THE GAME: The University of Colorado women's basketball team opens its 38th season by hosting Northern Arizona University on Friday, Nov. 11, at 5:30 p.m. at the Coors Events Center.
BROADCAST: Friday's game will be broadcast live on KKZN AM 760. Mike Rice will be at the call with Carol Callan of USA Basketball providing the color commentary. Live video of Friday's game can be seen on BuffsTV, a subscription service through CUBuffs.com. Live audio is also available through BuffsTV free of charge.
OPENING TIP: Colorado is a perfect 25-0 in overall season openers played at home.
FRIDAY NIGHT DOUBLEHEADER: Both men's and women's teams open the 2011-12 season Friday night at the Coors Events Center. The women play Northern Arizona at 5:30 p.m., with the men taking on Fort Lewis at 8 p.m. Half-price tickets are being offered, with reserved seats starting at $7.50 for the men's game while mid-court seats are available for $10. For the women's game, reserved seats are $5, with mid-court seats priced at $7.50. More information: call 303-492-8337 or 800-872-8337, or email cutix@colorado.edu.
ABOUT THE LUMBERJACKS: Northern Arizona returns three starters and eight letterwinners from its 2010-11 team that finished 11-18 overall and seventh in the Big Sky Conference at 6-10. The Lumberjacks were picked to finish sixth by the coaches and seventh by the media in the annual Big Sky Preseason Polls.
Junior guard Amy Patton is Northern Arizona's top returning player, leading the Big Sky in scoring last season at 16.4 points per game. Tyler Stephens-Jenkins also returns for the Lumberjacks, ranking second on the team in scoring at 9.4 per outing.
Northern Arizona defeated Azusa Pacific, 79-66, in its lone exhibition game on Nov. 4. Patton nearly had a double-double with a game-high 22 points and nine rebounds. She also dished out six assists. Sophomore guard Amanda Frost, a transfer from Fullerton College, made her unofficial Lumberjack debut with 15 points on 6-of-9 from the field along with five steals.
BUFFS IN OPENERS: Colorado is 32-5 (.865) all-time in season openers and will start the season with a home game for the 26th time in 38 seasons. Colorado is an outstanding 35-2 (.946) all-time in home openers. Colorado has never lost its overall season opener when played at home (25-0).
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Based on Lappe's notes on the pre-season scrimmages, the keys to look for tonight for our Buffs are in the transition game. We need to avoid giving up easy baskets and we need to score when we've got fast break opportunities.
Defense and rebounding need to be great and tonight is where it starts.
We will also need to find efficiency on the offensive end while finding who our "go to" scorers are going to be this year and starting to figure out our rotations. I'm also looking to see whether someone steps up and takes command of the point guard position.
Finally, I want to see whether we've improved in the paint, whether we have some shooters who can open up the court, which vets have added to their games, and which newcomers are going to make an impact. Openers can tell a lot. Hopefully we'll have a lot of answers to the laundry list of questions this team enters the season with.
I think the talent is there to have a better season than 2010's NIT run, but a lot has to come together and we can't waste non-conference opportunities for wins like last year's squad did.
BROADCAST: Friday's game will be broadcast live on KKZN AM 760. Mike Rice will be at the call with Carol Callan of USA Basketball providing the color commentary. Live video of Friday's game can be seen on BuffsTV, a subscription service through CUBuffs.com. Live audio is also available through BuffsTV free of charge.
OPENING TIP: Colorado is a perfect 25-0 in overall season openers played at home.
FRIDAY NIGHT DOUBLEHEADER: Both men's and women's teams open the 2011-12 season Friday night at the Coors Events Center. The women play Northern Arizona at 5:30 p.m., with the men taking on Fort Lewis at 8 p.m. Half-price tickets are being offered, with reserved seats starting at $7.50 for the men's game while mid-court seats are available for $10. For the women's game, reserved seats are $5, with mid-court seats priced at $7.50. More information: call 303-492-8337 or 800-872-8337, or email cutix@colorado.edu.
ABOUT THE LUMBERJACKS: Northern Arizona returns three starters and eight letterwinners from its 2010-11 team that finished 11-18 overall and seventh in the Big Sky Conference at 6-10. The Lumberjacks were picked to finish sixth by the coaches and seventh by the media in the annual Big Sky Preseason Polls.
Junior guard Amy Patton is Northern Arizona's top returning player, leading the Big Sky in scoring last season at 16.4 points per game. Tyler Stephens-Jenkins also returns for the Lumberjacks, ranking second on the team in scoring at 9.4 per outing.
Northern Arizona defeated Azusa Pacific, 79-66, in its lone exhibition game on Nov. 4. Patton nearly had a double-double with a game-high 22 points and nine rebounds. She also dished out six assists. Sophomore guard Amanda Frost, a transfer from Fullerton College, made her unofficial Lumberjack debut with 15 points on 6-of-9 from the field along with five steals.
BUFFS IN OPENERS: Colorado is 32-5 (.865) all-time in season openers and will start the season with a home game for the 26th time in 38 seasons. Colorado is an outstanding 35-2 (.946) all-time in home openers. Colorado has never lost its overall season opener when played at home (25-0).
**********************************************
Based on Lappe's notes on the pre-season scrimmages, the keys to look for tonight for our Buffs are in the transition game. We need to avoid giving up easy baskets and we need to score when we've got fast break opportunities.
Defense and rebounding need to be great and tonight is where it starts.
We will also need to find efficiency on the offensive end while finding who our "go to" scorers are going to be this year and starting to figure out our rotations. I'm also looking to see whether someone steps up and takes command of the point guard position.
Finally, I want to see whether we've improved in the paint, whether we have some shooters who can open up the court, which vets have added to their games, and which newcomers are going to make an impact. Openers can tell a lot. Hopefully we'll have a lot of answers to the laundry list of questions this team enters the season with.
I think the talent is there to have a better season than 2010's NIT run, but a lot has to come together and we can't waste non-conference opportunities for wins like last year's squad did.
