Official Game Thread - WBB hosts Weber State (12-17)

[Buffnik]

THE GAME: The University of Colorado closes out its season-long six-game home stand by hosting Weber State University on Saturday, Dec. 17, at 4 p.m. at the Coors Events Center.

BROADCAST: Saturday’s game will air on KKZN AM 760 with Mike Rice handling the play-by-play and Carol Callan of USA Basketball with the color commentary. Live video of Saturday’s game can be seen on BuffsTV, a subscription service through CUBuffs.com. Live audio is also available through BuffsTV through the BuffsRadio free subscription.

OPENING TIP: Colorado and Weber State played the first varsity women’s basketball game in each program’s history on Jan. 17, 1975, a 57-54 overtime win by Colorado at the Balch Fieldhouse in Boulder.

ABOUT THE BUFFALOES: Colorado is 8-0 and off to its best start since the 1992-93 squad won a school record 15 games to begin the season. Colorado will play its final nonconference home game of the season at the Coors Events Center where the Buffaloes are a perfect 6-0 and outscoring their opponents by 20 points per game (70.8 to 50.2).

ABOUT THE WILDCATS: Weber State, a member of the Big Sky Conference, is 2-9 overall and coming off a 76-68 overtime loss to Wyoming at home on Dec. 15. The Wildcats dropped their first seven games of the season, but have rebounded to win two of four since. Weber State averages 66 points per game, but also gives up 76 an outing. The Wildcats shoot 40 percent from the field and 55 percent from the free-throw line. WSU features a balanced scoring attack with six players averaging between 7.5 and 11 points per game.

SERIES RECORDS: This will be the 18th meeting between Colorado and Weber State, and the first since an 84-53 CU win on Nov. 26, 1993. The Buffaloes hold a 10-7 edge over the Wildcats with all but three of those games being played between 1975-82, when the two teams competed together in the Intermountain Conference, prior to CU joining the Big Eight for women’s basketball. The Buffaloes are 8-2 against the Wildcats in Boulder. Weber State will be searching for its first win in the series since an 81-79 decision on Dec. 19, 1983.

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In addition to the regular broadcast options, fans can get live updates during the games by following @cubuffs on twitter.

:gobuffs:

 

[Goose]

Anyone here going to the game? I was thinking about heading up, but due to a plumbing emergency at the apartment I may not be able to now.

 

[Buffnik]

Anyone here going to the game? I was thinking about heading up, but due to a plumbing emergency at the apartment I may not be able to now.

Imodium is a wonder drug

 

[BeBe]

The coach of Weber State, in her first season as a head coach, is Bethann Ord, who was one of the assistant coaches who came to Colorado with KMM when she first came here from Tulsa. CU will also be playing against one of KMM's other assistants, Mike Neighbors, later this season since he is now an assistant at UW. Interesting that the assistants who were with KMM at Tulsa are still in the business and she isn't.

 

[Goose]

Imodium is a wonder drug

For once, the plumbing emergency isn't my fault!

 

[BeBe]

I'll be there + 3 as usual. I'm hoping to see a continuation of the type of complete game with terrific defense we saw the Buffs play in their last game against DU. By the way, DU has since gone on to have home victories over Oregon and Minnesota.. any win by a team that CU has beaten is good for CU, but especially nice to see wins over PAC and B1G teams.

 

[Goose]

Bebe,

What are your expectations for the rest of the season? Is a tourney dance possible?

 

[buffgal]

I will be watching online from the Midwest. Would much rather be there in person.

There is no reason for CU not to win the game today.

As for the Big Dance, it's hard to say. Last year the Buffs went to the WNIT and had a much longer playing season than teams that went to the NCAA tourney and were one or two games and done. If they are going to be a low seed, I'd rather see them a high seed in the WNIT and get to keep playing.

 

[buff190]

I don't know about Bebe but I like our chances. If they go .500 in conference and they finish the Non-conference 11-0 that would put them at 20-9. I would say they would be in if that happened. I honestly don't know how good the Pac 12 teams are so I don't know if we can go 9-9 but from the looks of our team alone I would say we have a pretty good shot at achieving this.

 

[Buffnik]

I'll always take the NCAA over the NIT. You always want to have a shot at being champions.

To make it with the light non-conference schedule, I think we need to see 11-0 in the non-con followed by at least 11-7 in the Pac-12... followed by at least 1 win in the P12C.

 

[Goose]

Buffs 44-24 at the half.

 

[buffgal]

Buffs won ugly, but they won. Ashley Wilson with a career high of 13 pts. Balanced scoring this game. Seabrook 3rd career double double.

 

[buffgal]

Listening online, Carol Callan doesn't think this team is NCAA tourney caliber but should make the WNIT. Says strength of schedule is not in their favor and while it's giving them confidence, these are not the type of teams they will face in the Pac 12. From listening to Callan, I don't know if they can go 9-9. We know how the road has been for the Lady Buffs. They will have to pick up road games in Pac 12. Don't know if it is as tough to do in Pac 12 as it was in Big 12 where Buffs were not successful on the road.

 

[FChairbanks]

9-0 how is this team not ranked at all?

 

[Buffnik]

I expected sloppy after the long lay off.

77-59 is a solid score after finals against a D1 opponent.

We'll have no idea whether this is an NCAA team until we start playing Pac-12 competition. Regardless, this is setting up as significant improvement in a year most of us thought was a rebuilding season after losing Spears and only having 1 senior. Got to love the direction of the program right now.

 

[BeBe]

Bebe, What are your expectations for the rest of the season? Is a tourney dance possible?

Well, let's see. First of all, although tonights game was an 18 point win, it was not as well played as I would have liked to see. Missed too many free throws and way too many missed layups. Some too strong, some too soft. Also let Weber State get too many offensive boards for my liking, especially since Weber's tallest player went out with an ankle (?) injury after only a few minutes of play. The good news? The Buffs clamped down on the defense when they had to ... when their lead was cut to around 10 .... and they had nice balanced point production with 4 players in double digits and 2 more at 8.

Why aren't they ranked or at least getting votes at 8-0 (now 9-0)? The schedule is way too soft to even consider them a top 25 team. Admittedly it's early in the season for rpi to be a good measure but the only top 100 rpi team they have played/beaten is DU. Too many opponents in the 200 and up rpi arena.

Is the NCAA tournament possible? Possible, yes. Probable .....well, lets see what they do in their last 2 non-con games which are both away games. Final non-con is against a decent team (Creighton) on a neutral court. Then they open conference play with 3 road games, all potentially winnable. If they can win the 2 non-con games and at least 1 of the 3 conference road games, then I'd say yes, they could have a shot at the big dance.

The PAC is not nearly as strong a conference in WBB as the Big 12 was. Last season there were 7 Big 12 teams in the NCAA but only 3 PAC teams (I'm not counting Utah since they only got in as a 15 seed out of the MWC). In the Big 12, if you went .500 in conference, you were almost assured of a spot as an at-large NCAA team unless you had totally shot yourself in the foot in the non-con games. In fact, Texas got in last season with a 7-9 conference record.

The Big 12 WBB has been at or near the top in conference rpi for years. So if you won in the non-con, even without playing a strong schedule, and did "average" in the conference games, you would end up with a good enough rpi to make the dance. Not so in the PAC. Last season, 2 teams with 10-8 records in conference and 20 win seasons ended up in the NIT, not good enuf for the NCAA. So even if this Buffs team goes 11-0 in their non-con, I think they would need to go at least 10-8 in conference to have a shot. That means maybe winning 8 at home (all except Stanford) and getting at least 2 wins on the road. Are they good enough to do this? I don't think we know enough yet to say. If they can start to consistently play the way they played the DU game last week, then the answer could very well be yes. I hope we see it happen.

 

[btbuff]

Lady Buffs shot 45.5% from the line (5-11)

 

[buff190]

Well, let's see. First of all, although tonights game was an 18 point win, it was not as well played as I would have liked to see. Missed too many free throws and way too many missed layups. Some too strong, some too soft. Also let Weber State get too many offensive boards for my liking, especially since Weber's tallest player went out with an ankle (?) injury after only a few minutes of play. The good news? The Buffs clamped down on the defense when they had to ... when their lead was cut to around 10 .... and they had nice balanced point production with 4 players in double digits and 2 more at 8.

Why aren't they ranked or at least getting votes at 8-0 (now 9-0)? The schedule is way too soft to even consider them a top 25 team. Admittedly it's early in the season for rpi to be a good measure but the only top 100 rpi team they have played/beaten is DU. Too many opponents in the 200 and up rpi arena.

Is the NCAA tournament possible? Possible, yes. Probable .....well, lets see what they do in their last 2 non-con games which are both away games. Final non-con is against a decent team (Creighton) on a neutral court. Then they open conference play with 3 road games, all potentially winnable. If they can win the 2 non-con games and at least 1 of the 3 conference road games, then I'd say yes, they could have a shot at the big dance.

The PAC is not nearly as strong a conference in WBB as the Big 12 was. Last season there were 7 Big 12 teams in the NCAA but only 3 PAC teams (I'm not counting Utah since they only got in as a 15 seed out of the MWC). In the Big 12, if you went .500 in conference, you were almost assured of a spot as an at-large NCAA team unless you had totally shot yourself in the foot in the non-con games. In fact, Texas got in last season with a 7-9 conference record.

The Big 12 WBB has been at or near the top in conference rpi for years. So if you won in the non-con, even without playing a strong schedule, and did "average" in the conference games, you would end up with a good enough rpi to make the dance. Not so in the PAC. Last season, 2 teams with 10-8 records in conference and 20 win seasons ended up in the NIT, not good enuf for the NCAA. So even if this Buffs team goes 11-0 in their non-con, I think they would need to go at least 10-8 in conference to have a shot. That means maybe winning 8 at home (all except Stanford) and getting at least 2 wins on the road. Are they good enough to do this? I don't think we know enough yet to say. If they can start to consistently play the way they played the DU game last week, then the answer could very well be yes. I hope we see it happen.

Thanks Bebe for sobering me up. :huh:

[url]http://realtimerpi.com/rpi_Women.html
[/URL]As of right now there are 5 Pac teams and 5 Big XII teams in the top 50 RPI with the non-con almost over so maybe it's not as bad as in the past.

Hard not to get excited at 9-0. Looking forward to seeing the Buffs take care of business on the road these next few weeks!

 

[buffgal]

I'm excited about getting off to a 9-0 start. Did you see where Colorado is in the RPI? CU is 100. DU is in the top 50.

Meagan Malcolm-Peck attempted 2 free throws late in the game. One was long and one was an air ball. An air ball from the free throw line? That is not acceptable. I'm sure the Lady Buffs will be working on FTs before their next game.

 

[BeBe]

Thanks Bebe for sobering me up. :huh:

[URL]http://realtimerpi.com/rpi_Women.html
[/URL]As of right now there are 5 Pac teams and 5 Big XII teams in the top 50 RPI with the non-con almost over so maybe it's not as bad as in the past.

Hard not to get excited at 9-0. Looking forward to seeing the Buffs take care of business on the road these next few weeks!

Didn't mean to rain on your parade, buff190. Mainly I think I'm trying to keep myself from getting too excited about the prospects for this team. I remember cheering the CU WBB team on its entry to the court at the CECC in Jackie McFarland's senior year when they were introduced as "your 25th ranked Colorado Buffaloes" or something similar to that late in the non-con schedule and they just managed to make the WNIT that season. It was with a similar soft non-con schedule but the wheels fell off when they started the tougher play of conference games.

Interesting point you raise about the comparative RPI figures right now between the two leagues. I hadn't checked that. The Buffs will need to improve their rpi from where it is right now at around 100 up to around 40 to make the big dance. Last year the cut-off for at-large teams was in the low 40's (ASU at 41 made the NCAA, USC at 45 didn't). Just keep winning, including protecting home court and getting some road wins, should give them that chance.

 

[BeBe]

I'll always take the NCAA over the NIT. You always want to have a shot at being champions.

To make it with the light non-conference schedule, I think we need to see 11-0 in the non-con followed by at least 11-7 in the Pac-12... followed by at least 1 win in the P12C.

I think nik is right on target with how we need to finish to be sure of making the NCAA.

 

[Buffnik]

I just took a look at our RPI. Strength of Schedule is #319 out of 342 teams. That knocks us down to an RPI rank of #107. To give an idea on the impact of the scheduling, a 2-4 Morgan State team is at #89 with its #57 schedule.

 

[buff190]

I just took a look at our RPI. Strength of Schedule is #319 out of 342 teams. That knocks us down to an RPI rank of #107. To give an idea on the impact of the scheduling, a 2-4 Morgan State team is at #89 with its #57 schedule.

Morgan St. must schedule for basketball the way CU schedules for football. That doesn't work either. Who ever makes the schedules needs to find a middle ground.

Maybe the easy schedule will help us this season since the team is so young. We'll see. If CU can win at least 10 in conference, as Bebe says we will probably need to do, then it was good. :nod:

Upcoming road games with current record and RPI

UTPA 2-8 242
Creighton 3-4 90
Utah 5-4 142
UW 6-2 97
WSU 6-4 77

Hoping for 4-1 in this stretch but would be ok with 3-2. Here lies our proving ground! Let's go BUFFS!!!

Originally Posted by BeBe

Didn't mean to rain on your parade, buff190.

Haha, that's ok, Bebe. Like you, I think I needed it.

 

[buffgal]

I'm anxious to see how the team does on this long stretch of road games. It will be very telling, especially against Creighton, Washington and Washington State. This road stretch of games will let us know a lot about how this team will do in the Pac 12