year, despite having respectable size for their level.
Meanwhile, this year’s Colorado team is about as equally unknown.
Legendary personality and Buffaloes aficionado Rumblin’ Buff already laid things out in his usually concise, structured and mild mannered way. Frankly, I’m just here to ride his coattail and loosely—by loosely, I mean not at all—cite my thoughts and information from his piece. In fact, why the hell am I even writing this? There’s a fifty-fifty chance that Rumblin’ and his raucous…band…of followers are sitting at the Dark Horse this very instant, ferociously planning their revenge against me for trying to steal his pregame, preseason flair. Eat it White Sox fan, with a side of fried egg and Jiffy.
Back to the subject at hand, a subject that is fleeting from my consciousness with every tap on my window from an unknown Chicago native.
Opening night of the college basketball season is a time for celebration, surely, but also anxiousness. All of the speculation through preseason camp, summer workouts and recruiting rankings come to a head on the floor, when the excuses inevitably used by 18-year-old freshman and even seasoned juniors carry less weight than CU-Boulder rasta-dealers post Amendment 64.
There will be a starting five, a group presumed to have separated themselves through precise execution, and hopefully not simply because they sucked less. There will be a sixth-man, an initial substitution that will set the tone for games to come and set off chatter on message boards by and for the fans. Someone’s dad will be in the stands pissed off as to why his son seems to be eighth in the rotation, and another will be elated that his got on the stat-sheet.
It’s the beauty and the beast of a season’s first tip-off. Reality ultimately settles in, with all of its lipstick and body odor. Every shot untaken over the summer, every hour spent on the couch and not in the weight room comes full circle. Fans who clamored for Player A to get on the floor because of his athleticism are shocked at his lack of fundamentals. Fans who hurled pitchforks towards Player B are shocked into submission by his composure, steady hand and well trimmed mustache, a Colorado staple at this point.
When the lights go on, starting lineups are introduced and the first ten players to see action find their spots around midcourt, a collective breath will undoubtedly be held.
That’s what Colorado basketball has turned into with Tad Boyle in town. It’s no longer a stop-gap between the end of football season and the spring practices that used to follow bowl games. Basketball in Boulder is the show, The Show.
Basketball has become Colorado’s main marketing tool on the national landscape of college sports, the window into a town that houses a renowned university, a coed population that looks as good with snow boots as they do in bikinis and…give me a minute…okay, ready…and a fan base that’s been waiting for a winner to reward all that they have been through over the last decade.
Ladies and Gentlemen, the college basketball season is here, made official from the moment a referee tosses the ball into the air at center court.
But if you ask most folks around these parts, it’s starting to feel like basketball season never left. Yes, #ItIsNovember
