This Year In BasketBuffs: The Seniors

[Goose]

It was a great ride.

A season that started with the Buffs beating Ft. Lewis convincingly on their home floor ended with somewhere between 2,000 and 3,000 Buff fans singing the fight song in Albuquerque after making the third round of the NCAA Tournament. Along the way there were highs & lows, but it's safe to say that this is a season that Buff fans will remember for a long time. And if they do forget, there will be a nice new PAC-12 Champions banner hanging in The Keg to remind people just what happened this season.

And what did happen? A year in which the Buffs were expected to be rebuilding and not reloading started with everyone wondering how CU would replace the loss of 75% of it's offensive production from the year before. The media picked CU to finish 10th in the PAC-12. Most of us here on AllBuffs were considered wildly optimistic because it seemed like many thought the team would finish in the 6-9 range. Remembering the pain of missing the tournament the year before, the team decided to crash the gates and force their way in the best way they could -- winning that automatic bid.

Over this week, AllBuffs will be reviewing the season that just happened and giving you a brief preview about what's in the cards for next season. We'll be breaking it down on a day by day basis.

Monday: The Gradating Seniors
Tuesday: The Frontcourt Players
Wednesday: The Backcourt Players
Thursday: The Newcomers
Friday: A Brief Look At Next Season

So today, we take a look at the players who laid the groundwork for this year's season -- the seniors. Arguably the most successful season class in CU history, these four helped the Buffs take the PAC-12 by storm and will always be welcome back in Boulder.

Carlon Brown Guard 6'5" 215 lbs. Senior Riverside, CA #30

MPG PPG RPG OR% DR% APG TORate SPG BPG FG% 3PT% FT% eFG% Poss% ORtg 28.5 12.6 3.8 3.7% 11.3% 2.0 16.7% 0.8 0.3 44.7% 30.7% 72.3% 50.4% 24.6% 102.4

2011-12: The transfer from Utah provided the Buffs with the necessary scoring to survive the loss of their four leading scorers from the previous year. Carlon was absolutely phenomenal at times and maddening at others, but it seemed like whenever the team needed him the most, he would step up and provide the will to win. One of the things that most Buffs fans will remember from this season were his exclemation point dunks late in the games on our tourney run. He wasn't the most efficient scorer for the Buffs, but he was the workhorse. Whenever the offense seemed to bog down, Carlon would take control of the ball and find a way to generate something. Someone who led the team quietly, Buffs fans will forever be thankful for Carlon's two years in Colorado.

Austin Dufault Forward 6'9" 225 lbs. Senior Killdeer, ND #33

MPG PPG RPG OR% DR% APG TORate SPG BPG FG% 3PT% FT% eFG% Poss% ORtg 27.1 11.1 4.4 6.6% 12.2% 0.9 13.4% 0.6 0.3 48.6% 35.9% 68.9% 52.3% 21.2% 107.7

2011-12: When it comes to Austin, you have to wonder "what if". What if Bzdelik had been able to surround Dufault with a big man that allowed him to play either a shooting 4 or a big 3? That was what Dufault was recruited as, and he could have been amazing in that role. Unfortunately, due to injuries and some players just not working out, Austin was forced to play the center against guys much bigger than him. Finally under Coach Boyle, Austin was able to develop a low post game that when combined with his outside shooting touch, allowed him to become a solid offensive weapon. He was third on the team in offensive efficiency (behind Spencer Dinwiddie and Andre Roberson) and was best on the team in turnover rate. Like Nate, Austin should find himself a solid gig playing overseas, but I'm hoping that he too will be able to return to see the PAC-12 Champions banner be raised.

Trey Eckloff Forward 6'10" 230 lbs. Senior Englewood, CO #55

MPG PPG RPG OR% DR% APG TORate SPG BPG FG% 3PT% FT% eFG% Poss% ORtg 2.6 0.6 0.4 N/A N/A 0.4 N/A 0.0 0.1 28.6% 50.0% N/A N/A N/A N/A

2011-12: The big man from Cherry Creek played 10.1 mpg in his freshman year at CU but then due to rotations, injuries and illness ended up finding less and less PT while at CU. He only played in 8 games this season and was severely limited down the stretch due to a battle with mono that plagued him. Eckloff also has the unfortunate distinction of having played ball with AllBuffs' own Rugged while in high school.

Nate Tomlinson Guard 6'3" 185 lbs. Senior Sydney, Australia #1

MPG PPG RPG OR% DR% APG TORate SPG BPG FG% 3PT% FT% eFG% Poss% ORtg 29.7 5.5 2.0 0.6% 7.1% 3.0 26.2% 0.9 0.0 39.0% 34.3% 70.5% 50.6% 12.8% 99.9

2011-12: The player that Buffs fans loved to hate (or hated to love). There are very few players as polarizing as Nate, but the two things that everyone could agree is that very few players cared as much about the team as Nate did and that when he was on his game, the team was operating at a much higher level. When you look at his numbers, you don't see someone who will be hard to replace. He has a high turnover rate for a PG, a slightly below average offensive rating and was involved in less possessions than everyone on the team except for Chen, but Nate's leadership and defense are going to be hard to be matched next season. Nate should be able to get a gig playing overseas somewhere, but I hope that he can find a way to make sure he's back in Boulder when we raise the PAC-12 Champions banner. Without him, it wouldn't have been possible.

 

[NashBuff]

6-6 tie between Dufalt and Brown.

I voted for the guy from Killdeer...the question is who else could have played in his position beside Roberson?

 

[Darth Snow]

good stuff Goose. I hope everyone knows that my problems with Nate stemmed from his initial inability to defend anyone AND his penchant for throwing the ball to the other team at the worst possible time. I.e., his turnovers were often unforced and/or out of proportion to the # of them. He obviously completely changed part 1, and began to limit part 2, in that latter half of the season. His refusal to take open shots also pissed me off (50% 3 pt shooter ARRRGH) but that was the smaller of my worries.

I'm impressed with him. Glad he went out on a high note. What he said to the team just prior to the pac 12 tourney was bad ass. He was a good buff.

 

[ShockerHoops]

Nice read, and Carlon Brown hands down, imo. The guy is explosive, a game changer.

 

[slider]

No option for Trey Eckloff?

 

[tante]

Carlon should win this in a landslide, but he went through a terrible stretch. It was pretty tough to pick between Dufault and Carlon for me as both were a big reason we are the PAC:12 CHAMPIONS.

 

[jgisland]

Excellent work goose. I think that Carlon is going to be the most missed b/c as you said he was able to help ignite a stagnant offense and also provided some SR leadership (especially in that P12 tourney run). I also really think Dufault is going to be missed, he is this year's Relphorde, somebody who does a lot of nice things but doesn't get much attention for it.

 

[sackman]

Carlon Brown was missed a lot this season.

 

[Buffalo Brad]

Goose, as usual, noice job. You did a great job covering the bb team this year and I appreciate the time you put in.

And it will be Carlon for his ability to put the team on his back. I know he disappeared for a stretch in the slump, but the team would not have won the Pac tourney without him.

 

[buff4bcs1985]

good stuff Goose. I hope everyone knows that my problems with Nate stemmed from his initial inability to defend anyone AND his penchant for throwing the ball to the other team at the worst possible time. I.e., his turnovers were often unforced and/or out of proportion to the # of them. He obviously completely changed part 1, and began to limit part 2, in that latter half of the season. His refusal to take open shots also pissed me off (50% 3 pt shooter ARRRGH) but that was the smaller of my worries.

I'm impressed with him. Glad he went out on a high note. What he said to the team just prior to the pac 12 tourney was bad ass. He was a good buff.

i miss this...link?

 

[Darth Snow]

during the press conference, tad discussed the team meeting just prior to the tourney, and how he talked for an hour, and had the team talk... and then this happened.

And one of our guys who I really respect, Nate Tomlinson, our senior point guard, wasn't saying a lot. Nate is not a film guy. He doesn't like looking in the past. He certainly doesn't like looking at his mistakes because he understands when he makes them and he doesn't want to talk about them. He wants to go out and do something about it. But I said, 'Nate, you have been kind of quiet. What do you think?' And he looked at me, and he looked me straight in the eye and said, 'Coach, you really want to know?' And I said, 'Absolutely, I want to know.' And I had no idea what was going to come out of his mouth. He said, 'I don't think we're that good.' He said, 'We've played against Kansas. We've played against Texas since I've been here. This is no disrespect to anybody in this room, but I don't think we're that good. The only chance we have is if we guard, we rebound and we compete our tails off.' It was the right words at the right time by the right guy.

http://buffscoop.com/forum/showthread.php?t=16190

this has been reported elsewhere, but scoop typed it up.

 

[tante]

which tourney was that Snow?

 

[Buffnik]

which tourney was that snow?

p-12