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Games thread- MEN'S BBall hosts Utah (Sat., 2/24/24; 7:00 PM MT; Pac-12), Cal (Wed., 2/28, 6:00 PM; Pac-12) and Stanford (Sun., 7:00 PM; FS1)

A 13-16 team is getting coty chatter? In what universe? Pretty sure Smith at WSU has that locked up.

It may not happen this year, but I don't see him being any sort of long term coach there.
He's got them .500 in league and top half of the conference when they weren't expected to be either of those things.

They should continue to improve (if any of their transfers still have a year of eligibility) despite the fact they'll lose Tyson to the NBA.
 
Good win. Another one Sunday, split in Oregon and one in Vegas and we’re in, right?

KJ is playing crazy minutes but I also get the sense that he loves it. He’d play every minute of the season if he could. And I don’t see any signs of fatigue.

Honestly, I like Ruffin more than Hammond. Better shooter and just fits into the flow of the offense better. Hope they swap rotation spots.

Love LOB’s toughness, we need it bad … but dude has the absolute worst touch around the rim. He must have missed 25 gimme layups this year.
 
Media after tonight's win:

Article - https://cubuffs.com/news/2024/2/28/mens-basketball-buffs-vs-cal

"

Da Silva, Simpson Lead Buffs Past Cal​

By: Neill Woelk, Contributing Editor

BOULDER
— Colorado put four players in double figures and the Buffaloes' men's basketball team hammered out an 88-78 win over Cal on Wednesday at the CU Events Center.

Tad Boyle's Buffs won their third in a row to improve to 15-1 at home, 19-9 overall and 10-7 in Pac-12 play. The Bears dropped to 13-16, 9-9.

KJ Simpson led the Buffs with 27 points — 18 in the second half — and added seven rebounds and eight assists. Tristan da Silva tallied 22 points, seven rebounds and six assists; J'Vonne Hadley scored 13 and Eddie Lampkin Jr. chipped in 12.

Jaylon Tyson led Cal with 25 points.

The Buffs took the lead less than four minutes into the game and never trailed, but there were still some tense moments. Colorado had a 14-point lead at the half thanks to 18 points from da Silva, only to see the Bears shave that deficit to just five midway through the second half.

But Simpson then took control to help the Buffs push their lead back to double digits and the Bears never threatened down the stretch.

The Buffs shot 50% from the floor (29-for-58) and hit 23 of their 29 free throw attempts. CU held the Bears to 42 percent shooting (29-for-69), including just 9-for-31 from long range.

Colorado also held a 40-31 edge on the boards and the Buffs' strategy of trying to push the pace all night paid off with a 22-8 edge in fast break points.

CU also collected the win without the services of starter Cody Williams and key reserve Julian Hammond III, both of whom were out with injuries.

"Cal's a heck of a team but I thought our guys locked in as the second half wore on," Boyle said. "I thought the pace of the game was key. We're playing at altitude, we're in good shape and it takes its toll. Tristan was phenomenal in the first half and I can't say enough about KJ in that second half."

With his team up by 14 at the half, Boyle reminded the Buffs about their first meeting with Cal this year when the Bears erased a 14-point deficit at the half to collect a win on their home court.

"They came out and scored on 11 of their first 13 possessions," Boyle said. "We weren't too proud of that. But once our guys locked in defensively we got some stops, extended the lead and then finished it off strong."
...

DECISIVE MOMENT
: With 9:18 to play, the Bears had shaved Colorado's lead to just six. But Simpson hit two free throws, then stole the inbounds pass, quickly found Hadley who dished to Ruffin, who then drained a 3-pointer to put the Buffs up by 11, 70-59. Cal never came closer than eight again.

WHAT IT MEANS: Colorado remained firmly in contention for a top-four Pac-12 finish and first-round conference tournament bye. The Buffs also pulled to within one victory of the 20-win mark while adding to their NCAA tourney resume.

KEY STATISTICS: The Buffs shot 50% from the floor (29-for-58) and hit 23 of their 29 free throw attempts … CU held the Bears to 42 percent shooting (29-for-69), including just 9-for-31 from long range … Colorado held a 40-31 edge on the boards and the Buffs racked up a 22-8 edge in fast break points.

NEXT UP: The Buffs play their final regular season home game of the season Sunday when they play host to Stanford in a 7 p.m. game at the Events Center (FS1). They then hit the road next week for a pair, beginning with a 7 p.m. game March 7 at Oregon (ESPN2), then a 3 p.m. game March 9 at Oregon State (Pac-12 Network). After that, it's the Pac-12 tournament in Las Vegas running from March 13-16.
"
________________________________________________________________________________________________

Box score - https://cubuffs.com/sports/mens-basketball/stats/2023-24/california/boxscore/16616

Quotes - https://cubuffs.com/sports/2024/2/29/colorado-california-quotes





 
Could it be that he's a Stanford guy?
It's not often I remember college players from 25 years ago, but I remember hating Madsen and rooting against Stanford just because of him. He's doing a great job with Cal as coach, but he's got that easy to hate Bobby Hurley - like energy.
 
I think this is interesting, from Rooney:

'the Buffs have played 14 of their 28 games this season while missing at least one of the top seven players in the rotation — Williams, Hammond, KJ Simpson, J’Vonne Hadley, Tristan da Silva, Eddie Lampkin Jr. and Luke O’Brien. Wednesday marked the sixth time among those 14 games the Buffs have played without two of the top seven rotation players.

CU improved to 10-4 in the games in which it has missed players, including 6-4 in Pac-12 play."
 
Tonights Tristan would have won 5 more games
Does he read Allbuffs? Pissed him off and he balled out
Nice win
That's the frustrating part about this season, thus far.
We have a couple underachieving players.
This is the time of the year where it would really be great if they figured things out.
In my opinion, the team plays better without Cody. Sure, he can take over a game, but overall they look better without him.
 
That's the frustrating part about this season, thus far.
We have a couple underachieving players.
This is the time of the year where it would really be great if they figured things out.
In my opinion, the team plays better without Cody. Sure, he can take over a game, but overall they look better without him.
Best efforts so far this year are:
KJ - always brings it
Hadley - beginning of year was average, but as of late he is fighting hard
LOB - Love his heart and he is a true Buff that works as hard as he is able
Disappointments are:
TDS - last night was the expected efforts and results, and he has done that like 2-3 times and never on the road
Eddie - Not a skilkful big or shot blocker, tries hard, plays emotional, but not even close to a Battey level guy. A better big transfer would have likely been more impactful
Cody - NBA potential, but injuries, adapting to the college game, strength, couple good games, but nothing consistent to hang our hopes on.

Frustrating year and overall mismanaged by Tad and the 3 players that were disappointing. Injuries to others sucked.

Very optimistic and pleased with Diop last night, couple things were real nice in his developing game. Will likely start next year
 
The comparison should be between Eddie and Lovering. Not Eddie and Battey.

was hoping Diop or Dak could fill the under the basket defensive presence of Lovering, but that's a lot to ask from freshmen

so strange how we thought our depth would be a plus this year and it's what has held us back. having just one of Nique, Lovering, Key, Quincy (though I know most of them would have expected to start) would be helpful

shows the character of LOB. imo he deserves to start but plays just as hard off the bench and takes pride in that role
 
was hoping Diop or Dak could fill the under the basket defensive presence of Lovering, but that's a lot to ask from freshmen

so strange how we thought our depth would be a plus this year and it's what has held us back. having just one of Nique, Lovering, Key, Quincy (though I know most of them would have expected to start) would be helpful

shows the character of LOB. imo he deserves to start but plays just as hard off the bench and takes pride in that role
Unfortunately, we've had so many guys out or limited by injury that we've never had depth or an opportunity to play a stretch with our 8-man postseason rotation.

KJ
Cody
TDS
Hadley
Eddie

With bench support from Luke, Hammond, Diop for the primary + Ruffin & Dak if there's foul trouble or a matchup that causes us to go to 9 or 10. We haven't been close to being able to roll with that, but we look like we could be there next week & heading into the postseason. Hopefully it's coming together and we're peaking at the right time.
 
Lunardi's new braketology came out this morning. Has CU as 1st 4 out, below Utah. It does not look like he does a ton of movement other than those within the bracket. A&M (15-13) is 1st team next 4 out, and they have lost last 5 games. It seems he is B-12 and SEC heavy, and I get the impression he is a 2 Pac-12 teams only guy no matter what. Also, he likes BPI. I guess he could be looking at CU's injuries...

Also, he had CSU dropping to a 9 seed. They have lost 3 of last 4, but close out with WY and Air Force; should be favored in those games. They lose 1, then they might need tourney help.

Just win baby!
 
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That's the frustrating part about this season, thus far.
We have a couple underachieving players.
This is the time of the year where it would really be great if they figured things out.
In my opinion, the team plays better without Cody. Sure, he can take over a game, but overall they look better without him.
We play better without Cody because those games are vs crappy teams like Cal ( I know some of you love Cal, but I think they're bunk).
 
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in this instance yes, but remember than we lost to crappy Cal. Did he play in that game?
Probably an unpopular thing to say, but I just don't think the team plays as well with Cody in the lineup.
 
in this instance yes, but remember than we lost to crappy Cal. Did he play in that game?
Probably an unpopular thing to say, but I just don't think the team plays as well with Cody in the lineup.
His first game back from a 5-game hiatus. I don't even think he practiced the whole week leading up to it. And Tad's teams are always the worst traveling teams in the country. But regardless, it's been a disappointing year overall. We still hold our fate though.

I also think if you take him out of any of the games he did play in, we don't play those teams any better. CSU would have rocked our socks without Cody. But I suppose when Cody's not playing KJ takes over a bit more, so perhaps...
 

That's not a good look, granted I am a Tad supporter and pretty anti #FireTad, but this is not a great look for road ATS. That also said, if you look at overall win percentage on the road, winning on the road really is hard, those that do well are consistent national championship competitors (Kansas, Duke) or play in fairly week conferences (Gonzaga).

I wonder though is this more of a mark that Tad does statistically better at home than we should, therefore results in an unrealistic expectation on the road?
 

That's not a good look, granted I am a Tad supporter and pretty anti #FireTad, but this is not a great look for road ATS. That also said, if you look at overall win percentage on the road, winning on the road really is hard, those that do well are consistent national championship competitors (Kansas, Duke) or play in fairly week conferences (Gonzaga).

I wonder though is this more of a mark that Tad does statistically better at home than we should, therefore results in an unrealistic expectation on the road?
I don't think Tad's defensive style travels well. It's about contesting everything without fouling. Not designed to create turnovers and overwhelm an opponent. So when we're a road team and not gaining FTA advantage (our offensive philosophy is also about getting to the charity stripe), what is a huge advantage at home and a solid advantage when at a neutral site is completely taken away from us on the road. The upshot of that is for road games we're relying on trying to get possessions advantage (turnover & offensive rebound differential), which is not what we're built for and usually plays to a disadvantage so we have to rely on significantly outshooting opponents on the road.

That's been my theory, fwiw.
 
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His first game back from a 5-game hiatus. I don't even think he practiced the whole week leading up to it. And Tad's teams are always the worst traveling teams in the country. But regardless, it's been a disappointing year overall. We still hold our fate though.

I also think if you take him out of any of the games he did play in, we don't play those teams any better. CSU would have rocked our socks without Cody. But I suppose when Cody's not playing KJ takes over a bit more, so perhaps...
I don't dislike Cody. In fact, I think he is a great kid and has a bright future, but I just don't thin he has brought anything to this team.
His best game, against our little brother, was a loss. Sure, he had a great half, but he was anemic in the first half.
There have abeen a lot of situations where great players didn't improve a team. In this situation, I think he is just young and needs more experience and we aren't going to get what we hoped out of him
 
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