LAST WEEK
Monday, November 28th, 2011
Wednesday, November 30th, 2011
It's been beaten to death, but free throws are going to kill this team. It almost cost us the game against Georgia (does anyone else remember that we had a double digit lead late in the 2nd half or is that just my imagination?), and it did cost us the game against the Rams. There is no excuse for the team to be shooting 61% from the line (and both Austin & Dre need to be called out as they're two important keys to the team and are shooting 52% and 53% from the line respectively). None. The thing that concerns me is that we know it's mental. So will the team be able to get over it, or will the pressure and constant harping about the missed free throws just lead to more missed shots? That's going to decide how we do in PAC-12 play.
While I was disappointed in a few aspects of the Georgia game, the simple fact is that we beat an SEC team at home. The way the PAC-12 has played so far this season, that puts us in an elite class in the conference. We shot less than 30% from behind the arc and 60% from the line and still got the victory. I know Georgia's not a good offensive team, but the defensive effort was there most of the night and I was proud of the Buffs. That was a huge victory.
Unfortunately, they decided to follow it up by laying a complete egg. Missed free throws, missed layups, horrible entry passes... our offense single handedly put the game of basketball back 30 years. Thank God we were able to out-rebound the Rams and the D was solid because otherwise CSU would have blown us out. The only good thing to come out of this game was the news from the locker room that the team was "devestated" by the result. Hopefully it will be the wake up call that they need.
Our Australian duo did not have the best week. SHT looks lost out there at times and probably played the worst game of his career against CSU on Wednesday. I'm still hoping it's rust, but Cain may be getting more minutes than we all expected if this continues. As for Nate, I'm one of his biggest defenders (and by that, I mean I'm one of the few people on this board who doesn't want to light him on fire), but him jogging the ball up the court at the end of the CSU game is inexcusable. You can point out that CSU played great D on the pick & roll -- and they did -- but had Nate hurried up there, he might have had enough time to avoid having to shoot the long 3.
On the positive side, this is the Spencer Dinwiddie I expected to see this season. He averaged 16 points and 7.5 rebounds a game this week and looked damn good while doing it. It looks like Boyle's talk that he had with The Mayor paid off. From the first few seconds of the Georgia game, you could just see him looking more confident and comfortable. He's going to be a star. Honestly, I wouldn't mind seeing the offense run more through The Mayor than through Nate for a while. I think he might finally be ready to try running the team. Ski also had a solid week averaging 10 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2 assists a game. The future is bright, no one can deny that.
THIS WEEK
Time to see how the team will rebound after the CSU debacle. With almost a full week off in between games, that gives the team some time to work on the little things that they need to address (entry passes into the post comes to mind IMMEDIATELY). To be honest, Fresno State is pretty bad. About the only thing that they do well is get to the free throw line. The problem is that they send the other team to the line even more often. Now, as we've seen, that's actually a good method to beat CU this season, but I'm hoping this trend reverses now. As for Wyoming, their numbers look impressive -- really impressive -- until you look at their opponents. The best team they've faced all season is Northern Colorado. That said, they are 8-1, so they're doing what they have to. In what has to be good news for the Buffs, both teams play a lot of man to man defense, so hopefully we'll be able to avoid the zone disaster that we encountered for brief periods of time against both Georgia and CSU.
Anything other than going 2-0 this week is not an option. Period.
SEASON NUMBERS TO FOLLOW
Monday, November 28th, 2011
| 70 | 
| 68 |
Wednesday, November 30th, 2011
| 65 |
| 64 |
It's been beaten to death, but free throws are going to kill this team. It almost cost us the game against Georgia (does anyone else remember that we had a double digit lead late in the 2nd half or is that just my imagination?), and it did cost us the game against the Rams. There is no excuse for the team to be shooting 61% from the line (and both Austin & Dre need to be called out as they're two important keys to the team and are shooting 52% and 53% from the line respectively). None. The thing that concerns me is that we know it's mental. So will the team be able to get over it, or will the pressure and constant harping about the missed free throws just lead to more missed shots? That's going to decide how we do in PAC-12 play.
While I was disappointed in a few aspects of the Georgia game, the simple fact is that we beat an SEC team at home. The way the PAC-12 has played so far this season, that puts us in an elite class in the conference. We shot less than 30% from behind the arc and 60% from the line and still got the victory. I know Georgia's not a good offensive team, but the defensive effort was there most of the night and I was proud of the Buffs. That was a huge victory.
Unfortunately, they decided to follow it up by laying a complete egg. Missed free throws, missed layups, horrible entry passes... our offense single handedly put the game of basketball back 30 years. Thank God we were able to out-rebound the Rams and the D was solid because otherwise CSU would have blown us out. The only good thing to come out of this game was the news from the locker room that the team was "devestated" by the result. Hopefully it will be the wake up call that they need.
Our Australian duo did not have the best week. SHT looks lost out there at times and probably played the worst game of his career against CSU on Wednesday. I'm still hoping it's rust, but Cain may be getting more minutes than we all expected if this continues. As for Nate, I'm one of his biggest defenders (and by that, I mean I'm one of the few people on this board who doesn't want to light him on fire), but him jogging the ball up the court at the end of the CSU game is inexcusable. You can point out that CSU played great D on the pick & roll -- and they did -- but had Nate hurried up there, he might have had enough time to avoid having to shoot the long 3.
On the positive side, this is the Spencer Dinwiddie I expected to see this season. He averaged 16 points and 7.5 rebounds a game this week and looked damn good while doing it. It looks like Boyle's talk that he had with The Mayor paid off. From the first few seconds of the Georgia game, you could just see him looking more confident and comfortable. He's going to be a star. Honestly, I wouldn't mind seeing the offense run more through The Mayor than through Nate for a while. I think he might finally be ready to try running the team. Ski also had a solid week averaging 10 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2 assists a game. The future is bright, no one can deny that.
THIS WEEK
|
| Wednesday, December 7th 7:00 PM No TV Coors Event Center Boulder, CO |
|
| Friday, December 9th 7:00 PM ROOT Rocky Mountain Coors Event Center Boulder, CO |
Time to see how the team will rebound after the CSU debacle. With almost a full week off in between games, that gives the team some time to work on the little things that they need to address (entry passes into the post comes to mind IMMEDIATELY). To be honest, Fresno State is pretty bad. About the only thing that they do well is get to the free throw line. The problem is that they send the other team to the line even more often. Now, as we've seen, that's actually a good method to beat CU this season, but I'm hoping this trend reverses now. As for Wyoming, their numbers look impressive -- really impressive -- until you look at their opponents. The best team they've faced all season is Northern Colorado. That said, they are 8-1, so they're doing what they have to. In what has to be good news for the Buffs, both teams play a lot of man to man defense, so hopefully we'll be able to avoid the zone disaster that we encountered for brief periods of time against both Georgia and CSU.
Anything other than going 2-0 this week is not an option. Period.
| Colorado Offense | Colorado Defense | Fresno St Offense | Fresno St Defense | D1 Average | |
| eFG% | 50.8% | 51.2% | 48.4% | 50.6% | 48.4% |
| Turnover % | 18.6% | 16.4% | 20.5% | 22.6% | 21.3% |
| Off. Reb % | 33.4% | 28.8% | 29.3% | 33.0% | 32.6% |
| FTA/FGA | 45.6 | 32.6 | 41.2 | 52.9 | 37.3 |
| Colorado Offense | Colorado Defense | Wyoming Offense | Wyoming Defense | D1 Average | |
| eFG% | 50.8% | 51.2% | 52.8% | 40.0% | 48.4% |
| Turnover % | 18.6% | 16.4% | 17.3% | 24.7% | 21.3% |
| Off. Reb % | 33.4% | 28.8% | 26.9% | 28.0% | 32.6% |
| FTA/FGA | 45.6 | 32.6 | 44.3 | 36.9 | 37.3 |
SEASON NUMBERS TO FOLLOW
| Offensive Efficiency | Defensive Efficiency | Pace | |
| Colorado | 106.7 | 102.1 | 67.3 |
| D1 Average | 99.9 | 99.9 | 67.4 |
