LAST WEEK
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Friday, December 9, 2011
This one is hard to write. Honestly, I'd love to give you an excuse on how work was crazy or how I was out of town this weekend, or many other things to tell you why This Week in BasketBuffs is a day late, but I just can't. Both of those excuses are true, but it still didn't stop me from trying this yesterday. However, as I sat down to write my recap, I just couldn't get over the frustration of the Wyoming game.
They kicked our ass.
Period. There's really no other way to look at it. The Fresno game wasn't pretty, but it showed that we could rebound from a heartbreaking loss. The game had it's problems (how we went from a 20 point lead to only having a 3 point lead is disturbing), but overall it was full of positives -- the freshmen all stepping up, the team shooting 84% from the FT line and Dre bringing his game up. We were all happy. Then Wyoming came in and kicked our ass. And I can't stress that enough, it was an ass kicking. And that ass kicking puts us at 5-4, meaning the best we can do in non-conference is 8-4, which means we need to go .500 in PAC-12 play to have a realistic shot at the NIT. Is it possible? Yes, but it's not likely. The one good thing we have going for us can actually be summed up in a post-game conversation I had with Nik:
The question is how do we get there? Personally, I'm on board with Nik's plan. I'd give the majority of the playing time to Spencer (frosh), Ski (frosh), Adams (soph), Dre (soph) and Cain (frosh). I'd play Nate, Austin and Carlon off of the bench. I'd use SHT and Chen in spot minutes. But it's time for the younger players to take over. I will be thankful to the seniors for giving their all to CU and will cheer them loudly on senior day and hope for nothing but the best for them in the rest of their careers after they leave Boulder, but it's becoming painfully obvious that they don't have the senior leadership necessary to take this team. It was pretty obvious that Spencer has the biggest balls on this team as he single handedly tried to drag the Buffs back in to the game kicking and screaming against Wyoming. He's found his groove, it's time for him to take over. I may be in the minority on this, but he's our best player right now if you ask me.
I know some of you might be surprised to see me throwing all of my chips in on Cain already, but I haven't seen anything to make me think he's not going to be a badass. He's not in game shape yet, but he's getting there. Honestly, there were two moments that won me over last week.
1.) The first time he entered the game, he got into a deep defensive stance -- something I haven't seen anyone else on this team do at all.
2.) Against Wyoming, he was guarding Washington down low and he got low, used correct positioning and when it was said and done he moved Washington all the way from the low post to almost the three point line. Washington isn't some tiny guy either as he's 6'7", 235 lbs.. This was impressive defense.
Now Cain's not there yet. As I mentioned he's not yet in shape, and he needs to work on his hands still, but he's going to be a good player for us.
So the question is, do we risk missing the postseason completely by going with the youth movement or do we just stay the course and assume that this is just a temporary glitch and that the team will find it's groove?
THIS WEEK
The men's team is off this week for some much needed practice on beating the zone defense and post entry passes. However the women's team hosts Weber State at home on Saturday at 4 pm. The game is also available on BuffsTV, but let's get the Foam Dome rocking.
SEASON NUMBERS TO FOLLOW
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
| 71 | 
| 64 |
Friday, December 9, 2011
| 65 |
| 54 |
This one is hard to write. Honestly, I'd love to give you an excuse on how work was crazy or how I was out of town this weekend, or many other things to tell you why This Week in BasketBuffs is a day late, but I just can't. Both of those excuses are true, but it still didn't stop me from trying this yesterday. However, as I sat down to write my recap, I just couldn't get over the frustration of the Wyoming game.
They kicked our ass.
Period. There's really no other way to look at it. The Fresno game wasn't pretty, but it showed that we could rebound from a heartbreaking loss. The game had it's problems (how we went from a 20 point lead to only having a 3 point lead is disturbing), but overall it was full of positives -- the freshmen all stepping up, the team shooting 84% from the FT line and Dre bringing his game up. We were all happy. Then Wyoming came in and kicked our ass. And I can't stress that enough, it was an ass kicking. And that ass kicking puts us at 5-4, meaning the best we can do in non-conference is 8-4, which means we need to go .500 in PAC-12 play to have a realistic shot at the NIT. Is it possible? Yes, but it's not likely. The one good thing we have going for us can actually be summed up in a post-game conversation I had with Nik:
The question is how do we get there? Personally, I'm on board with Nik's plan. I'd give the majority of the playing time to Spencer (frosh), Ski (frosh), Adams (soph), Dre (soph) and Cain (frosh). I'd play Nate, Austin and Carlon off of the bench. I'd use SHT and Chen in spot minutes. But it's time for the younger players to take over. I will be thankful to the seniors for giving their all to CU and will cheer them loudly on senior day and hope for nothing but the best for them in the rest of their careers after they leave Boulder, but it's becoming painfully obvious that they don't have the senior leadership necessary to take this team. It was pretty obvious that Spencer has the biggest balls on this team as he single handedly tried to drag the Buffs back in to the game kicking and screaming against Wyoming. He's found his groove, it's time for him to take over. I may be in the minority on this, but he's our best player right now if you ask me.
I know some of you might be surprised to see me throwing all of my chips in on Cain already, but I haven't seen anything to make me think he's not going to be a badass. He's not in game shape yet, but he's getting there. Honestly, there were two moments that won me over last week.
1.) The first time he entered the game, he got into a deep defensive stance -- something I haven't seen anyone else on this team do at all.
2.) Against Wyoming, he was guarding Washington down low and he got low, used correct positioning and when it was said and done he moved Washington all the way from the low post to almost the three point line. Washington isn't some tiny guy either as he's 6'7", 235 lbs.. This was impressive defense.
Now Cain's not there yet. As I mentioned he's not yet in shape, and he needs to work on his hands still, but he's going to be a good player for us.
So the question is, do we risk missing the postseason completely by going with the youth movement or do we just stay the course and assume that this is just a temporary glitch and that the team will find it's groove?
THIS WEEK
The men's team is off this week for some much needed practice on beating the zone defense and post entry passes. However the women's team hosts Weber State at home on Saturday at 4 pm. The game is also available on BuffsTV, but let's get the Foam Dome rocking.
| Colorado Offense | Colorado Defense | D1 Average | |
| eFG% | 50.6% | 50.1% | 48.5% |
| Turnover % | 20.1% | 16.8% | 21.3% |
| Off. Reb % | 31.9% | 29.4% | 32.6% |
| FTA/FGA | 48.4 | 34.1 | 37.1 |
SEASON NUMBERS TO FOLLOW
| Offensive Efficiency | Defensive Efficiency | Pace | |
| Colorado | 105.2 | 102.3 | 66.9 |
| D1 Average | 99.8 | 99.8 | 67.3 |
