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The greatest basketball player in CU Buffs history.
It was never about the 2004 NBA Finals MVP, the seven consecutive trips to the conference finals, the five all-star appearances, three All-NBA and two All-Defense selections.
It’s not about his professionalism, leadership or his penchant for hitting clutch shots, nor is the ten-year stretch when he averaged 16 points, 6 assists and shot 40% from three, all while averaging 59 wins per season.
No, the reason why Chauncey Billups will be immortalized tonight as in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is because he carried the Colorado Buffaloes to the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament.
That’s right, Billups — the 1996 Big 8 Rookie of the Year, two-time All Big 8/12 selection and Consensus All-American, the highest draft pick in Colorado men’s basketball history — took a Ricardo Patton team and led them to a #15 ranking, a 9-seed in the NCAA Tournament and a then-program-record 22 wins.
Look at the rest of Colorado basketball history before and after Billups. In the 25 years before 1996-97, the Buffs went 294-422 (.411) with an average record of 12-17. They had seven winning seasons in that time and three of those were 14-12, 14-13 and 15-13. Those were good seasons for the Buffs!
The next thirteen years were better — 179-199 (.474) — but even with the two 20-win seasons and an NCAA Tournament appearance, they were a sub-.500 program who dwelled in the Big 12 basement. Yes, this is becoming a Tad Boyle post, but it should demonstrate just how ridiculous it was to have a talent like Chauncey at such a moribund basketball program.
Chauncey wanting to be here at all was a miracle. Billups was a Parade All-American who could have played anywhere but chose to stay home. It’s not quite Cooper Flagg committing to Maine, but that’s closer to any real-world five-star commitments in the last 20 years. The only comparable cases were Patrick Baldwin Jr. to Milwaukee and Emmanuel Mudiay to SMU, but even then Baldwin Sr. was the Panthers head coach while the Ponies had Larry Brown recruiting with duffle bags.
He was too good to be playing at Colorado. He’s the best player we’ve ever had and there’s not much of an argument otherwise. I’m joking that his accomplishments at CU overshadow what he did in Detroit and Denver, but there has never been such a singular talent in program history. 19-year-old Billups carried the Buffs to their best season in 25 years despite having a first-time head coach and a whole lot of mid on that roster. Cliff Meely and Birdie Haldorson weren’t so good that their little brother got hired by two universities and then an NBA team.
His professional accolades speak for themselves, but maybe it’s not obvious to CU fans that he had the greatest on-field professional career of any basketball or football player in university history. You might be surprised at the football players, but Cliff Branch is CU’s lone Hall of Famer and only Andre Gurode can match Billups’ five all-star appearances. None of them starred in the same way as Billups, and not in a sport that is almost entirely star-driven. (Off-field success goes to Byron White of the Supreme Court.)
Billups deserves all the adoration and celebration for his on-court play. He’s an iconic figure in Colorado sports history — with both the Buffs and Nuggets — and he’s now immortalized as a legend of the game.
by Sam Metivier
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