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CU Buffs basketball team motivated by Maui

Sexton Hardcastle

Sexton Hardcastle

Club Member
CU Buffs basketball team motivated by Maui

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Tournament months away, but Colorado already hard at work

By Ryan Thorburn Camera Sports Writer
Posted: 09/06/2009 12:03:31 AM MDT

If you drop by the Coors Events Center early enough you can already hear the sounds of the 2009-10 basketball season echoing off the hardwood. Sneakers are squeaking, balls are bouncing and coaches are cackling.
After three consecutive seasons of 20-loss purgatory, the Buffs are motivated by a scheduled trip to paradise.

CU, despite a lack of tradition and success in men`s college basketball, will be in the national spotlight when Jeff Bzdelik`s team competes in the EA Sports Maui Invitational from Nov. 23-25.

The Buffs open the nation`s premier early season tournament against Gonzaga. They will play either Arizona or Wisconsin in the second around. Cincinnati, Maryland and Vanderbilt are on the other side of the bracket.
And facing host Chaminade in the seventh-place game is an unacceptable scenario.

Even for the Big 12`s basement tenant.

http://www.buffzone.com/ci_13280580
 
I'm starting to get fired up for basketball this year. We're going to be good.
 
valdezj said:
I just hope we play a lot better than during last seasons non conference schedule. That was really tough to watch.
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Obviously, we need to start 3-0 before heading to Maui. We need at least 1-2 there, hopefully we'll go 2-1. Then, we're going to need to go undefeated in the home non-conference, get a split with Oregon State & Tulsa on the road, and win at Colorado State. That would put as at 11+ wins heading into the Big 12 schedule.

I was thinking/hoping for 10, but I believe that 11 or 12 is in play. From there, even an improved but sub-par showing in conference play (4-4 at home, 1-7 on the road) would get us into the postseason with a chance at the NIT if we pulled a 1st round upset in the conference tourney. A .500 record in conference would put us solidly on the NCAA Tourney bubble if we start as strongly as I'm hoping.
 
I'm cautiously optimistic. Think this team will be a middle of the road Big 12 team for a change.
 
valdezj said:
The difference here is I know that Jeff knows how to coach. Especially on game days. The jury is still out on Hawkins.
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Exactly. He took an NBA team (Nuggets) from last place to the playoffs in one season and took a service academy (Air Force) to an NCAA Tourney and NIT in 2 seasons. With Coach Bz, I believe we can win with inferior talent. With Hawk, I've seen that we can't win with superior talent.
 
yeah...I think the jury is still out on Hawk. He can recruit though.

Bz can definitely coach, but he seems to struggle a little with recruiting - this year's class is not promising (nonexistent) and last year's was really good, but lacked a true big.

I'm excited though, and I think we'll be decent this year.
 
Could some of you explain why you feel this team is ready to improve and move up? Not a flame, just wondering what you think and how will cu do in the front court this season?
 
buffsyko said:
Could some of you explain why you feel this team is ready to improve and move up? Not a flame, just wondering what you think and how will cu do in the front court this season?
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i'm putting my hat on 1. last year's team was *so inexperienced* it was absurd. 2. minus that, Higgins is one of (if not the most) underrated players in the conference. 3. D. Thorne showed me more last year than i ever thought we'd see from him and i think can give the young guys (like Tomlinson, Dufault) some grounding on the floor. 4. BZ has shown that he can make us competitive in games maybe we shouldn't, but the bottom line we got to get over the hump. how many times in the last two years do we cut into a big lead in the last 5 minutes, do everything right, chop down into a one possession game.....and simply cannot get a stop in the paint or get on the O glass. no interior game cost us a sackful of potential W's over the last two years. hopefully, Relphorde and Tunks give us some legit fouls in the paint, at minimum. god bless J. Jackson-Wilson last year, but it was too much for him despite great effort.

less good news is the conference is going to be a mother....whereas last year was supposed to be "a down year" and OU and MU made the Elite Eight....KU and UT have so much talent it's stupid. KSU, ISU (Brackins), OU, OSU, ATM (losing that guy who's name i forget may knock them down a tier), and Baylor all have a chance to be 5-9 seed type tournament teams. MU, hard to know losing a bunch. but, pretty much everybody in the league has been pulling in top 150 recruits for the last couple-three years.

i'm going with 5-7 conference wins.
 
I wonder if a trip to Maui might motivate our football team. Maybe just a trip for the coach.
 
lol you guys are loco. you actually think our bball team will do well? we couldnt even beat nebraska last year.
 
Do well? No. Show a big improvement and get anywhere from 5-7 conference wins? Yes. I do not think anyone in this thread has them as a tourney lock, so I'm not sure what you find so outrageous.

BTW, NU went 8-8 in the conference so to automatically dismiss losses to them as bad losses is foolish.
 
Boulder Buff said:
Do well? No. Show a big improvement and get anywhere from 5-7 conference wins? Yes. I do not think anyone in this thread has them as a tourney lock, so I'm not sure what you find so outrageous.

BTW, NU went 8-8 in the conference so to automatically dismiss losses to them as bad losses is foolish.
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Exactly. The expectation is that we'll win enough to be a good bet for the postseason this year. Probably the CBI tournament (Oregon State got in with a 13-17 record last year) but the NIT is something to hope for.
 
Buffnik said:
I feel better about the basketball program than the football program right now.

Not even close, actually.
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Ouch...isn't that the sad reality of CU these days? I'm starting to shift some focus towards basketball myself due to the football team stinking it up at the moment.
 
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