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Tad Boyle on basketball media day: 2016 team = overrated

Over/under 22: # of wins for the Buffs this season

  • Over 22

    Votes: 31 81.6%
  • Under 22

    Votes: 7 18.4%

  • Total voters
    38

Justin M Guerriero

Club Member
Club Member
Players and Colorado basketball head coach Tad Boyle addressed the media on Tuesday afternoon at Coors Events Center as part of the annual Media Day.
Boyle wasted no time beating around the bush and set the tone early.
“We’re 18 practices in, and I think those of you who’ve followed this team and this program know we have some pretty talented guys in uniform this year,” Boyle said. “But right now, if I had to describe our team in one word, it would be ‘overrated.’ We’re not consistent enough to be considered an upper tier Pac-12 team right now. We’re a work in progress.”
Although Boyle’s message was addressed to members of the media, part of what he said was definitely directed at players on the team.
“I think right now our players might think that we’re a little bit better than we actually are. That’s the reality,” Boyle said.
Boyle and the Buffs are coming off a 22-12 overall record. The team went 10-8 in Pac-12 Conference play and was 16-1 in Boulder, while going 4-7 on the road.
The coach did elaborate on the inconsistencies that have formed his preseason opinion of this current squad.
“Defense, showing on ball screens, switching on ball screens, guarding the ball … rebounding,” Boyle listed among his concerns. “The reality factor is we’re not getting it done and that reality is going to become painful if we don’t figure it out between now and the time we start playing games.”
All that said, Boyle’s squad last season averaged the most points per game since the 2010-11 Buffaloes. The team returns four fifth year seniors and a fourth year junior in guard George King.
A major talking point centered around the departure of Josh Scott, the Buffs’ longtime big man who graduated last May after leading the team in points per game and rebounding.
“I always said it when Josh Scott left: we can replace his production and rebounds,” Boyle said. “What the question mark is ‘how do we replace his leadership?’ I’m not sure of that right now. The only way we’re going to find out is when adversity hits. That’s the only way you find out what leadership you have.”“[Josh] is gone,” King said. “He was a big leader for us for four years, and so now we’ve got some fifth year guys [in] Wesley Gordon and Xavier Johnson and Josh Fortune. That doesn’t mean that we have to be leaders. The freshmen can be leaders in different roles; a vocal leader, a leader just doing your job, a lot of different things. As the days go by we find out who that is.”
Boyle and King both seemed to be on the same page in the sense that only time will truly tell what this team is capable of and who will emerge as a leader this season.
Freshman guard Bryce Peters was also in agreement about the Buffaloes’ need to improve on defense.
“Last year I watched every game that was on TV and defensively, compared to last season, we need to step up,” the 6-foot-4 force from La Puente, Calif. said.
“[Our] offense I think is coming along pretty good right now, but [on] defense we need to be a bit more intact,” said Fortune.
The Buffaloes open up their season Friday, Nov. 11 at home vs. Sacramento State.
“This league is no joke and the margin for error is very thin,” Boyle said. “Little things make a difference and right now we’ve got a lot of little things that aren’t being taken care of that we need to get better at.”

Note* I think Boyle's tough words were said as more of a wakeup call to the guys on the roster as opposed to him literally thinking that his team is mediocre. He went on to say that "Xavier right now would beat us by 20. It wouldn't even be close. Our guys just don't understand that...We have these "expectations" but I think they're a little out of whack right now." Do you agree?

To continue...Boyle: "I think some of our guys have the Allen Iverson approach to practice right now." COUGH. COUGH. XJ!!.....but damn...how about a bombshell!

Thoughts? Is this Buffaloes team overrated? Think Boyle's concerns are valid?

Contact CU Independent Head Sports Editor Justin Guerriero at justin.guerriero@colorado.edu and follow him on Twitter @TheHungry_Hippo
 
He says they never defend before every season.
Yeah, it's a motivational tool. But Tad always tells the truth and I think he genuinely feels that if we played a good team right now, we'd get killed. And if he says it, I believe him.
 
Good. This team can be something special, but this schedule could also lead to disappointment. We'd better be ready to go. If we want the seed to make moves in March, we're going to need to be on point for these crucial early OOC games. Notre Dame, Texas, Xavier and to a lesser extent BYU and Colorado State give us a huge opportunity to build a nice resume. And while the Pac looks strong, we know we can't always count on it to deliver OOC, thus harming the perception (although with freaking Oregon State a 7 seed last year, maybe those days are fading).
 
Tad's motivational ploys with the media are always very transparent. Sometimes he is really direct and other times he says the opposite of what is really happening (ie. two years ago when guys were going through special leadership training and he said the one thing he wasn't worried about was leadership, but it turned out they had NONE of it). This is definitely one of those transparent moments where he means what he says and I also seriously doubt that the players are listening to him, regardless of what he says right now. The key to overcoming the problem will be the preseason scrimmages against SMU and Oklahoma State. If they are early enough and go the way Boyle expects them to go then guys will start listening again and they can fix it. Anyone know when the scrimmages are?
 
Anyone know when the scrimmages are?

per the recent article: "The Buffs leave Friday morning for the first of two closed scrimmages with a date at SMU on Saturday. Oklahoma State visits CU for another closed scrimmage next week. The Buffs open the regular season Nov. 11 at home against Sacramento State."
 
per the recent article: "The Buffs leave Friday morning for the first of two closed scrimmages with a date at SMU on Saturday. Oklahoma State visits CU for another closed scrimmage next week. The Buffs open the regular season Nov. 11 at home against Sacramento State."
That's some solid scrimmage opponents
 
Tad quoted:
"I always said it when Josh Scott left: we can replace his production and rebounds"
The coach did elaborate on the inconsistencies that have formed his preseason opinion of this current squad
"Rebounding"

Yeah, not so easy to replace Scott. I have thought all along Tad is making a mistake by not getting a legitimate Big in to replace Scott (and before some of you jump in, Gordon and Miller are not legit Centers, they are PF's playing Centers and Walton plays on the perimeter, according to the video by Tad last week). That being said, Tad has pushed all the right buttons at CU, these wings are talented - it will be an interesting year of change.
 
"The Buffs leave Friday morning for the first of two closed scrimmages with a date at SMU on Saturday."

That's some solid scrimmage opponents

From the SMU hoops forum:

"This from a UT Friend:
FYI the word is the bball Texas/SMU scrimmage last night is that SMU took Texas to the woodshed. Granted the main guy who runs point did not play but also not we have no true point guard. Apparently yalls Duke transfer killed Texas."

"@GoodmanESPN heard SMU ran UT out of the gym"

Texas is preseason 22, and we could play them in Brooklyn. So will be very interesting to hear what happens with our scrimmage with SMU.
 
Things to get out of scrimmage at SMU

Timing and chemistry with various lineups
Increases intensity
Try different offense and defense sets

Stay healthy
 
Solid props to everyone involved for keeping the scrimmage a secret! It's like maybe they didn't play...
 
Not worried at all. Scrimmages are a chance to see where things stand. Win or lose the results in scrimmages don't matter.

Plus scrimmages don't always follow normal rules. Remember last year Dom had double digit fouls in one scrimmage. Lots of situational work.
 
From the interview it sounds like the team really isn't paying attention to the right details and that Tad really is trying to get the team to listen. Hopefully the scrimmage results will get them to start listening. I have no doubt that they can fix the rebounding issue, but we all know perimeter defense has been an issue for the Buffs for a while...oh and the other item that concerned me a little was Tad's comments about being able to do some nice things on offense but going through stretches where it wasn't working. Tell me that doesn't sound familiar??? Hope the guys step up and bust their bums the next 10 days of practice.
 
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