The Air Up Here blog recaps the Kansas win

[Buffnik]

There aren't a lot of long-time CU MBB fans. I can't count myself in that number. I was a casual fan in the Ricardo era. I paid attention when the team did well and didn't pay much attention if there wasn't a lot going on that I could cheer for.

That changed for me when Alec's freshman season and the practice facility came together. I knew we were onto something that was going to make CU Basketball relevant.

For that timeline, KU is a program to aspire toward and one that had been annoyingly good. But they were so far above CU's level that it was hard for me to think of them as a rival.

Not so for the handful of students, band members and diehard fans that had been there among a crowd of 2,500 fans for every home game for all those years. They hate KU. A little bit jealousy. But mostly the fact that they were suffering enough without having to deal with getting drowned out every year by a building filled with the arrogant Jayhawk faithful -- and losing the game. Every ****ing year. It sucked. It was torture.

IT'S ****ING OVER! ALLEN FIELDHOUSE WEST IS DEAD!

Congrats, guys. And thanks for being among the few standing on the wall all those years during the lean times.

http://theairuphere.com/2013/12/11/allen-fieldhouse-west-no-more/

 

[Highlander]

I was casual buddies with Rodell "House" Guest, Stevie Wise, and Brent Vaughn. Later, I was in a literature class with Shawn Vandiver. That first group of guys went on an amazing run where it seemed like every Wednesday, they beat a ranked team at the Keg. I believe they finished 3rd in the NIT that year, but it didn't translate to sustained success and it was tough to follow after that.

So much fun to have a b-ball team to follow!

 

[Scotch]

Thx Nik, that's a good read!

Other than 2003 Ricardo had his chances. His first game against KU was also his first as head coach for CU(hope I'm remember this right). Harrington resigned mid-season, and Ricardo was named interim HC. He had Chauncey and a bunch of guys nobody knew much about, and nearly pulled off the upset, losing by 2. The following years would be almost a mirror of each other. The Buffs would usually play KU tough for 35 minutes, but missed FT's and costly turnovers at the worst possible time usually did them in. The Jayhawks made plenty of mistakes of their own, but had the talent and poise to overcome them. Other than last Saturday and in '03, CU didn't.

I have so much respect for KU basketball and its tradition. Its 2nd to none really. The damn inventor of the game coached there(Naismith, he lived in Denver for a time before moving to Lawrence), and as far as I know he is the only coach to have a losing record at KU....... Think about that. Also saw some damn good players over the years in a KU uniform.

Their fans were another story. One year Chip and the cheerleaders were throwing t-shirts in the crowd like normal, KU fans caught a few and threw it back at them, to the cheers of the other KU fans in the crowd. Other years they've taunted the cheerleaders, boo'd our players, and a bunch of other **** I don't feel like remembering anymore. They're an arrogant bunch. They can stick the rockchalk chant straight up their ass, and I was sooooo thankful we didn't have to hear it on Saturday. It was a thing of beauty to see their jaws drop to the floor when Ski made that 3.

Saturday got the monkey off CU's back for more reasons than one.

 

[TZISKIN]

Thanks for posting this Buffnik. I hope everyone enjoys the piece, one of the more emotional ones I'll ever write, for sure.

 

[Goose]

Thx Nik, that's a good read!

Other than 2003 Ricardo had his chances. His first game against KU was also his first as head coach for CU(hope I'm remember this right). Harrington resigned mid-season, and Ricardo was named interim HC. He had Chauncey and a bunch of guys nobody knew much about, and nearly pulled off the upset, losing by 2. The following years would be almost a mirror of each other. The Buffs would usually play KU tough for 35 minutes, but missed FT's and costly turnovers at the worst possible time usually did them in. The Jayhawks made plenty of mistakes of their own, but had the talent and poise to overcome them. Other than last Saturday and in '03, CU didn't.

I have so much respect for KU basketball and its tradition. Its 2nd to none really. The damn inventor of the game coached there(Naismith, he lived in Denver for a time before moving to Lawrence), and as far as I know he is the only coach to have a losing record at KU....... Think about that. Also saw some damn good players over the years in a KU uniform.

Their fans were another story. One year Chip and the cheerleaders were throwing t-shirts in the crowd like normal, KU fans caught a few and threw it back at them, to the cheers of the other KU fans in the crowd. Other years they've taunted the cheerleaders, boo'd our players, and a bunch of other **** I don't feel like remembering anymore. They're an arrogant bunch. They can stick the rockchalk chant straight up their ass, and I was sooooo thankful we didn't have to hear it on Saturday. It was a thing of beauty to see their jaws drop to the floor when Ski made that 3.

Saturday got the monkey off CU's back for more reasons than one.

Every time I think of you and Kansas, I just picture you screaming "MOVING SCREENS!!!!"

 

[CVilleBuff]

One thing that is different at CU is just how many football fans pay (or paid) little to no attention to CU basketball until fairly recently. It's just not like that in ACC land, nearly everyone follows both sports closely

 

[Scotch]

Every time I think of you and Kansas, I just picture you screaming "MOVING SCREENS!!!!"

:lol: "They Called It!!!!!! They Called It!!!!!!!!! WE'RE GONNA WIN!!!!!!!!!!"

Rushing the court after the '03 game was a whole lot of fun. I had to basically shove an usher out of the way to get there.

 

[cubuffs85]

Good article Tyler, enjoyed reading it. And it was clearly a statement game.

One thing I'll disagree with however...

The question remains, was this the most important victory in the history of the program? Considering the opponent, considering the press, considering the #21 ranking in the AP poll it garnered?

Sure, we’ve won Tournament games, and those are huge. Sure, we’ve beaten teams higher ranked than Kansas (#6) was on Saturday. But this game just means more, at least to me, than any of those, all factors considered. It’s a statement that Colorado finally got to make.

I would say no to that. It's one of the bigger ones in school history but considering it didn't get much play out of Colorado with it was happening in the middle Conference Championship Sunday, I don't think so. I think this is a case of recentism. I'd say winning the Pac-12 Championship was bigger. It was still a statement game and a great win. It was our biggest home regular season win I'd say.

 

[Buffnik]

Good article Tyler, enjoyed reading it. And it was clearly a statement game.

One thing I'll disagree with however...

I would say no to that. It's one of the bigger ones in school history but considering it didn't get much play out of Colorado with it was happening in the middle Conference Championship Sunday, I don't think so. I think this is a case of recentism. I'd say winning the Pac-12 Championship was bigger. It was still a statement game and a great win. It was our biggest home regular season win I'd say.

In my world, this win is 3rd.

1. Pac-12 Championship game.
2. NCAA tourney win over Indiana.
3. 2013 KU win.

The fact that I put it above the NCAA tourney win against UNLV tells you how important I think this one was.

 

[Goose]

See, I think this is #1 too. My main logic behind it is because you can almost write off the P12 championship game as "CU got hot at the right time in a very weak conference". The Indiana tourney win was great, but didn't lead to anything. We dropped back down after. This is the culmination of a few years of solid building. This could be the win that we point to that says "we've arrived". This win is kind of the perfect summary of the previous 3-5 years. That's why I have it #1.

 

[scoob]

See, I think this is #1 too. My main logic behind it is because you can almost write off the P12 championship game as "CU got hot at the right time in a very weak conference". The Indiana tourney win was great, but didn't lead to anything. We dropped back down after. This is the culmination of a few years of solid building. This could be the win that we point to that says "we've arrived". This win is kind of the perfect summary of the previous 3-5 years. That's why I have it #1.

Pretty much my thought as well. Also, if we continue with this momentum through the season, this may be the game that we look back at in a few years that tipped the scales in our favor for guys like Boatwright, Pflueger, Hemsley, and Davis.

 

[pachoops]

Agree with Goose here in that you can't really give a "biggest win" title without context. For my $ biggest wins are statement games. Indiana draining Kentucky on that Watford three wasn't necessarily the biggest in IU history but certainly of Crean's tenure. To which I'll cite my Elon article today. We'll know if this is a spring board if it builds momentum. That's what big is.

With the same snowball I can cause a black eye or an avalanche. (good analogy?)

See, I think this is #1 too. My main logic behind it is because you can almost write off the P12 championship game as "CU got hot at the right time in a very weak conference". The Indiana tourney win was great, but didn't lead to anything. We dropped back down after. This is the culmination of a few years of solid building. This could be the win that we point to that says "we've arrived". This win is kind of the perfect summary of the previous 3-5 years. That's why I have it #1.

 

[Goose]

I got free tickets to an Oklahoma State-CU basketball game in the early 1990's. That along with going to home football games went a long way in making me a CU fan instead of an Oklahoma fan.

Lucky us.

 

[BuffDog]

Thanks for the write up. I have been a season ticket holder for 22 years now and remember the CEC being empty for many of them. It got real old losing to Kansas. I think they will be too afraid to play us in the future because the next time we play at their place we would win and they are doomed at the keg. I will continue to be sure to bring my wife to the Kansas games if they come back since her record when attending is 2-1.

 

[cubuffs85]

In my world, this win is 3rd.

1. Pac-12 Championship game.
2. NCAA tourney win over Indiana.
3. 2013 KU win.

The fact that I put it above the NCAA tourney win against UNLV tells you how important I think this one was.

I wasn't a CU fan when #2 happened so impossible to judge that one. I usually put the Pac-12 Champ/UNLV win together -- I kind of associate the Pac-12 Tourney that year subsequent NCAA games as the same, since we had no business being there. And I'm someone who hates when they do the top 10 list and put multiple games/plays at the same number.

 

[cubuffs85]

See, I think this is #1 too. My main logic behind it is because you can almost write off the P12 championship game as "CU got hot at the right time in a very weak conference". The Indiana tourney win was great, but didn't lead to anything. We dropped back down after. This is the culmination of a few years of solid building. This could be the win that we point to that says "we've arrived". This win is kind of the perfect summary of the previous 3-5 years. That's why I have it #1.

Even though I disagree with you here, you definitely have a point with the "weak conference" and getting hot at the right time. I just think the Tournament was huge in growing our program and beating UNLV was icing on the cake.

 

[cubuffs85]

Agree with Goose here in that you can't really give a "biggest win" title without context. For my $ biggest wins are statement games. Indiana draining Kentucky on that Watford three wasn't necessarily the biggest in IU history but certainly of Crean's tenure. To which I'll cite my Elon article today. We'll know if this is a spring board if it builds momentum. That's what big is.

With the same snowball I can cause a black eye or an avalanche. (good analogy?)

I'm glad you brought up the Watford shot, what makes that big IMO as well is how many people were watching/talking about it. I hate to say this but it was not a good weekend for making headlines.

 

[BehindEnemyLines]

Not sure if the PAC12 tourney win (remember, that was 4 in 4 days away from home), or the monkey-off-the-back-and-reclaim-the-KEG win was bigger. But in the context of national attention, the ncaa tourney win over Indiana is hard to top.

I remember the days leading up to that first weekend. All the media could talk about was the juicy 2nd round matchup on the horizon. Indiana vs North Carolina. Storied program meets storied program. Legendary future hall of game coaches -- Knight vs Smith.

Then the Buffs went and ruined all their press. It was a hoot.

 

[cubuffs85]

Not sure if the PAC12 tourney win (remember, that was 4 in 4 days away from home), or the monkey-off-the-back-and-reclaim-the-KEG win was bigger. But in the context of national attention, the ncaa tourney win over Indiana is hard to top.

I remember the days leading up to that first weekend. All the media could talk about was the juicy 2nd round matchup on the horizon. Indiana vs North Carolina. Storied program meets storied program. Legendary future hall of game coaches -- Knight vs Smith.

Then the Buffs went and ruined all their press. It was a hoot.

Wasn't around for the Indiana upset, but I think in the context that CU didn't really build on that, it doesn't mean as much. But you could certainly argue that was the biggest CU victory in the past 50 years or something. We do get caught up in recentism too much IMO. Bottomline, I don't think there's a consensus #1 on this.

 

[tante]

Wasn't around for the Indiana upset, but I think in the context that CU didn't really build on that, it doesn't mean as much. But you could certainly argue that was the biggest CU victory in the past 50 years or something. We do get caught up in recentism too much IMO. Bottomline, I don't think there's a consensus #1 on this.

We beat Indiana 16 years ago, how old are you?

 

[cubuffs85]

We beat Indiana 16 years ago, how old are you?

I'm 28, but I didn't really care about CU was I was 12, living in Maryland, not knowing I'd eventually go there.

 

[cubuffs85]

LOL yeah by "not around," I was really just saying not immersed in CU sports.

 

[BehindEnemyLines]

Wasn't around for the Indiana upset, but I think in the context that CU didn't really build on that, it doesn't mean as much. But you could certainly argue that was the biggest CU victory in the past 50 years or something. We do get caught up in recentism too much IMO. Bottomline, I don't think there's a consensus #1 on this.

Not trying to put it with the program-changers, hence the reference to context. CU was directly in the national spotlight for a couple of days after that game particularly since the media and talking head had to change which direction their lights were pointing. It was fun.

 

[unionbuff]

I'm 28, but I didn't really care about CU was I was 12, living in Maryland, not knowing I'd eventually go there.

I don't think you are allowed to post here for another 7 years.

 

[sackman]

About three or four hours after that game, my wife turns to me and says "You know, I feel really lucky to have witnessed that". There were 11,100+ people at that game. In another few years, the number of people who claim to have been there will number somewhere in the 20,000+ range. :lol: