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Colorado Basketball – March, 2024
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May 8th
… CU in the Arena …
Mock NBA Draft has two Buffs going in the first round
From Sports Illustrated … The NBA draft is now less than two months away, with preparations in full swing. The 2024 draft is considered one of the weakest in the last two decades (particularly at the top) after plenty of young star power has come out of recent drafts. Despite that, teams are tasked with finding valuable pieces to help along rebuilds or extend contending windows, and the lack of top-tier choices has created plenty of uncertainty as we head toward the home stretch of the pre-draft process.
Here’s a look at Sports Illustrated’s Big Board, featuring the 25 best players in this year’s class.
8. Cody Williams, Colorado Buffaloes
It was an uneven lone season at Colorado for Williams, the brother of Oklahoma City Thunder star Jalen Williams. Cody Williams dealt with multiple injuries throughout the season and vanished from games too easily, especially late in the season and in key March moments. His three-point shot is a bit of a question mark after looking hesitant to fire from deep at Colorado, though he does possess some serious potential with his length and playmaking ability.
20. Tristan da Silva, Colorado Buffaloes
While lacking some of the physical strength and physicality that NBA teams will want to see, da Silva’s elite shooting stroke and feel for the game makes him an intriguing mid- to late-first-round option. He’s a savvy player who makes good decisions and can operate effectively as a shooter, screener or ballhandler. I’d bet on him finding a way to impact the game at the next level.
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May 7th
… CU in the Arena …
Tad Boyle adds Danny Manning to coaching staff
Press release from CUBuffs.com … Former collegiate National Player of the Year, NCAA champion, NBA All-Star and long-time basketball coach Danny Manning has been named an assistant men’s basketball coach at the University of Colorado, head coach Tad Boyle announced on Tuesday.
Manning, who replaces Rick Ray on Boyle’s staff, joins the Buffaloes with 18 years of collegiate coaching experience on top of being one of the elite basketball players in the world for the last two decades of the 20th century. He will officially begin his duties on June 1.
“I’m very excited to join coach Boyle’s staff,” Manning said. “This staff has been together for quite some time and has had quite a bit of success, so I want to come in and be a sponge; learn from them, the things they’ve been doing to be successful and just try and add little nuggets that I can along the way in terms of my experience as a player and a coach.
“I’d like to thank (athletic director) Rick George and the administration for giving me this opportunity. I’m looking forward to being part of the Buffalo culture and can’t wait to get to Boulder.”
Most recently, Manning spent two seasons as the associate head coach at Louisville (2022-24). He has nine years of experience as a head coach at the NCAA Division I level with two seasons at Tulsa (2012-14), six at Wake Forest (2014-20) and a portion of the 2021-22 campaign as the interim head coach at Maryland, where he was initially an assistant before taking over for Mark Turgeon who stepped down mid-season.
His six-year run at Wake Forest was highlighted by an NCAA First Four appearance during his third season in 2016-17 as the Demon Deacons finished with a 19-14 record advancing to postseason play for the first time in seven seasons. Manning was the recipient of the 2017 Skip Prosser Man of the Year Award, presented to the nation’s top coach who had success on the court and showed moral integrity off of it.
He mentored 14 future professional basketball players at Wake Forest including All-American John Collins, selected by the Atlanta Hawks with the 19th pick of the 2017 NBA Draft. Manning saw 29 players accumulate 3.0 GPAs at Wake Forest with 16 making the Dean’s List.
“He’s going to help us on a lot of different levels,” Boyle said. “Danny brings the ability to connect with young people, being able to mentor them and let them know what they heed to do to get better but also what they need to do to achieve their ultimate goal, which is to be a professional basketball player, which a lot of our players aspire to be. His ability to recruit and connect with families is there as well.”
At Tulsa, Manning had a two-year record of 38-29, winning Conference USA Coach of the Year honors in 2013-14, as he guided the Golden Hurricane to a league championship and the program’s first NCAA Tournament appearance in 11 years. He was the finalist for the Jim Phelan Award, given to the nation’s top coach, and the Ben Jobe Award, for the nation’s top minority coach.
Manning began his coaching career at his alma mater, Kansas. He was part of Bill Self’s original staff in 2003 as the director of student-athlete development/team manager. He was elevated to an assistant coach in 2007, helping the Jayhawks to the 2008 NCAA championship. Manning remained in Lawrence through the 2011-12 season, helping Kansas to a spot in the 2012 Final Four and advancing to the championship game.
The first pick of the 1988 NBA Draft by the Los Angeles Clippers, Manning had a 15-year NBA career, playing for seven different teams. He was a two-time NBA All-Star and won the league’s Sixth Man of the Year Award with the Phoenix Suns in 1998. He averaged 14.0 points, 5.2 rebounds and 2.3 assists while shooting 51.1 percent from the field over 883 career games.
… Continue reading story here …
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April 29th
… CU in the Arena …
Tad Boyle adds three graduate transfers to 2024-25 roster
Press release from CUBuffs.com … Colorado, in reload mode after a record-setting season, added three graduate transfers to its 2024-25 men’s basketball roster with the signings of Trevor Baskin, Andrej Jakimovski and Elijah Malone, head coach Tad Boyle announced on Monday.
Baskin, a 6-foot, 9-inch forward from Arvada, Colo., averaged 18.2 points, 8.3 rebounds and 3.9 assists as a senior at Colorado Mesa, earning Division II All-America honors from both the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) and the D2 Conference Commissioners Association (D2CCA). He led the Mavericks to a 29-5 record in 2023-24 as CMU won the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference regular season title and advanced to the championship game of the NCAA South Central Regional.
“The first thing you look at when you see (Trevor) play is his diverse skill set,” Boyle said. “For a guy that’s 6-9 with a long wingspan, he can really shoot the ball, put it on the floor and he can pass and rebound. He can do a little bit of everything.”
Baskin was the 2023-24 RMAC Player of the Year and a First Team Academic All-American, scheduled to graduate this spring from Colorado Mesa with his degree in Business Administration and Finance.
A three-time All-RMAC First Team selection, and two-time all-region pick, Baskin averaged 13.4 points, 6.2 rebounds and shot 56.6 percent over four seasons at Colorado Mesa. He ranks fifth in school history with 1,656 career points and is sixth in rebounds (767) and second in blocks (145).
“When you lose a Tristan da Silva, who’s 6-9, with a great diverse skill set, and you’re able to pick up a guy like Trevor, it makes you feel better about Tristan’s loss. Trevor’s going to be able to impact the game in a lot of different ways, and the thing I like about him is he can play multiple positions offensively and guard multiple positions defensively. Anyone who has followed Colorado basketball knows it’s something that we value.”
Jakimovski, a 6-8 forward from Kriva Palanka, North Macedonia, comes to Colorado with some familiarity with the program after four seasons at Washington State. He averaged 9.7 points and 5.6 rebounds as a senior, helping the Cougars to a 25-10 record and the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Jakimovski started all 35 games for the Cougars in 2023-24, ranking second on the team in rebounding, 3-point field goals (67) and steals (21).
“We lost the majority of our 3-point shooting this year, and so to be able to sign a guy that is a proven 3-point shooter at the highest level of college basketball is something we needed to replace. The thing I love about Andrej is his toughness and his ability to rebound both offensively and defensively.
Jakimovski averaged 7.1 points and 4.6 rebounds over 120 career games at Washington State. He made 184 3-point field goals during his career, ranking ninth on the Cougars’ all-time list.
“I think our five-out system is really going to help Andrej expand his game offensively and show some other things he’s capable of doing, that he didn’t have a chance to at Washington State based on their personnel (primarily playing with two bigs). They had a heck of a team, finished second in the league, one spot ahead of the Buffaloes. I’ve got great respect for Andrej, and what he’s done in his career at Washington State and I think he can build on that has he comes to Colorado for a year.”
Malone, a 6-10 center from LaGrange, Ind., joins Colorado after a storied career at Grace College (Ind.). Malone was the recipient of the 2024 Bevo Francis Award, given to the nation’s best small college player, encompassing NCAA II, III, NAIA and junior colleges. He averaged 17.3 points, 8.3 rebounds and 2.5 blocks as a senior, guiding Grace to a 34-2 record and the NAIA Fab Four (national semifinals).
“Elijah could have left Grace College after his sophomore or junior years and very easily gone to the Division I level,” Boyle said. “But the fact that he showed loyalty to his teammates and coaching staff that he signed with coming out of high school, that tells you everything you need to know about his character and kind of person he is. His value system and our value system are aligned very well.”
The 2023-24 NAIA Player of the Year, Malone shot 63 percent from the floor, 37 percent from 3-point range and 81 percent from the line. He was the Crossroads League Player of the Year and earned a spot on the NAIA All-Tournament Team.
“He wants to be able to prove himself at the highest level of college basketball and playing in the Big 12 is going to allow him the opportunity to do that,” Boyle said. “The way we play our style and the way he played at Grace College are very similar. So I feel really good about him in terms of what we lost and what we need for next year’s team. He fits the bill perfectly.”
A two-time All-American and three-time all-league pick, Malone averaged 14.1 points, 7.3 rebounds and 2.2 blocks over 139 career games at Grace. He is the Lancers’ career leader in blocks (308) and field goal percentage (.653) and ranks ninth in both points (1,953) and rebounds (1,017).
“We all knew in terms of what we lost from last year’s team, we lost a lot of experience,” Boyle said. “To be able to replace them with these three that have experience and are battle tested and have size; that’s the big thing is we lost so much size on the perimeter and in the middle as well. With that, I think each one of these guys bring something a little bit different to the table and we’re excited about all three of them.”
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April 23rd
… CU in the Arena …
**Video: Men’s Basketball 2023-24 Full Season Recap**
From YouTube, courtesy of BuffsTV …
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April 12th
… CU in the Arena …
KJ Simpson officially declares for the NBA Draft
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April 9th
… CU in the Arena …
CU men finish ranked 28th in the final Associated Press poll
From the Associated Press …
Final 2024 men’s basketball rankings: AP Top 25 poll April 9, 2024
1. UConn, 37-3
2. Purdue, 34-5
3. (tie) Alabama, 25-12; Houston, 32-5
5. Tennessee, 27-9
6. Illinois, 29-9
7. North Carolina, 29-8
8. Iowa State, 29-8
9. Duke, 27-9
10. North Carolina State, 26-15
11. Arizona, 27-5
12. Marquette, 27-10
13. Creighton, 25-10
14. Clemson, 24-12
15. Gonzaga, 27-8
16. Baylor, 24-11
17. San Diego State, 26-11
18. Auburn, 27-8
19. Kansas, 23-11
20. Kentucky, 23-10
21. Saint Mary’s, 26-8
22. Utah State, 28-7
23. Washington State, 25-10
24. South Carolina, 26-8
25. Dayton, 25-8
Others receiving votes: Texas A&M 87, Oregon 77, Colorado 75, BYU 71, Texas 62, James Madison 61, Seton Hall 39, Grand Canyon 37, Wisconsin 27, Northwestern 23, Texas Tech 19, Indiana St 18, Miami 13, Michigan St. 12, Duquesne 9, Yale 7, Arkansas 6, New Mexico 6, Colorado St. 5, Maryland 5, Florida 4, Rutgers 2, Oakland 1, Nevada 1.
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April 8th
… CU in the Arena …
CU women finish ranked No. 15 (Buffs spent the entire season in the AP poll)
From the Daily Camera … A second consecutive run to the Sweet 16 resulted in Colorado women’s basketball landing its best final ranking in more than two decades.
On Monday, the Associated Press released its final Top 25 poll of the season, with CU landing at No. 15. The Buffaloes (24-10) moved up two spots from the previous poll, which was released on March 18.
In the 47-year history of the women’s AP Top 25, this is the first time that the final poll has been released after the NCAA Tournament. In prior years, the final Top 25 was released after Selection Sunday, but before the start of the tournament.
This is the sixth time in program history that the Buffs have finished within the top 15 of the final poll, and the first time since 2002, when they were No. 12.
After starting the season at No. 20 in the preseason poll, the Buffs climbed to No. 3 on two different occasions and spent seven weeks in the top five overall. Only six teams spent more time in the top five than CU.
Overall, CU has appeared in the top 25 in each of the last 27 polls, dating back to last year. It is the second-longest streak in program history, behind a 75-week streak from 1992-97.
The final AP poll …
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April 6th
… CU in the Arena …
It’s official: Chauncey Billups becomes the second Buff inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame
Press release from CUBuffs.com … Chauncey Billups, who in 1997 led the University of Colorado to its first NCAA Tournament berth in 28 years, will be enshrined into the 2024 class of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame this August.
Billups, 47, joins the late Burdette “Burdie” Haldorson as the second Buffalo to be inducted into the Hall. Haldorson, who passed away last October 13 at the age of 89, was a member of the 2010 class. A Denver native, he will also be the first inductee into the Naismith Hall who played his high school ball in Colorado.
“I call it basketball heaven if you will,” Billups said upon learning of his impending selection. “But as a kid, I never even thought about it, I never even really knew about it. To be here now is unbelievable, it really is. I played the right way with it, I never chased stats, I never done none of those things, I just played the right way,” said Billups.
He is especially proud of being the first Colorado high school alum to be selected for the Naismith Hall.
“That really means a lot, I’ve taken a lot of pride in everywhere I go to wear the Colorado flag on my sleeve,” he said. “I feel like I’m trying to gain respect for everyone who is from there. ‘That’s Chauncey Billups, he’s from Colorado.’ I’m just the first one, I want this to go on and on. There are certainly others – players like Joe Barry Carroll and Michel Ray Richardson – he was like a hero to me.”
The current head coach of the National Basketball Association’s Portland Trailblazers, he is one of a handful of players who played at a Colorado high school, for a Colorado university and professionally for Denver, either the Rockets in the old American Basketball Association (ABA) or the Nuggets in the last two seasons of the ABA and then the NBA.
“The most important thing to me are the sacrifices that my parens (Ray and Faye) made to put me in position to chase this dream,” Billups said. “We didn’t have much growing up, but we didn’t need much. They were there every step of the way, as was my wife (Piper). We’ve been together since we were 17. She sacrificed a lot sticking with me, on the journey every day, living through all the ups and downs, the disappointments and the great moments.”
“Chauncey left an indelible mark on our program and we’re both excited and proud that the Basketball Hall of Fame has recognized his achievements in the sport throughout his life,” CU athletic director Rick George said. “He is a special person, and his love for the university and really the state of Colorado is unparalleled.”
Billups credited several of his coaches throughout his journey.
“I played for so many coaches, and many of them deserve some recognition,” he noted. “My little league coaches, Horace Kearney and Rick Callahan; my high school coach, Ed Calloway, and my CU coaches, Joe Harrington and Ricardo Patton up until I got pro. Once in the NBA, Larry Brown and Flip Saunders are the two I really credit for a ton of my development.”
“It was always easy to find him, he was going to be one of two places – at home or the Skyland Rec Center,” Harrington said. “Ricardo did an excellent job as his lead recruiter. Chauncey could have gone anywhere, but he came to Colorado. He accomplished more at CU than he likely could have anywhere else. He was a star here, he had a longtime following – sometimes you go out of state and you’re just another guy. He was a homegrown guy and it just made his career. I think that really helped, and it brought tremendous excitement to the program.”
Billups was quoted in the past, “If I had to do it again, 10 times over, I would still be a Buff.”
“He was unique. He was a star when he was in the eighth grade, but nothing ever went to his head,” Harrington continued. “He accepted it, but he just kept working hard. He worked his tail off from day one, and everything I knew about basketball he wanted to know. He just loved the game and was always open to learning whatever he could.
“His parents were awesome. He was a celebrity from day one, but he never acted like one, and that is to their credit. Chauncey had the full respect of the coaches and his teammates because he had such a great attitude and a great work ethic. We said he was an NBA player before was one, and that was because he knew what he wanted to be and worked hard to get there.”
Current Colorado head coach Tad Boyle echoed Harrington’s thoughts on Chauncey’s parents and his upbringing.
“Chauncey Billups is not only a Hall of Fame player, he is a Hall of Fame human being,” Boyle said. “If parents were given a Gold medal for the children they have raised, Mr. and Mrs. Billups would receive one for raising Chauncey and his brother Rodney. All of us at the University of Colorado are proud of this accomplishment for Chauncey and his family.”
One of the nation’s highly sought-after recruits, he was a four-time, first-team All-State selection playing for coach Calloway at George Washington High School. Starting from his freshman year on, he was Colorado’s Mr. Basketball on three occasions his sophomore through senior years, and to this day, was the Denver Post’s only four-time state’s Player of the Year. As a sophomore and junior, he led the Patriots to back-to-back 5A state titles and a 45-2 record; he averaged 32 points per game for the ’94 Patriots, which were ranked as the No. 9 team in the nation. As a senior, he was selected to the 1995 McDonald’s All-America Team when he averaged 28 points per game despite playing many games with a shoulder injury. He finished his prep career fifth on the state’s (all classes) all-time scoring list with 1,952 points (averaging 23 points per game).
He had dozens of suitors chasing him for his signature on a letter-of-intent, but in the end, he chose Colorado over Kansas, Georgia Tech, Oklahoma State, Arizona, California and Oklahoma. True to form and for his love of the state, he announced where he was headed at Skyland Recreation Center (since renamed in honor of Hiawatha Davis Jr.), where his basketball career began as a youngster. He signed with CU in its 1995 recruiting class.
Billups, a 6-foot-3, 195-pound guard, played two seasons for the Buffaloes, first under Harrington and then Patton, who was named interim head coach midway through Billups’ frosh season. That year, he led the Buffs in scoring at 17.9 points per game, just the fourth freshman at the time to do so in school history (and one of only seven to date as well). It set him up for a sensational sophomore season in 1996-97.
A first-team All-Big 12 performer, he led the Buffaloes to a 22-10 record and their first NCAA tournament berth in since 1969. He had 24 points in CU’s 80-62 first round win over coach Bobby Knight and the Indiana Hoosiers (spoiling the NCAA’s desired second round match-up between Knight and Dean Smith’s North Carolina Tarheels—with two wins in the tournament, he’d become the all-time leader in the NCAA). Though UNC ended CU’s season, it was historic at the time with the most wins in school history. Billups averaged 19.1 points, 4.9 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 2.1 steals, while making 40.1 percent of his three-pointers and 85.4 percent of his free throws.
In leading CU to an 11-5 conference mark in the first year of the Big 12 (second place behind Kansas), he averaged 21.8 points and 5.3 rebounds. The Buffaloes won six straight league games to start the conference slate, a streak that wasn’t matched until this year’s team at the end of the year. His six 30-point games are the sixth-most in school history, with his collegiate best a 35-point night against Nebraska his sophomore campaign. He was a first-team All-American by Basketball Times and a second-team by the majority of all other selectors, along with being a unanimous first-team All-Big 12 pick (he was second-team All-Big Eight as a freshman).
Billups had numerous big plays during his time in Boulder, including a buzzer-beater on January 11, 1997 at Texas Tech that had plenty of significance. He drove the lane and made an off-balance jumper as time expired, giving CU an 80-78 win over the 20th-ranked Red Raiders. That ended the nation’s longest home winning streak at the time (35 games), was CU’s first road win over a ranked team in 24 years and enabled CU to open 3-0 in league play for the first time since 1969.
Drafted third overall in the 1997 NBA Draft by the Boston Celtics, he played for seven teams over the course of his pro career, the most with Detroit (eight seasons), Denver (five, over two different stints), L.A. Clippers (two), Minnesota (two) and Boston, New York and Toronto (one each); he was traded during a season three times.
As a 17-year veteran in the National Basketball Association (the longest NBA career of any Buff), he was a five-time All-Star and three-time All-NBA team member. Over the course of his career that spanned the 1997-98 through 2013-14 seasons, he averaged 15.2 points, 2.9 rebounds, 5.4 assists and 1.0 steals in 1,043 career regular season games. He was named second-team NBA All-Defense (2004-05, 2005-06), and his career free throw percentage of 89.4 (4,496-of-5,029) ranks the sixth-best in the combined histories of the NBA and American Basketball Association (ABA).
His teams qualified for the NBA playoffs in 12 of those seasons, and in those 146 games, he averaged 17.3 points, 3.4 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 1.0 steals (and made 88.0 percent of his charity tosses). But his most outstanding postseason came in the spring of 2004, when he led the Detroit Pistons to the NBA title. He was named the MVP of the Finals, averaging 21.0 points, 3.2 rebounds and 5.2 assists as the Larry Brown-coached Pistons beat the Los Angeles Lakers, with Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal, in five games. He sizzled from 3-point range (.471) and the free throw line (.929), while making over half his field goals overall (.509). He was the Pistons’ team captain in 2005-06, when the club posted a franchise best record of 64-18.
He also helped the Denver Nuggets reach the 2009 NBA Western Finals, where they lost to the Lakers in six games; he averaged 17.1 and 6.0 assists in that series. After he retired, he was an analyst on ESPN for NBA games and was an executive with his hometown Nuggets until Portland hired him as head coach ahead of the 2021-22 season.
Billups was inducted into the National High School Hall of Fame in 2013, the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame and CU’s Athletic Hall of Fame, the latter two both in 2015, and the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame in 2020. NBA veterans Vince Carter, Michael Cooper and the late Walter Davis, who also spent time with the Nuggets, are among the 13 to be enshrined in the 2024 Naismith Hall class. Carter, along with two other eventual NBA stars, Kevin Garnett and Stephon Marbury, were McDonald’s All-Americans with Billups in 1995.
Billups picked up three unique nicknames as his career progressed, dating back to fourth grade when he was tagged with, “Smooth.” That stuck through junior high, high school and college. “The King of Park Hill” emerged when he returned for his second stint as a Nugget in 2008. But the one he became best-known for came in-between, when he was in his sixth season in the NBA with the Detroit Pistons, as team announcer Rick Mahorn nicknamed him, “Mr. Big Shot.”
That came about after a tremendous run of last-second heroics. Starting on Dec. 18, 2002 at Cleveland, with the score tied at 103, he scored eight straight points that led the Pistons to a 111-106 victory. Two days later in a rematch with the Cavaliers, he made a three-pointer with 3.9 seconds left to force overtime in a 109-107 Detroit win. On Jan. 10, he sank two free throws that gave the Pistons a 101-99 overtime victory at New Orleans. He later nailed a 28-foot three-point shot to beat Golden State, 107-105, and had another three-pointer with 0.2 seconds left for a 102-99 win over Atlanta. Then in a division clinching, 110-107 double-overtime win at Memphis, he scored the last eight points in the second overtime.
Billups has been married to his high school sweetheart for 22 years, the former Piper Riley, and the couple has three grown daughters, Cydney, Ciara and Cenaiya.
The Class of 2024 will be enshrined during festivities in Springfield, Mass., the Birthplace of Basketball, as well as the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Conn., on August 16-17.
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April 5th
… CU in the Arena …
Jaylyn Sherrod picks up her second All-America honorable mention
Press release from CUBuffs.com … Colorado point guard Jaylyn Sherrod received her second All-America honorable mention of the season, this time announced by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association.
Sherrod joins Mya Hollingshed, who earned back-to-back WBCA All-America honorable mentions in 2021 and 2022 as recent Buffaloes honored by the organization. Shelley Sheetz is the only other Colorado women’s basketball player to earn recognition from the WBCA with her first team nod in 1995.
The Birmingham, Ala., native was named AP All-America honorable mention in March. Sherrod and Sheetz are the only two Buffs to be honored by both the AP and the WBCA in the same season.
Sherrod ranked third in the Pac-12 in total assists (172) and second in assists per game (5.1) this season. An All-Pac-12 and All-Defensive Team selection, she was also fourth in steals (73) and steals per game (2.15). The graduate guard averaged a career-high 12.8 points per game this season. She earned Pac-12 Player of the Week and numerous National Player of the Week honors after recording a career-high 34 points against then-No. 12 Utah. Sherrod tallied 436 points this season, 58 more than her previous career best.
Her impact was felt in crucial moments throughout the season. Sherrod averaged 16.4 points and 4.4 assists in 14 games against ranked opponents this season. She has scored 10 or more points in 12 of the 14 contests and shot 43.8% from the field.
Sherrod has started all 33 games for CU and became the Buffs’ all-time leader in career starts (133). She closed the year with a career-best 44.5% from the field this season and is a career-high 76.4% from the free-throw line. Sherrod also dished out a career-high 13 assists against UT Arlington and had five or more assists in 16 games. She handed out a career-high 172 assists, notching her third season with 150-plus. Her 645 career assists are second all-time behind Kennedy Leonard’s 664.
Sherrod scored in double figures 21 times this season, including three games of 20 or more. She has also had at least one steal in 30 games.
The fifth-year guard became the third Buff in program history to record over 1,000 points (1,483) and 600 assists in her career. In her career, she ranks 19th in field goals made (486), 14th in points, ninth in steals per game (2.0), fifth in total steals (274), fourth in free throws made (441), and second in games played (140).
Next up for Sherrod is an appearance at the Women’s College All-Star Game in Cleveland, Ohio. She will play on Team Miller, coached by Basketball Hall of Famer Cheryl Miller. The game will tip at 1:30 p.m. MT and will be televised on ESPN2.
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April 3rd
… CU in the Arena …
Report: Former Buff Chauncey Billups in Hall of Fame Class to be announced this weekend
From CBS Sports … Vince Carter and Chauncey Billups will headline the 2014 Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame class, according to The Athletic’s Shams Charania. Already announced as finalists, both have now reportedly made the cut. The official announcement will be made this Saturday in Phoenix at the NCAA men’s basketball Final Four.
This means that Carter, who retired at 43 after the 2019-20 season, will soon officially be a first-ballot Hall of Famer. Billups, who retired in 2014 after a 17-year career, has been eligible since 2018, but was never named a finalist until this year.
Billups, unlike Carter, was not a sensation early on. After selecting the point guard with the No. 3 pick in 1997, the Boston Celtics traded him to Toronto 51 games into his rookie season, and the Raptors traded him to the Denver Nuggets before his second year. After two years with his hometown team and two in Minnesota, he signed with the Detroit Pistons in free agency (for the midlevel exception) in 2002. He only really got going on his Hall of Fame trajectory in his sixth season, playing for his fifth team.
In Year 2 with the Pistons, Billups won Finals MVP, averaging 21.4 points, 5.2 rebounds and 4.0 assists in five games against the Los Angeles Lakers on .509-.471-.929 shooting splits. This version of Billups was one of the game’s best floor generals, one of its best shooters and one of its best point-of-attack defenders. He made his name as the leader of a tough, balanced team that lacked a high-usage superstar and found a way to win a championship. He made the first of his two All-Defensive teams in 2005, and, a year later, made the first of his six consecutive All-Star teams and the first of his three All-NBA teams.
Billups finished fifth in MVP voting in 2005-06, averaging 18.5 points, 3.1 rebounds and a career-high 8.5 assists. Statistically, though, he might have been even better in 2007-08, when, at 31 years old, he averaged 17 points on 61.9% true shooting. Early in the 2008-09 season, Detroit traded him to Denver, where, alongside Carmelo Anthony, he led a team that had lost in the first round for five consecutive seasons to the Western Conference finals. He was traded with Anthony to the New York Knicks at the 2011 deadline and claimed by the Los Angeles Clippers when the Knicks waived him the following offseason. After tearing his Achilles in Year 15, he re-signed with the Clippers for another year, then returned to Detroit for the 2013-14 season, his last.
The Pistons retired Billups’ jersey in 2016. After a few years broadcasting with ESPN and the Clippers, he joined Tyronn Lue’s coaching staff with the Clippers for the 2020-21 season. He is now the head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers, having been hired off of Lue’s staff in June 2021.
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March 31st
… CU in the Arena …
Jaylyn Sherrod: “Nobody can take away what I’ve done”
From the Daily Camera … Through the heartbreak of a career-ending loss on Saturday in the Sweet 16, Colorado point guard Jaylyn Sherrod held her head up high.
Her tears seemed to stem more from pride in her career and the realization it was over than just the pain of an 89-68 loss to Iowa at MVP Arena.
Lightly recruited out of Ramsay High School in Birmingham, Ala., Sherrod leaves CU as one of the program’s all-time greats and knowing she had a significant role in restoring glory to the program.
“I think for me, realizing that I came here and they took a chance on me and I took a chance on them really means a lot,” a teary Sherrod said. “Being told your whole life you’re too small, you can’t play on this level, you’re not good enough, and just coming out here – at the end of the day, yeah, we lost, but nobody can take away these past five years for me. Nobody can take away what I’ve done, what this team has done. It sucks at the end of the day, but nobody can take this away from me, regardless of the criticism you get after this game or throughout the season.”
In 2019, Sherrod signed with a CU program that was last in the Pac-12. She wound up leading CU to three consecutive NCAA Tournaments and joined current assistant coach Shelley Sheetz as the only point guards in CU history to take the Buffs to back-to-back Sweet 16s.
… Continue reading story here …
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March 30th – Game Day!
… CU in the Arena …
Buffs fall to No. 1 seed Iowa for the second year in a row, losing 89-68
… Related … “CU Buffs’ season ends on sour note in Sweet 16 loss to Iowa” … from the Daily Camera
From CUBuffs.com … The Jaylyn Sherrod era at Colorado came to an end in the Sweet 16 Saturday as the Buffaloes women’s basketball team fell 89-68 to top seeded Iowa at MVP Arena.
Sherrod, who led the Buffs to back-to-back Sweet 16 appearances for the first time in 21 seasons, finished her final game one point shy of a double-double with nine points and 10 assists, losing the final game of the season to Iowa for the second straight season.
Three Buffs scored in double figures, led by Aaronet Vonleh’s 13 points followed by Friday Forman and Maddie Nolan, who each scored 12, both hitting three triples along the way.
Iowa was led by NCAA all-time leading scorer Caitlin Clark, and while she scored 29 points, it was her 15 assists that proved harder to defend as she either hit or assisted on 27 of the Hawkeyes 35 field goals on the day.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Hawkeyes built a quick 9-3 lead and held the margin for the remainder of the quarter. Vonleh twice cut the Iowa lead to four, the second time at the 3:15 mark when the Buffs cut the lead to 15-11. After Sherrod cut the lead to three at 17-14, Iowa scored the final five points of the quarter to lead 22-14.
The Hawkeyes extended that five point run to a 13-0 run to take a 27-14 lead early in the second quarter. The lead remained in double figures most of the second quarter, twice cut to eight points in the first half of the quarter but as high as a 15 point lead at 48-33 before Sadler hit a layup in the last 20 seconds of the half.
The third quarter was one of mini-runs, with Iowa opening on a 6-0 run followed by a 5-0 spurt from Colorado, a pair of layups from Clark followed again by another 5-0 run from the Buffs, making the score 58-45. But Iowa would outscore the Buffs 10-2 down the stretch to take a 68-47 lead into the final quarter.
The fourth quarter was played even, each team scoring 21 points. Iowa built a big lead of 27 midway through the quarter. After Clark hit her second-to-late jumper, Iowa up 83-57, CU did outscore Iowa 11-6 the rest of the way for the 21 point final margin.
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CU v. Iowa (1:30 p.m., MT, ABC)
From CUBuffs.com … The Game: Fifth-seeded Colorado will matchup with No. 1-seeded Iowa in a rematch of last year’s Sweet 16 in Seattle. CU will be looking to advance to the Elite Eight for the first time since 2002.
About the Buffaloes: Colorado returns to the Sweet 16 for the second straight season. It’s the first back-to-back trips to the Sweet 16 since the 2002 and 2003 tournaments. Ranked no. 17 in the AP poll, its resume this season includes five wins over ranked opponents, the most since the 2001-02 season. Of those five wins, three came against top-10 opponents.
The Buffs began the year ranked 20th in the nation but launched up to No. 5 after the team’s opening-night win over No. 1 LSU. Colorado climbed as high as No. 3 in the rankings this season, it’s highest since finishing No. 2 in the 1994-95 season. The Buffs have been ranked in 25 consecutive AP polls dating back to Feb. 6, 2023. It is tied for the program’s third-longest streak. Four Buffs have started each game this season in Jaylyn Sherrod, Quay Miller, Frida Formann and Aaronette Vonleh. Tameiya Sadler, Maddie Nolan and Kindyll Wetta have occupied the fifth starting spot this season.
About the Hawkeyes: Ranked No. 2 in the nation and the No. 1 seed in the Albany 2 region, Iowa defeated Holy Cross and West Virginia to get to the Sweet 16.
Scouting the Hawkeyes
- Won the Big 10 with a 94-89 win over Nebraska
- 4-2 vs ranked opponents this season
- 1st in the NCAA with 21.4 assists per game
- Leads the nation in scoring with 92.0 ppg
- Caitlin Clark leads the NCAA with 31.8 ppg
Let’s Dance
- Colorado is 21-15 all-time in the NCAA Tournament
- The Buffs are 2-1 all-time as the No. 5 seed (2013)
- CU advances to the Sweet 16 in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 2002, 03
- Colorado has been to three Elite Eights (1993, 1995, 2002)
The Long and Winding Road
- CU advanced to its eighth Sweet Sixteen advancing out of Manhattan, Kansas
- It is the second time CU has advanced to the Sweet Sixteen coming out of a road site (previous last season out of Durham, N.C.)
- In the last four NCAA Tournaments (2019-24) there have been 17 times a team got to the Sweet 16 by winning a true road game, CU is the only team to do it twice
- The previous six trips all came when CU hosted first two rounds in Boulder
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March 29th
… CU in the Arena …
Iowa game second-ever for CU women on national television: “It’s a huge game, obviously, but it is just another basketball game”
From the Daily Camera … On Saturday, the fifth-seeded Buffaloes will face top-seeded Iowa in the Sweet 16 at MVP Arena.
Many of the questions asked of the Buffs have been similar: How do you stop Clark, the biggest star in the game and the all-time leading scorer in college basketball history? And, how will the Buffs handle an atmosphere that, while technically a neutral court, will likely be heavily weighted with Hawkeye (or Clark) fans?
Clark, a top candidate for national player of the year honors, leads the country in scoring (31.8 points per game) and assists (8.8). She also takes and makes more 3-pointers than anyone in the country, many of them from Steph Curry range.
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March 28th
… CU in the Arena …
Buffs not concerned about Caitlin Clark factor: “The opponent doesn’t really play a role as far as our verbiage and the things that we’re focused on”
From the Daily Camera … The Colorado women’s basketball team could be viewed as the villain this week, and several of the Buffaloes were asked Tuesday about playing that role.
In a way, the description fits because the Buffs’ opponent for Saturday’s Sweet 16 showdown in Albany, N.Y., is top-seeded and No. 2-ranked Iowa and its superstar Caitlin Clark, who is one of the biggest attractions in all of sports at the moment.
The fifth-seeded Buffs (24-9) could break a lot of hearts – including at the TV networks looking to capitalize on Iowa going as far as possible – by upsetting the Hawkeyes (31-4), who have national title aspirations after finishing as runner-up last year.
Certainly the attention will be on Clark and Iowa on Saturday (1:30 p.m. MT, ABC), but to put the Buffs in the villain role would diminish the fact that they, too, are an elite basketball team with title aspirations.
“Honestly, I think we’re just really excited to play one of the best teams in the country,” CU head coach JR Payne said. “I think that’s what it comes down to. I think a lot of people outside of our locker room will talk about Caitlin and what that would look like and what that would mean (to beat her). We will not be talking about that. We will talk about coverages, game plan, scheme, discipline, execution.”
The Buffs play their best basketball when they are that focused, and they’ve proven time and again that they aren’t fazed by names on other jerseys or the star power across the court.
“For us, it’s the same whether it’s the first exhibition game of the season, or LSU on the opening night, or Stanford, or Iowa in the Sweet 16,” Payne said. “The opponent doesn’t really play a role as far as our verbiage and the things that we’re focused on.”
… Continue reading story here …
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March 27th
… CU in the Arena …
Eddie Lampkin, J’Vonne Hadley enter the Transfer Portal
From the Daily Camera … Two of the key figures in a memorable 2023-24 season already are on their way out the door.
On Wednesday morning CBS Sports national reporter Jon Rothstein reported that center Eddie Lampkin Jr. intends to enter the transfer portal following just one season with the Colorado men’s basketball team. Also on Wednesday, On3Sports reported guard J’Vonne Hadley intends to transfer as well, news Hadley apparently confirmed by sharing the post on his X account.
Both players have one season of eligibility remaining due to the extra season granted by the NCAA for the 2020-21 COVID year.
Lampkin ranked fifth on the team in scoring (10.6) and led the way in rebounding (7.0) and field goal percentage (.579). Lampkin quickly became a fan favorite, with chants of “ED-DEE! ED-DEE!” routinely raining down from the CU Events Center crowds as well as from the CU faithful who traveled during the postseason.
Lampkin led the Buffs with nine double-doubles, including his final one in CU’s quarterfinal win against Utah in the Pac-12 tournament. In the Buffs’ six games in the Pac-12 tournament and NCAA Tournament, Lampkin averaged 13.3 points and 6.8 rebounds with a .625 shooting percentage (35-for-56). On a team whose rotation shifted almost constantly due to injuries, Lampkin was steady in the middle, playing all 37 games and starting 36.
Hadley was another glue player in a season that saw the Buffs post a program-record 26 wins. A junior college recruit out of Indian Hills Community College in 2022, Hadley’s first season at CU was limited to 22 games due to injury, as he averaged 8.0 points and 5.9 rebounds and shot .525 while attempting just one 3-pointer.
Hadley expanded his game impressively in 2023-24, ranking fourth on the team in scoring (11.6) and second in rebounding (6.0). He shot .538 overall while going 20-for-48 on 3-pointers (.417). Hadley also finished with an .839 mark at the free throw line, ranked second on the team with 88 assists, and played 1,232 minutes, which ranks second in program history behind only the 1,298 played by teammate KJ Simpson this season.
The 6-foot-6 Hadley started 55 of his 58 games at CU, but depending how the offseason roster shakeup pans out the Buffs could still boast a number of bigger guards in the mix in Javon Ruffin, Courtney Anderson, RJ Smith and incoming freshman Andrew Crawford from ThunderRidge.
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CU to face a sold-out “Caitlin Mania” crowd in Albany Saturday
From msn.com … We’re just a few days away from the Sweet 16, and, as we’ve seen before in years past, anything can happen.
In other words: What goes up might come down — as long as we’re not talking about Men’s and Women’s NCAA Tournament ticket prices.
On that tip: we suggest buying as soon as possible.
Tickets to the men’s and women’s Sweet 16 sessions, spread out from Boston to Los Angeles on the Men’s side, and Albany to Portland on the Women’s front, are in high demand.
But how much higher is this year’s breakout women’s star, Iowa’s Caitlin Clark, driving sales?
Clark drove viewership of last year’s Women’s NCAA Final between her Iowa and Angel Reese’s LSU up to 9.9 million. And this year looks to be no different.
The all sessions ticket for the women’s bracket in Albany, featuring Clark and Iowa, reigning national champion LSU and national champion favorite South Carolina, begins at $630 before fees on Vivid Seats.
Compare those prices with the cost of an Women’s NCAA All Sessions ticket in Portland, headlined by perennial powers in UConn and Stanford, starting at just $163 for the weekend.
… Continue reading story here …
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March 26th
… CU in the Arena …
ESPN NBA Draft projections: Three Buffs in Top 40; Cody Williams a Lottery Pick
From ESPN … The NCAA tournament got off to a wild start on Thursday as No. 3 seed Kentucky was upset by No. 14 seed Oakland 80-76, behind an incredible shooting performance from Jack Gohlke, who made 10 3s while scoring 32 points.
This result put a major damper on NBA scouting this month, as Kentucky had the top two prospects in the NCAA tournament and seven of the top 33 prospects in the competition.
Kentucky has been a poor defensive team all year and continued to show an alarming lack of attention to detail, allowing the Golden Grizzlies to get any shot they wanted all game. The Wildcats didn’t make any in-game adjustments, as they were unable to match Oakland’s scoring prowess while playing oversized lineups with too many nonshooters, shrinking the floor and making it difficult for their guards to find space to operate against Oakland’s zone.
Two prospects advancing to the Sweet 16 are Tennessee’s Dalton Knecht and Purdue’s Zach Edey. Knecht struggled from deep (1-for-8) against Texas but made four free throws down the stretch to help the Volunteers advance.
Edey and the Boilermakers erased last season’s loss to No. 16 Fairleigh Dickinson with impressive wins versus Grambling and Utah State. The 7-foot-4 center averaged 26.5 points and 17.5 rebounds in the two games.
FIRST ROUND
9. Utah Jazz (Oklahoma City Thunder have if 11-30)
Cody Williams | Colorado | SF | Age: 19.3
18. Miami Heat
Tristan da Silva | Colorado | SF/PF | Age: 22.8
SECOND ROUND
39. New York Knicks (via Utah Jazz)
KJ Simpson | Colorado | PG | Age: 21.6
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Tip-off time set for CU’s Sweet Sixteen Game: Buffs v. Caitlyn Clark before a national audience
… There will be no other women’s games on at the same time, and the men’s Elite Eight games won’t tip off until late afternoon … So … the CU women will have the national stage to themselves v. Iowa …
… Saturday’s game vs. Iowa on ABC will be just the 2nd time in Colorado women’s basketball history that the Buffs will play on national network TV. The first was Jan. 4, 1998 vs. Illinois (CBS) …
From the Daily Camera … As far as Quay Miller is concerned, it was pretty much a foregone conclusion that the Colorado women’s basketball team would win at Kansas State on Sunday, because the season wasn’t supposed to end just yet.
“Statistically, we’re on track to make it to at least the Elite Eight because every time we go to the tournament, we go further and further each year,” Miller joked after the Buffaloes knocked off host K-State 63-50 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Sunday. “Since we like to follow the numbers, we’re going to make it back and I’m just happy that we just get another chance to be in the Sweet 16 again.”
Miller, of course, doesn’t take it for granted that the Buffs are back in the Sweet 16 for a second season in a row. Seeded fifth in the Albany 2 region and ranked No. 17 in the country, the Buffs (24-9) will face top-seeded and No. 2-ranked Iowa in the Sweet 16 on Saturday (1:30 p.m. MT, ABC) in Albany, N.Y.
To Miller’s point, though, the Buffs continue to take forward steps as a program.
In 2021, CU went to the Women’s NIT, snapping a four-year postseason drought. In 2022, they got to the NCAA Tournament, but lost in the first round. Last year, they won twice in March Madness and reached the Sweet 16 for the first time in 20 years.
With a dominating defensive effort Sunday against the Wildcats, the Buffs earned their way back into the Sweet 16.
“To the program it means everything,” said CU head coach JR Payne, who is in her eighth year and took over a program in 2016 that was last in the Pac-12. “We’re really fortunate, we have a veteran group and most of those players came to Colorado when we were not good. We were in last place in the conference and sort of believed in a vision and dream to help us be great. Through the pursuit of excellence every single day when we were not winning, they continued to work to be great. That’s how we’re in this position.”
… Continue reading story here …
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March 25th
… CU in the Arena …
CU overcomes injuries to set school record for wins: “That’s what a team does. That’s why I love this team”
From the Daily Camera … The 2023-24 campaign presented unique challenges for Tad Boyle in his 14th season as the head coach of the Colorado men’s basketball team.
Boyle had to assimilate the talents of a likely NBA lottery pick in freshman Cody Williams, only to watch that talent get sidelined by injury for a large chunk of the season. He had to provide a comfort zone for newcomer Eddie Lampkin Jr., who arrived at CU as a transfer from TCU amid an array of personal trials.
And then there were those injuries. Boyle and the Buffs have dealt with major injuries before, most notably season-sending setbacks suffered at different stages of the calendar by Spencer Dinwiddie, Xavier Johnson and Dallas Walton. This season presented a different sort of challenge.
Williams (13 games), Julian Hammond III (13), Tristan da Silva (three), Luke O’Brien (two) and J’Vonne Hadley (one) all missed time at one point or another. And that list doesn’t include the season-ending setback suffered by redshirt freshman guard RJ Smith after seven games.
The Buffs played with all of their top seven rotation players (Williams, Lampkin, Hammond, da Silva, O’Brien, Hadley, and KJ Simpson) in just 14 of 37 games. They missed two of those players in nine of those games. Despite those challenges, the Buffs tied for their best finish in the Pac-12 at third place, won two games in a single NCAA Tournament for the first time in 69 years, and set a program record for wins with 26.
“Injuries are part of the game. Everybody’s got them,” Boyle said. “We never used it as an excuse. It’s the leadership, it’s the no-excuse mentality that these players played with all season long. Part of the pride that I have in this year’s team in winning 26 games is overcoming the things we that had to overcome as a group. Not just individually. That’s what a team does. That’s why I love this team.”
“That’s about as good of a 10-seed as I’ve ever seen in my life. When we started watching tape a couple days ago and we said, ‘Who made these guys a 10-seed?’”
–Marquette coach Shaka Smart, after his team eliminated the Buffs from the NCAA Tournament with an 81-77 second-round victory.
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March 24th – Game Day (x2)!
… CU in the Arena …
CU women take down K-State on the road, 63-50, to earn second-straight Sweet Sixteen berth
… Related … “Sweet sensation! CU Buffs women’s basketball upsets Kansas State to get to Sweet 16” … from the Daily Camera
… Related … “Colorado uses strong second half to take down Kansas State” … From ESPN
From CUBuffs.com … The No. 17-ranked and fifth-seeded Colorado Buffaloes women’s basketball punched its ticket to the Sweet 16 for the second straight season with a 63-50 win over fourth-seeded Kansas State here on the Wildcats’ home court Sunday afternoon.
Similarly to Colorado’s first round game, the Buffs (24-9) caught fire in the third quarter to take the lead and pull away from the Wildcats (26-8). Kansas State scored 14 points in the first quarter and 21 in the second, however, Colorado held the Wildcats to just 15 total points in the entire second half.
The Buffs saw offensive production all across the board in the victory, having three players score in double-digits and three players just one point shy of double-digits. Maddie Nolan led the charge with 11 points on three 3-pointers, all of which came in the first half.
Quay Miller put together a double-double performance with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Four of her 10 boards were on the offensive end. Miller also tallied two assists and three steals while shooting a perfect 4 for 4 from the free throw line. Aarnoette Vonleh had nine points, eight rebounds and seven steals, a new CU record for a post player.
Tameiya Sadler also played a huge role in the win, scoring 10 points off the bench on 5 of 8 shooting from the field. Jaylyn Sherrod and Frida Formann joined Vonleh with nine points apiece to help push the Buffs past the Wildcats.
While the offense made plays when it needed, Colorado’s defense was all over the Wildcats from start to finish, recording 17 total steals. That is the second most steals in a game for the Buffs all season and one shy of tying their season-high of 18.
Colorado’s pesky defense led to 16 fastbreak points and 19 points off turnovers which ultimately took Kansas State out of the game.
The Buffs are back in the Sweet 16 and will play on Saturday, March 30 in what could be a rematch of last year’s Sweet 16 matchup between the Buffs and Iowa Hawkeyes.
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No. 10 seed Buffs fall to No. 2 seed Marquette, 81-77 – “We fought, we battled, we just came up a little bit short”
… Related … “Marquette eliminates CU Buffs in second-round thriller” … from the Daily Camera
… Related … “Tyler Kolek leads Marquette to Sweet 16 with 81-77 March Madness win over Colorado” … from ESPN
From CUBuffs.com … Colorado fought back from a 12-point first-half deficit to tie the game with three minutes remaining Sunday, but the Buffaloes came up short down the stretch and dropped an 81-77 loss to Marquette in the NCAA Tournament second round.
Tad Boyle‘s Buffs thus saw their season come to an end with a 26-11 record while Marquette improved to 27-9 and advanced to a Sweet 16 matchup against North Carolina State.
KJ Simpson led CU with 20 points. Tristan da Silva scored 17, Eddie Lampkin Jr. added 13 and Cody Williams chipped in 12.
Tyler Kolek led Marquette with 21 points.
“Another good game in March,” Boyle said. “Unfortunately we came up on the short end of it tonight, unlike the other night (a 102-100 win over Florida). But give Marquette credit. They played well.”
CU trailed by 11 at the half, 45-34, after the Golden Eagles shot 68% from the floor.
But the Buffs battled back, putting together a 10-2 run to open the second half and finally taking their first lead of the game, 55-54, on a Simpson 3-pointer at the 14:41 mark. Marquette regained the lead but the Buffs stayed within range and tied the game at 74-74 on a da Silva 3-pointer with three minutes to play.
That, though, was as close as CU could come. Marquette took a 3-point lead with 54 seconds remaining, then hit two free throws with 7 seconds on the clock to take a four-point edge and seal the win.
The Buffs shot a respectable 47% from the floor but hit just 10 of their 30 3-point tries — a season-high for 3-point attempts. Marquette finished 34-for-55 from the floor (62%) and made 9 of 21 3-point tries.
The big difference came in the paint, where the Golden Eagles outscored the Buffs, 48-36.
“We didn’t have much of an answer for them defensively all night,” Boyle said. “I would just say that when a team shoots 61 percent against you for the game, almost 62 percent, and you’ve still got a chance at the end, it means you’re doing something right. For this team, what that means to me is they’ve been competing their tails off the whole year because you don’t give up 61 percent and stay in a game. But we rebounded the ball well, we fought, we battled, we just came up a little bit short.”
… Continue reading story here …
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Men’s Preview … No. 10 Colorado v. No. 2 Marquette
Tip: 10:10 a.m. MT
TV: CBS (Kevin Harlan, Dan Bonner, Stan Van Gundy, Andy Katz)
Watch Online: NCAA March Madness Live
Radio: KOA 850 AM & 94.1 FM (Mark Johnson, Scott Wilke)
Listen Online: Sirius XM (Westwood One)
Live Statistics: NCAASports.com
From CUBuffs.com … The 10th-seeded Buffs (26-10) went back to work Saturday morning, preparing for Sunday’s 10:10 a.m. (MT) second round matchup (CBS) with No. 2 seed Marquette (26-9) at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
The game will be CU’s third in five days and sixth in the last 11. Colorado opened the NCAA Tournament with a 60-53 win over Boise State on Wednesday, then followed with Friday’s victory, a game that wasn’t decided until KJ Simpson hit the game-winning basket with barely a second on the clock.
“We’re used to these quick turnarounds,” Boyle said at Saturday’s press conference. “In the Pac-12, we play a lot of Thursday-Saturdays, sometimes a Friday-Sunday-type thing, so you’re used to those two games back-to-back against a different opponent with one day of prep. So this is no different than what we’ve been doing since January.”
Boyle and his staff spent Friday evening watching film and getting a jump on scouting reports. The Buffs held a brief practice Saturday before heading back to the team hotel to dive into the scouting report.
“(Sunday) right before or after our pre-game meal, we’ll show them a little bit more film and prep a little bit more,” Boyle said. “Then we’ll let the guys go out and do their thing.”
Marquette opened the tournament with an 87-69 win over Western Kentucky and will present as tough of a challenge as the Buffs have faced all season. The Golden Eagles recorded non-conference wins over Illinois, UCLA, Kansas and Texas, then finished as Big East runners-up to UConn in both the regular season and conference tournament. They spent most of the season ranked in the nation’s top 10 and entered the tournament ranked No. 8 in both national polls.
“The scouting report is going to be critical that our guys digest that and understand how good these guys are,” Boyle said. “They’re a No. 2 seed for a reason.”
Coach Shaka Smart’s Golden Eagles boast a balanced attack — four players average at least 12.0 points per game — but there’s no doubt the offense revolves around guards Kam Jones and Tyler Kolek.
Jones averages 17.3 points per game while shooting at a 52 percent clip from the floor. Kolek, who returned to action against Western Kentucky after missing six games with an injury, averages 14.9 points and a nation-leading 7.8 assists.
Along with excellent guard play, Marquette also boasts a quality big man inside in 6-foot-11 Oso Ighodaro, who averages 14.7 points and a team-best 7.8 rebounds.
Defensively, the Golden Eagles apply pressure from every angle. Marquette forced nearly 15 turnovers per game this season — 22nd in the nation — and they excel at converting those turnovers into fast break baskets.
… Continue reading story here …
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Women’s Preview … No. 5 Colorado at No. 4 Kansas State
From the Daily Camera … Going into Selection Sunday, Colorado was projected as a No. 4 seed in the women’s NCAA Tournament, while Kansas State was projected as a No. 5.
When the bracket was announced, however, it was K-State landing the No. 4 seed and CU at No. 5.
There wasn’t much that separated the resumes of the two teams, who will meet Sunday in the second round of the tournament. And, it’s not lost on the Buffs that this game could have been in Boulder, instead of at Bramlage Coliseum.
“We knew that we were definitely in a battle for that four seed,” CU guard Frida Formann said. “Not that they don’t deserve it at all. I think they had a great season. But of course we wanted to host, so now being in this environment, we do feel like we have something to prove, of course.”
Regardless of where this game is being played, it’s fitting that the Buffs and Wildcats are battling for a spot in the Sweet 16. Their seasons have been similar and they’re both loaded with experience.
“Very similar (team),” Miller said. “I think that we match up well with them and I’m excited to see how this plays out.”
CU began the year at No. 20 in the Associated Press rankings, started 15-1, including a win against then-No. 1 LSU – the defending national champ – and vaulted all the way to No. 3 in the national rankings. The Buffs also had a four-game losing streak late in the year, went 5-6 in their last 11 games before the NCAA Tournament and landed at No. 17 in the AP rankings.
K-State began the year unranked, but receiving votes. The Wildcats started 20-1, including a win against then-No. 2 Iowa – last year’s national runner-up – and vaulted all the way to No. 2 in the AP poll. The Wildcats went 5-6 in their last 11 games before the NCAA tourney to land at No. 15 in the AP.
In the NET rankings, K-State is No. 15 and CU is No. 16.
… Continue reading story here …
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March 23rd
… CU in the Arena …
Tip-off times set for CU’s Sunday games
Brunch with the Buffs …
- No. 10 Colorado men v. No. 2 Marquette … 10:10 a.m., MT, CBS national coverage (second Sunday game tips off at 12:40 p.m., MT)
- No. 5 Colorado women at No. 4 Kansas State … 12:00 noon, MT, ESPN … game follows 10:00 a.m., game between Duke and Ohio State, so tip off may be delayed long enough for Buff fans to watch the end of the men’s game …
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KJ Simpson anonymous no more
From the Daily Camera … Maybe they’ll start knowing his name now.
The lack of national attention garnered by Colorado guard KJ Simpson during an All-American-caliber season has been one of the more curious developments of the 2023-24 campaign.
Friday’s wild 102-100 win against Florida in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, capped by a buzzer-beating baseline jumper from Simpson, wasn’t the first time he has lifted the Buffaloes to victory this season.
Yet it might have been the first time Simpson has done it on a stage that folks outside of Boulder are paying attention to.
Simpson was beat out for the Pac-12 player of the year by Arizona’s Caleb Love, who sat out large stretches of crunch time in the Wildcats’ Pac-12 semifinal loss against Oregon and whose only statistical advantage over Simpson is a few miniscule decimals on his scoring average. Simpson didn’t even land the two votes required to receive honorable mention All-American honors, although Washington’s Keion Brooks Jr. inexplicably did.
Yet the entire nation watches the Big Dance. And Simpson owns the most thrilling and impactful shot of the tournament’s opening stages.
“Growing up in California and my name not getting talked about as much as everybody else, and being short on a lot of awards or accolades that individually should’ve, I feel, gone my way, it’s just going out there and proving everybody wrong,” Simpson said. “That’s my mentality. As long as I play hard and play great — be a great teammate, be a great leader for this team, go out there and put in the work — eventually everything’s going to pay off. That’s my mentality. With that shot, people are going to know my name for sure.”
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March 22nd – Game Day (x2)!
… CU in the Arena …
No. 5 CU women take care of business with an 86-72 win over No. 12 Drake
From CUBuffs.com … The Colorado Buffaloes women’s basketball team took down the Drake Bulldogs 86-72 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament here Friday night at the Bramlage Coliseum. The victory sets up a second round matchup with Kansas State on Sunday.
“I’m just really proud of how we played tonight,” head coach JR Payne said after the game. “I thought we had a great week-and-a-half of practice and preparation.”
“Drake is such a good and such a different team. I was very nervous about this game, not that I didn’t think we were capable, it’s just such a different style. We have not played a team like Drake all year. So I’m really proud of how our team prepared.”
The Buffs (23-9) found themselves in a tight game with the Bulldogs (29-6) at the end of the first half, but Colorado put together a huge third quarter to pull away from Drake and secure the victory.
Aaronette Vonleh and Jaylyn Sherrod led the offensive attack for Colorado tonight. Vonleh recorded a double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds while Sherrod almost had a double-double as well, scoring 16 and dishing out eight assists.
Maddie Nolan also had a great performance with 12 points, six boards and zero turnovers. She played 29 minutes, the second most minutes played on the Buffs behind only Sherrod.
The final Buff with double-digit points was Kindyll Wetta. In last year’s NCAA Tournament run to the Sweet 16, Wetta had 15 points in three different games. Tonight, she scored 16 on 7 of 10 shooting from the field.
“So proud of the whole team, of course, but so unbelievably proud of Kindyll for her aggressiveness, the way she caught and shot without thinking about it,” Payne stated. “Her defense is always incredible. I’ve said to many that I think she’s one of the best defensive players I’ve ever coached, but to see her that aggressive and confident offensively was brilliant.”
A big reason for Colorado’s third quarter run was its ability to control possession. The Buffs dominated on the glass, outrebounding the Bulldogs 39 to 18 in the contest. Of those 39 boards, 12 came in the third quarter. Colorado also had 15 offensive rebounds which led to 16 second-chance points.
The Buffs will play the Wildcats in the second round on Sunday. The last time Colorado played Kansas State resulted in a defeat on February 16, 2011.
… Continue reading story here …
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No. 10 Buffs top No. 7 Florida on KJ Simpson jumper: “You can’t ask for much more out of a game in March than the one you just saw”
… Related … “KJ Simpson wins it at the buzzer for CU Buffs against Florida” … from the Daily Camera
... Related … “KJ Simpson’s late jumper pushes Colorado past Florida 102-100 in March Madness thriller” … from ESPN
From CUBuffs.com … Colorado’s KJ Simpson hit a baseline jumper with one second remaining Friday to give the Buffaloes a heart-stopping 102-100 win over Florida in the NCAA Tournament Round of 64 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
Tad Boyle‘s 10th-seeded Buffs improved to 26-10 and will play No. 2 seed Marquette on Sunday.
The victory gave Colorado back-to-back NCAA Tournament wins for the first time since the 1955 Buffaloes advanced to the Final Four. The 102 points were also the most ever by the Buffs in the tournament, surpassing the 96 they scored against Georgetown in a 2021 victory.
The seventh-seeded Gators saw their season end at 24-12.
Simpson led the Buffs with 23 points and he had five rebounds and five of CU’s 27 assists (tying the CU team record for most assists in an NCAA Tournament game). Eddie Lampkin Jr. scored 21 points and had six rebounds, Tristan da Silva tallied 17 points and five assists, J’Vonne Hadley added 16 points and six rebounds and Luke O’Brien chipped in 12 points and five boards.
Walter Clayton Jr. led Florida with 33 points.
The Buffs shot 63% from the floor (34-for-54), including 6-for-10 from 3-point range, and also hit 28 of their 33 free throw attempts. Florida hit 35 of its 68 field goal tries (51.5%) and was 11-for-25 from beyond the arc.
“You can’t ask for much more out of a game in March than the one you just saw,” said Boyle, who became CU’s all-time leader in NCAA Tournament wins with his fourth. “These guys and the way they battled — I thought both teams battled. Hats off to Florida. They played well. To show the poise and composure that we did down the stretch when they made their run back at us, it was a tough, tough game. I thought to myself at halftime, if we don’t start guarding better, if we don’t start guarding better, we’ve got to score 100 to win tonight. We only needed 101 but we got 102.”
The Buffs trailed by 10 early in the game but fought back to knot the score at 45-45 at intermission. CU then used an 11-2 run early in the second half to take control and the Buffs maintained that edge, holding a 13-point lead, 94-81, with just 4:28 to play.
But the CU offense, which had scored on 14 straight possessions, went cold and the Gators rallied. Florida’s Clayton scored 16 points in the final 3:46 to fuel a 19-6 Gators run and his 3-pointer with 9 seconds remaining tied the game at 100-100.
That, though, was just enough time for the Buffs to bring the ball up court and call a timeout. Simpson took the inbounds pass from Cody Williams, dribbled to the baseline and launched a jumper that rattled around the rim seemingly forever before finally dropping through the net with 1 second on the clock.
“It was just another one of those times where we had to execute,” Simpson said. “Obviously it was a play that was set up. There were multiple actions out of it. I happened to break free and was just looking to drive, create something, whatever was the best play, and noticed the defender got a little bit off balance and that’s a shot I shoot a bunch of times. Credit to my teammates. Cody threw me a great pass that was able to guide me and lead me in that direction, and it was just stepping up and hitting a shot.”
… Continue reading story here …
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Buffs playing in the NCAA tournament on the same day for the first time in school history
Men’s Preview … No. 10 Colorado v. No. 7 Florida
Tip: 2:30 p.m. MT
TV: TBS (Kevin Harlan, Dan Bonner, Stan Van Gundy, Andy Katz)
Watch Online: NCAA March Madness Live
Radio: KOA 850 AM & 94.1 FM (Mark Johnson, Scott Wilke)
Listen Online: Sirius XM 211 or 204 and the SXM App (967)
(Westwood One)
Live Statistics: NCAASports.com
BUFFS IN NCAA TOURNAMENT: Colorado is making its 16th appearance in the NCAA Tournament and first since 2021. The Buffaloes are 12-17 all-time in the championship which includes Final Four appearances in 1942 and 1955.
Colorado made its initial NCAA First Four appearance a memorable one knocking off fellow No. 10 seed Boise State, 60-53, in Dayton, Ohio, on March 20th. The Buffaloes have won their first NCAA Tournament game in their last two appearances.
It is the sixth trip to the Big Dance in head coach Tad Boyle’s 14 seasons, which included three-straight appearances from 2012-14. Boyle’s Buffaloes would have certainly had an additional bid in 2020 before the tournament was canceled due to COVID-19.
SERIES RECORDS: This will be the first meeting between Colorado and Florida in men’s basketball. The Buffaloes are 72-118 all-time against teams that currently make up the Southeastern Conference; a large majority of that mark coming against former Big Eight/Big 12 rival Missouri (55-96 mark against the Tigers).
Colorado’s last action against the SEC came last season as the Buffaloes gained both their ranked wins on the same road trip against the conference. Colorado defeated then-No. 11 ranked Tennessee, 78-66, on Nov. 13 in Nashville. Five days later, the Buffaloes raced past No. 24 Texas A&M, 103-75, at the Myrtle Beach Classic in Conway, S.C.
NOTABLE: Florida guard Zyon Pullin, a fifth-year player and a transfer from UC Riverside, faced the Buffs in Boulder with Riverside in the 2022-23 season opener, going 8-for-16 with 17 points and six rebounds. … Indianapolis has been a favorable location for Florida in the NCAA Tournament. The Gators reached their first title game in Indianapolis in 2000 and won the national championship there in 2006.
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Women’s Preview … No. 5 Colorado v. No. 12 Drake
Tip: 5:00 p.m. MT
TV: ESPNNews
Radio: 850 KOA & 94.1 FM/ Varsity App
CUBuffs.com/Listen
The Game: Fifth-seeded Colorado will matchup with 12th-seeded Drake for the second-ever meeting between the two schools on Friday. CU will be looking to advance to the second round for the second straight season, while Drake makes its second consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance.
About the Buffaloes: Colorado starts the tournament ranked No. 17 in the AP poll. CU had been in the top 10 for 14 consecutive weeks. CU’s resume this season includes four wins over ranked opponents, matching last year’s total. Of those for wins, three came against top-10 opponents. The Buffs began the year ranked 20th in the nation but launched up to No.
5 after the team’s opening-night win over No. 1 LSU.
Colorado climbed as high as No. 3 in the rankings this season, it’s highest since finishing No. 2 in the 1994-95 season. The Buffs have been ranked in 25 consecutive AP polls dating back to Feb. 6, 2023. It is tied for the program’s third-longest streak. Four Buffs have started each game this season in Jaylyn Sherrod, Quay Miller, Frida Formann and Aaronette
Vonleh. Tameiya Sadler, Maddie Nolan and Kindyll Wetta have occupied the fifth starting spot this season.
About the Bulldogs: Drake beat Missouri State at the buzzer to claim the MVC auto-bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Bulldogs have won 14 straight games entering the tournament.
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March 21st
… CU in the Arena …
Buffs facing a new challenge against Florida – Boyle: “We’re fine playing fast. I love playing fast”
From CUBuffs.com … The Buffs’ 60 points against Boise State was CU’s second-lowest total in a win this season, barely surpassing last week’s 58-52 win over Washington State. CU shot just 21-for-48 against the Broncos, including a 4-for-15 effort from 3-point range.
But Colorado held BSU to 34 percent shooting (23-for-67), including a 2-for-18 night from beyond the arc. That was just enough to make up for a 10-rebound edge for the Broncos that included 19 offensive boards.
Friday’s opponent will present an entirely different challenge.
The Gators finished sixth in the regular season SEC standings with an 11-7 conference mark before making it all the way to the conference tournament final. They love to run and gun and are averaging just more than 85 points per game, with four of their five starters averaging double figures, led by Iona transfer guard Walter Clayton Jr. (17.1 ppg).
The Gators are also tall and long, even without 7-1 regular Micah Handlogten, who suffered a broken leg in the SEC title game loss to Auburn. Forward’s Tyrese Samyuel and Alex Condon check in at 6-10 and 6-11 and are a big reason the Gators have recorded 184 blocked shots this season — tied for eighth-most in the nation and more than twice as many as CU’s 76.
The Gators also average nearly 15 offensive rebounds per game (third in the nation) and have outrebounded opponents by six per game (20th in the nation and tied with the Buffs in that category).
“We’ve got our hands full there,” Boyle said. “Florida presents some problems at the rim. Without a doubt, we’re going to have to have a better showing on the glass tomorrow than we did last night against Boise.”
Gator coach Todd Golden, in his second year at Florida, loves to have his team get out in transition.
“We’re fine playing fast,” Boyle said. “I love playing fast, without a doubt … The best way to have good transition defense is to take care of the ball on offense and to be efficient on offense so they’re taking the ball out of the net. I’d like them to be running after makes, not after misses. If they’re running after misses, we’d better get back and shore things up because they will pitch ahead. They are very good in transition but I think we are, too. I’d love an up-tempo game because we haven’t had one of those in a while. Our guys would be ready for that.”
… Continue reading story here …
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Survive and advance: Buffs take out Boise State, 60-53, in First Four game – Boyle: “We played with unbelievable toughness”
… Related … “CU Buffs dominate late to top Boise State, advance in NCAA Tournament” … from the Daily Camera …
… Related … “Colorado grinds out victory over Boise State in First Four” … from ESPN …
… Related … “Colorado holds off Boise State” … from CBS Sports …
From CUBuffs.com … Barely a week ago, Colorado coach Tad Boyle told his Buffaloes they had to be prepared for a game when, “You’re not scoring and you have to rely on your defense, you have to rely on your grit and your toughness.”
That night came Wednesday, when one of the best shooting teams in the nation struggled all night offensively — and still came away with a 60-53 win over Boise State in the NCAA Tournament First Four at Dayton Arena.
Boyle’s 10th-seeded Buffs improved to 25-10 — the most victories in a season in program history — and advanced to a 2:30 p.m. matchup Friday with No. 7 Florida in the South Regional in Indianapolis (TBS).
The Broncos, also a No. 10 seed, ended their season at 23-10.
Tristan da Silva led CU with 20 points and KJ Simpson recorded a 19-point, 11-rebound double-double. Eddie Lampkin Jr. added 13 points for the Buffs, including a huge basket with 32 seconds remaining that gave Colorado a five-point lead.
Simpson’s 11 rebounds were a career high and he scored 15 of his points in the second half, including 10 in the final 5:18.
Chibuzo Agbo led Boise State with 17 points. Tyson Degenhart, BSU’s leading scorer, was limited to just six points on 3-for-10 shooting thanks to da Silva’s defense.
After leading for much of the game, CU fell behind 49-45 with just 4:31 to play. But Colorado’s defense buckled down to produce a four-minute BSU scoring drought while the offense rattled off an 11-0 run, getting four points from Simpson, a 3-pointer from da Silva, Lampkin’s tip-in and two free throws from J’Vonne Hadley to seal the win.
“We played with unbelievable toughness,” said Boyle, who recorded his third NCAA tourney win in six appearances. “We started to play tougher on the glass and we made just enough plays down the stretch … The Buffaloes have had a helluva year. This team has done some special things.”
Both teams struggled shooting the ball all night long. CU finished just 21-for-48 from the floor but shot 11-for-22 in the second half, including 3-for-7 from long range.
BSU shot just 23-for-67, including a 2-for-18 night from beyond the arc.
Boise State did have a 41-31 edge on the boards, including 19 offensive rebounds that produced 19 second-chance points.
But the Buffaloes’ defense in crunch time made the difference, holding the Broncos scoreless in the decisive four-minute stretch in the final minutes.
“I knew it was going to be a battle against these guys,” Boyle said. “You just knew from watching film and watching that team all year, they’ve got some tough-minded guys. They’re a quality program. Down the stretch, when we had to, we got rebounds. I thought KJ’s 11 rebounds obviously stand out and our guys battled. These guys did what they had to do down the stretch and beat a tough, hard-nosed team.”
… Continue reading story here …
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March 20th – Game Day!
… CU in the Arena …
Buffs taking on a Boise State team which beat them last year (7:10 p.m., MT, TruTV)
From CUBuffs.com … The task of playing in the NCAA Tournament’s “First Four” is by no means optimal.
The game means a quicker turnaround for teams involved and the potential for three games in a five-day span, with an additional day of travel involved. For teams that just finished playing three games in three days in a conference tournament, the task can be particularly taxing — especially for teams whose depth has been dinged by injuries.
Tad Boyle‘s Colorado Buffaloes face such a challenge this week. The Buffs, a No. 10 seed in the tournament, will open NCAA play Wednesday in Dayton, Ohio, against No. 10 Boise State in a 7:10 p.m. (MT) game.
But the Buffs aren’t complaining. Rather, Boyle and his team are trying to find a silver lining in the situation.
“I know from experience in the Pac 12 tournament, sometimes playing that first round game — even though you’d rather not — sometimes it’s an advantage because your guys get the jitters out,” Boyle said Monday morning before the Buffs departed for Dayton. “If you’re lucky enough to win and move on and you’re playing that next opponent and it’s their first time on the stage and it’s not yours, it can be an advantage. It really can.”
If the Buffs do win their opener against the Broncos, they will play Florida on Friday in Indianapolis at 2:30 p.m. While that means the Buffs would have to travel on Thursday, they would at least get a day’s rest between games.
“What makes the NCAA Tournament different from conference tournaments is it’s not back-to-back-to-back,” Boyle said. “You always have at least one day of prep in between, one day of rest in between. For our team, when we’re playing some guys some pretty heavy minutes, it is critical.”
FAMILIAR FOES: Boyle is well-acquainted with Boise State. He and BSU coach Leon Rice are good friends — Rice was an assistant for Boyle on last summer’s USA Basketball U19 squad — and the two families know each other well.
“He’s a good friend and you hate playing friends in this business because you don’t have a lot of them,” Boyle said. “When I saw (the pairing), I can’t lie. I was a little bit disappointed because I have such respect for him. He and I are close, our wives are close, our kids are close. We’ve got a really good kind of coaching fraternity that I’m a part of that is pretty special.”
Rice and current CU assistant Bill Grier worked together as assistants at Gonzaga before Rice took the BSU job in 2010 — the same year Boyle was named head coach at Colorado.
Wednesday’s matchup won’t be the first for Boyle and Rice. The two met last year in the Myrtle Beach Invitational with the Broncos taking a 68-55 win.
This year’s BSU team finished third in the Mountain West before losing to eventual tourney champ New Mexico in the quarterfinals of the conference tournament.
Rice’s son, Max Rice, is one of BSU’s leading players, averaging 12.5 points and 3.8 rebounds.
“Leon and I talked yesterday after the selection show,” Boyle said. “The good news is one of us is moving on. The bad news is one of us has to go home.”
BUFFS IN NCAA TOURNAMENT: Colorado is making its 16th appearance in the NCAA Tournament and first since 2021. The Buffaloes are 11-17 all-time in the championship which includes Final Four appearances in 1942 and 1955.
It is the sixth trip to the Big Dance in head coach Tad Boyle’s 14 seasons, which included three-straight appearances from 2012-14. Boyle’s Buffaloes would have certainly had an additional bid in 2020 before the tournament was canceled due to COVID-19. Prior to 2012, Colorado had advanced to just two NCAA Tournaments in 42 years (1997 and 2003).
… Continue reading story here …
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Three Buffs make ESPN’s list of the Top 50 prospects in the NCAA Tournament (all three in Top 25)
From ESPN … March Madness is finally here as college basketball’s top players will enter the spotlight over the next few weeks.
NBA scouts will get one last look at many draft prospects competing for the final time before spring combines. The top of the 2024 draft class has been occupied most of the season by international prospects Alex Sarr and Zacharie Rischessier. Still, they won’t have a platform like the NCAA tournament to showcase their skills the way Kentucky’s Reed Sheppard and Rob Dillingham have access to starting on Thursday.
ESPN NBA draft insiders Jonathan Givony and Jeremy Woo provide their list of the top 50 prospects to watch during the NCAA tournament.
23. KJ Simpson | PG | Colorado
6-2 | Age: 21.6 | Junior
When: No. 10 Colorado vs. No. 10 Boise State | Wednesday | 9:10 p.m. ET | truTV
Simpson is one of college basketball’s most improved players, making a huge jump with his perimeter shooting (45% from 3) and playmaking ability, turning himself into a Pac-12 player of the year and All-America candidate while emerging as a serious NBA draft prospect. He was instrumental in Colorado’s eight-game winning streak that eventually earned the Buffaloes an NCAA tournament berth and will likely need to continue that momentum against Boise State for his team to have any chance of advancing into the Round of 64. NBA teams have questions about Simpson’s lack of size, length and strength that he won’t be able to answer during the NCAA tournament, so showing he can be productive in every setting he competes in despite his average physical tools is his best bet to help win scouts over.
14. Tristan da Silva | SF/PF | Colorado
6-9 | Age: 22.8 | Senior
When: No. Colorado vs. No. 10 Boise State | Wednesday | 9:10 p.m. ET | truTV
Da Silva played quite well in the Pac-12 tournament, helping Colorado sneak into the NCAA tourney with wins over Utah and Washington State and showcasing his growth as a jump shooter. His size and mobility make him a potential schematic asset in the NBA on the defensive end, where he can switch on the perimeter capably. He’s a knowledgeable offensive player and has become quite reliable, appealing to teams as a potential plug-and-play draft pick who can contribute off the bench. While not the most physical or strongest player, da Silva checks plenty of boxes as a long-term pro and potential back end first-rounder.
6. Cody Williams | SG/SF | Colorado
6-8 | Age: 19.3 | Freshman
When: No. Colorado vs. No. 10 Boise State | Wednesday | 9:10 p.m. ET | truTV
Williams’ individual play has tapered off in recent weeks, and he’s also dealt with minor injuries, slowing to some extent his momentum as a lottery pick. He projects as a plus defender, and there’s a lot to like about his size, feel and room to develop as a big playmaker, but he’s still a ways from impacting the game at the NBA level. Since his return from injury on March 14, Williams has been coming off the bench as the sixth man for a Colorado team that will have to win its First Four game versus Boise State on Wednesday night. While not a focal point on the Buffaloes, whatever contributions Williams can make could help to stabilize his stock. Some teams are still bullish on his upside while others are concerned with his dovetailing play and the leap he’ll need to make as a ball handler and shooter to have long-term success. The tourney is a big platform for him to assuage some of that, although it may be a tall order considering his somewhat limited offensive role.
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March 19th
… CU in the Arena …
Jay Bilas picks CU to beat Boise State; “High” upset potential for game against Florida
From ESPN …
No. 7 FLORIDA vs. No. 10 COLORADO
FLORIDA GATORS: The Gators are on the upswing heading into the NCAA tournament. Florida is second in the nation in offensive rebounding, with only Texas A&M grabbing more misses. Florida is fifth in the nation in offensive rebound percentage, grabbing more than 38% of its missed shots. Florida’s guards are truly outstanding. Walter Clayton Jr. is the team’s top scorer after transferring in from Iona, while UC Riverside transfer Zyon Pullin is an efficient guard who leads the Gators in assists and free throw attempts. Seton Hall transfer Tyrese Samuel is the top rebounder, but the team’s top offensive rebounder — Micah Handlogten — suffered a fractured leg in the SEC tournament final. Florida is not a stingy defensive team but has made strides there. Wins against Kentucky at Rupp, Auburn and Alabama are encouraging. But losses to Vanderbilt and Ole Miss temper the enthusiasm.
X factor: Will Richard. The Belmont transfer is the second-leading 3-point shooter and has six games of 20 points or more. Florida has won all six games.
Upset potential: Medium. Florida does not have bad losses out of conference. The Gators were beaten by Virginia, Baylor and Wake Forest but handled themselves well against everyone else.
COLORADO BUFFALOES: The Buffs were among the last four in, but this team is talented enough to get to the second weekend. It begins and ends with KJ Simpson (19.6 PPG, 5.7 RPG, 4.9 APG), a star who took his game to another level this season. He forms a strong one-two punch with Tristan da Silva, making Colorado one of the more efficient offensive teams around. The Buffaloes also do a good job on the defensive boards, anchored by the big body of 6-foot-11 Eddie Lampkin Jr.
X factor: Cody Williams. A projected lottery pick, Williams returned from an ankle injury to come off the bench during the three Pac-12 tournament games. If he can return to his pre-injury form, Colorado’s tournament trajectory changes dramatically.
Upset potential: High.
WINNER: Florida. This game is Friday at 4:40 p.m. ET in Indianapolis. I like Colorado to clip Boise State in the First Four to reach this game, but not to advance further. It is a concern that Florida is playing without Micah Handlogten, but the Gators should win.
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March 18th
… CU in the Arena …
What do they know? Jerry Palm’s bracket ranked 214th out of 227; Joe Lunardi 169th
Jerry Palm, the Bracketologist for CBS Sports, had St. John’s making the NCAA tournament over Colorado (see analysis, below). It’s worthy of note that St. John’s, when the brackets were announced, didn’t even make the “First Four Out” on the committee’s list.
How did Palm do overall? The Bracket Matrix took a look at 227 different brackets, and graded how they did against the actual bracket:
- Jerry Palm? … 214th out of 227 …
- On3? … 213th …
- ESPN’s Joe Lunardi? … 169th …
- The Sporting News? … 157th …
- USA Today? … 191st …
- Fox? 60th …
Jerry Palm of CBS Sports had this to say Sunday about CU’s chance of getting into the NCAA Tournament … One odd thing about this bracket is that Dayton is in the projected First Four, which is played at Dayton. The Flyers out of the A-10 are the only team that can be bracketed to play in its home floor. Another impact of having four bid-stealers: this would be the first time the First Four features 10-seeds.
You have to feel for Indiana State, which may set the record for the highest NET ranking to be left out of the tournament. The Sycamores are 29th in the NET this morning and good enough to be in the tournament, but they’re not good enough to overcome four bid-stealers.
If Indiana State does not set that record, it could be Colorado. The Buffaloes are 25th in today’s NET ranking and my first team out of the field. St. John’s is 32nd in the NET and my last team in the bracket. Either team would break the record for the highest-rated major-conference team to be left out. NC State was 33rd in 2019, the first season of the NET rankings.
I struggle with choosing between the two because they are so different. St. John’s has played eight games against teams ranked in the top 25 of the NET but has only a home win over Creighton to show for it. Colorado has only played two … and was blown out by Arizona twice.
The Red Storm’s strength of schedule is ranked 33rd; Colorado’s is 81st.
That win over Creighton is St. John’s only one over a team in the field. Colorado beat Washington State twice in three games, and now that Oregon is in the tournament, the Buffaloes can claim two wins in three tries against the Ducks as well.
Are you a fan of the metrics? KenPom and BPI prefer St. John’s, while SOR (and especially KPI) favor Colorado. The NET also favors the Buffaloes, but it is not used for the purpose of comparing teams. It is designed to put teams into quadrants on team sheets.
It’s a toss-up, but I decided to go with the tried and true. The committee has generally preferred teams that test themselves, even if they do not always succeed, at least to a point. Teams below .500 against the top three quadrants do not do well. So, St. John’s is a strength of schedule pick. We will see how the committee feels about it tonight.
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Boyle: Playing in a “First Four” game can be considered an advantage
From CUBuffs.com … The task of playing in the NCAA Tournament’s “First Four” is by no means optimal.
The game means a quicker turnaround for teams involved and the potential for three games in a five-day span, with an additional day of travel involved. For teams that just finished playing three games in three days in a conference tournament, the task can be particularly taxing — especially for teams whose depth has been dinged by injuries.
Tad Boyle‘s Colorado Buffaloes face such a challenge this week. The Buffs, a No. 10 seed in the tournament, will open NCAA play Wednesday in Dayton, Ohio, against No. 10 Boise State in a 7:10 p.m. (MT) game.
But the Buffs aren’t complaining. Rather, Boyle and his team are trying to find a silver lining in the situation.
“I know from experience in the Pac 12 tournament, sometimes playing that first round game — even though you’d rather not — sometimes it’s an advantage because your guys get the jitters out,” Boyle said Monday morning before the Buffs departed for Dayton. “If you’re lucky enough to win and move on and you’re playing that next opponent and it’s their first time on the stage and it’s not yours, it can be an advantage. It really can.”
If the Buffs do win their opener against the Broncos, they will play Florida on Friday in Indianapolis at 2:30 p.m. While that means the Buffs would have to travel on Thursday, they would at least get a day’s rest between games.
“What makes the NCAA Tournament different from conference tournaments is it’s not back-to-back-to-back,” Boyle said. “You always have at least one day of prep in between, one day of rest in between. For our team, when we’re playing some guys some pretty heavy minutes, it is critical.”
… Continue reading story here …
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No. 18 CU women slide to a No. 5 seed; will play on the road at Kansas State first two rounds
From CUBuffs.com … No. 18 Colorado returns to the NCAA Tournament for the third consecutive season, earning a No. 5 seed in the Albany 2 Region on Selection Sunday. The Buffaloes will travel to Manhattan, Kan., to take on No. 12-seeded Drake in the first round.
The first-round game will be played on Friday, Mar. 22 (5 p.m. MT). Host No. 4 Kansas State will take on No. 13 Portland (2:30 p.m. MT). Both first-round games will be on ESPNEWS.
“[We’re] so excited,” head coach JR Payne exclaimed. “So many of us have been here a long time, and really been a part of building our program to where we expected to play in March. I think that in of itself is an incredible thing. An incredible testament to the amount of work and effort that’s been poured in from players, staff, coaches, and everybody involved.”
The selection to the field of 68 marks CU’s third consecutive trip to the Big Dance. The last time the Buffs made back-to-back-to-back appearances in the NCAA Tournament was with four straight trips from the 2000-01 to 2003-04 seasons.
Colorado is 19-15 all-time in the NCAA Tournament and has advanced to the Elite Eight three times, the last coming in 2002. CU’s advanced to the Sweet 16 last season as No. 6 seed. The Buffs traveled to Durham, N.C., picking up a pair of wins over Middle Tennessee and Duke before battling the eventual national runner-up in Iowa in the Sweet 16.
“It matters a lot,” graduate guard Jaylyn Sherrod said of last season’s experience. “We’re going to another hostile environment. I don’t know much about Kansas or the city [Manhattan] itself. It’s all about bringing our own energy. We’ve been in this position before so we know how to get it done.”
Colorado (22-9) draws the No. 5 seed for the second time in what is now 16 trips to the NCAA Tournament. The Buffs were the fifth seed in the 2013 tournament and hosted the first and second rounds in Boulder. CU is 0-1 all-time as the No. 5 seed, falling to No. 12 Kansas.
… Continue reading story here …
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March 17th
… CU in the Arena …
Buffs are in! CU v. Boise State in 10-seed “First Four” game on Wednesday in Dayton
From CUBuffs.com … Tad Boyle‘s Colorado Buffaloes were awarded a No. 10 seed in the NCAA Tournament on Sunday and will open play Wednesday at 7:10 p.m. (MT) against No. 10 Boise State in the “First Four” round in Dayton, Ohio.
The winner will advance to a South Regional matchup with No. 7 Florida on Friday in Indianapolis at 2:30 p.m. (MT), with the winner of that game facing the winner of No. 2 Marquette and No. 15 Western Kentucky on Sunday.
The opener vs. Boise State will be televised by truTV with the game against Florida to be televised by TBS. All CU games will also be carried by KOA radio.
The NCAA berth is the 16th in CU history and the sixth in the 14-year Boyle era in Boulder, with a seventh erased in 2020 when the postseason was canceled because of the Covid pandemic.
CU takes a 24-10 record into the tournament after finishing third in the Pac-12 regular season standings, then reaching the conference tournament championship game before falling to Oregon in the title tilt.
Boyle admits there were some nervous moments Sunday as the Buffs waited to hear their name called.
“We’re excited,” Boyle said. “It’s a new life, like being reborn. We put ourselves in a position where our fate is in someone else’s hands and that’s always a dicey situation.”
Just a month ago, CU was on the outside looking in when it came to an NCAA berth. But the Buffs have been playing their best ball of the season since then, winning eight in a row before losing to Oregon, 75-68, in the Pac-12 final.
“(Saturday) was a crushing defeat for us because we went to Las Vegas to win a championship,” Boyle said. “We came up short but now we have new life. That’s what March is all about, it’s March Madness. It’s just nice to be a part of it.”
… Continue reading story here …
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CU falls to Oregon, 75-68, in Pac-12 title game; awaits NCAA fate: “There’s no doubt in my mind this is an NCAA Tournament team”
… Related … “Men’s basketball notes: Tad Boyle reviews CU Buffs’ tournament outlook” … from the Daily Camera
From CUBuffs.com … Colorado’s bid for a Pac-12 tournament championship came up just short Saturday night as the Buffaloes dropped a 75-68 decision to Oregon at T-Mobile Arena.
Tad Boyle‘s Buffs saw their eight-game win streak come to an end while falling to 24-10 on the season. CU must now wait until Sunday afternoon to see if the Buffs are awarded a berth in the NCAA Tournament.
Oregon improved to 23-11 and earned the Pac-12’s automatic NCAA tourney bid.
The Buffs led early but trailed by three at the half. CU fought back to take the lead two different times in the second half, including a one-point edge with under five minutes to play. But the Ducks each time had an answer to come away with the win.
KJ Simpson led Colorado with 23 points and Luke O’Brien added 11.
N’Faly Dante led Oregon with 25 points on 12-for-12 shooting.
Neither team shot particularly well. CU finished 20-for-48 (42%) while Oregon was 28-for-62 (46%).
But the big difference came in turnovers. Colorado committed 13 miscues that led to 23 Oregon points while the Ducks turned the ball over just three times for zero Colorado points. Oregon also had nine offensive rebounds that yielded 10 second-chance points.
“I’m proud of our guys,” Boyle said. “I’m proud of what they’ve done over the last four, four and a half weeks, and we’re not going to let this one game define us because what these guys have done over that period of time is nothing short of amazing. We’ve really come together. We’ve played well, well enough to win. Unfortunately tonight we didn’t. Oregon had a lot to do with that.”
Most tournament projections had the Buffs safely in the NCAA Tournament headed into Saturday night’s game but nothing is definite until the selection committee announces the bracket.
“It doesn’t really matter what I think, quite frankly,” Boyle said. “It matters what the committee thinks. And here’s what I do know: Being at Colorado for 14 years now, we’ve coached teams that have deserved to be in the tournament that weren’t. I’ve also coached teams that didn’t deserve to be in but got in. And so it really doesn’t matter. All that matters is what that committee thinks. I look at our metrics. I look at these guys, and there’s no doubt in my mind this is an NCAA Tournament team. I’ve known that from day one. We had some hiccups and injuries along the way. Hopefully they’ll look at the whole body of work and recognize we’re one of the best of 37 at-large teams. I can’t think of 36 or 37 better than us. But that’s for them to decide.”
… Continue reading story here …
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March 16th – Game Day!
… CU in the Arena …
Bracketology: Are the Buffs in regardless?
The Bracket Matrix, which is a compilation of 114 different published brackets, has CU as a No. 10 seed, with the Buffs placed in 104 of the 114 brackets … but …
From CBS Sports … Colorado is still on the bubble, but not among the “Last 4 In” because the Buffaloes are now the placeholder as the automatic qualifier. They beat Washington State and Arizona lost to Oregon, leaving Colorado as the highest remaining seed in the Pac-12 Tournament. The Buffs face Oregon for the automatic bid tonight. The Ducks would definitely be a bid stealer; that bid may be Colorado’s.
From ESPN … Colorado Buffaloes … Should be In …
Tad Boyle’s team keeps winning and continues to solidify its place in bracket projections. A six-point victory over Washington State in the Pac-12 semifinals means the 24-9 Buffaloes will face would-be bid thief Oregon in the title game. Technically, mock brackets were still showing Colorado as a “last four in” team at tipoff of the game against the Cougars. Bubble Watch had previously moved up CU to “Should be in” provisionally on the basis of uniformly strong selection metrics that told a different tale. Now it appears that mocks, metrics and possibly even the actual committee might be coming into alignment. (updated March 16)
From The Athletic … Props to Colorado. A semifinal win over Washington State on Friday gives the Buffs a fourth Q1 win, a 10-9 record in the top two quadrants, and further boosts the school’s already-stellar metrics. I still feel like the metrics are inflated — the WSU victory is immediately and by far the best one of the season. But as I wrote a couple weeks ago, metrics have proven to be a reliable guide in the past, and the committee has yet to prove it will keep out a team with Colorado’s profile. We’ll put them on the bubble for now, ahead of today’s Pac-12 title game that could remove all doubts.
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Buffs take down No. 22 Washington State, 58-52: “That was a helluva college basketball game”
… Related … “CU Buffs the last team standing in Pac-12 semifinal slugfest against Washington State” … from the Daily Camera …
… Related … “Simpson scores 16 points and Colorado defeats Washington State 58-52 in Pac-12 semifinals” … from ESPN
From CUBuffs.com … Colorado’s defense came through in the clutch Friday and the Buffaloes took a 58-52 win over Washington State to advance to Saturday’s Pac-12 tournament championship game at T-Mobile Arena.
Tad Boyle‘s third-seeded Buffs, who won their eighth straight game to improve to 24-9, will face Oregon in the 7 p.m (MT) title game (Fox). The fourth-seeded Ducks advanced by upsetting top seed Arizona, 67-59.
Second seed Washington State dropped to 24-9.
The win gives the Buffs another crucial addition to their NCAA Tournament resumé, with nearly all projections having the Buffs in the field.
But Colorado can make sure there is no question about advancing by beating the Ducks on Saturday and clinching the Pac-12’s automatic berth. CU won both matchups with Oregon this year in the regular season, taking an 86-70 win in Boulder in mid-January and a 79-75 victory in Eugene just last week.
Colorado led the Cougars for most of the game Friday, taking a four-point lead into halftime and pushing the margin to nine early in the second half. But WSU rallied to momentarily take the lead with just more than three minutes to play.
The Buffs, though, kept their composure and quickly regained the edge, then came up with two big defensive stops in the final minute to collect the win.
KJ Simpson led CU with 16 points and seven rebounds, Tristan da Silva added 13 points and J’Vonne Hadley scored 12 points and dished out four assists.
Isaac Jones led WSU with 13.
The Buffs’ 58 points were their second-lowest point total of the season, but it was enough to beat the Cougars. Colorado shot just 43 percent (22-for-51), including a 3-for-15 night from long range.
But CU held Washington State to 42 percent shooting (22-for-52), including a 4-for-19 effort from beyond the arc. Colorado also forced 19 WSU turnovers and converted them into 16 points and the Buffs hit 11 of 17 free throw tries while the Cougars were 4-for-7 from the stripe.
“That was a helluva college basketball game,” Boyle said. It wasn’t the prettiest game by any means, but we had two teams out there just battling and getting after it … We forced them into 19 turnovers and our pressure, I think, got to them. I’m just so proud of these guys, just the fight and the grit they played with down the stretch. We made plays when we had to make plays.”
… Continue reading story here …
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March 15th – Game Day!
… CU in the Arena …
Buffs v. Cougs – Winner advances to the Pac-12 tournament finals (8:30 p.m., MT, FS1)
From the Daily Camera … Like Utah, the Buffs split the regular season series with Washington State. The short turnaround between games is never easy, but it’s something the Cougars are doing as well, and Boyle expressed confidence in his team’s ability to digest a scouting report on the fly.
“This group of players has done such a good job, pretty much all year long even back to November in our tournaments that we’ve been in, they digest scouting reports,” Boyle said. “They’re intelligent, they understand. Now, we don’t always go out and execute like we’re supposed to. But their understanding of what guys can do and what they can’t do is really at a high level.”
“Washington State is a hell of a team. We beat them shorthanded in Boulder. They weren’t at their best. They got us in Pullman when we weren’t at our best. I think it should be a hell of game. They’ve got some good players and are well-coached. It’s not going to be easy, but nothing’s easy in March.”
CU (23-9) and Washington State (24-8) haven’t met in the Pac-12 tournament since 2020, when the Cougars handed the Buffs what remains their only opening-game loss in a conference tournament in 14 seasons under Boyle. It was one of the final games completed in all of college basketball before the onset of the COVID pandemic shut down the remainder of the season.
Notable
CU has won seven consecutive games for the first time since a 7-0 start to the 2019-20 season. The Buffs are seeking their first eight-game win streak since an 11-game win streak early in the 2015-16 season. … Organizers of the Naismith Trophy Player of the Year honor on Friday released its list of 10 semifinalist. CU’s KJ Simpson, on the 30-player Naismith midseason team, didn’t make the cut. Arizona’s Caleb Love was the only Pac-12 player on the list. … The Buffs are seeking their third berth in the Pac-12 title game. They won the championship in their Pac-12 tourney debut in 2012 and lost the 2021 final against Oregon State.
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Buffs advance to the Pac-12 semi-finals (and the NCAA Tournament?) with 72-58 win over Utah
… Related … “Moving on: CU Buffs put the clamps on Utah to advance to Pac-12 semifinals” … from the Daily Camera
… Related … “Simpson and Lampkin have double-doubles, Colorado beats Utah 72-58 in Pac-12 Tournament” … from ESPN
From CUBuffs.com … Colorado’s KJ Simpson and Eddie Lampkin Jr. each recorded double-doubles and the Buffaloes pulled away down the stretch Thursday to take a 72-58 win over Utah in the Pac-12 tournament quarterfinals at T-Mobile Arena.
Tad Boyle‘s third-seeded Buffs won their seventh straight to improve to 23-9 and collect a critical win in what many observers viewed as an “elimination game” in the battle to clinch at least an at-large NCAA Tournament berth.
Colorado will now face No. 2 seed Washington State in Friday’s 8:30 p.m. (MT) semifinal at T-Mobile Arena.
Utah fell to 19-14.
Simpson finished with 18 points, 10 rebounds and six assists while Lampkin totaled 17 points and 12 rebounds. Tristan da Silva chipped in 14 for the Buffaloes.
Hunter Erickson and Brendon Carlson led Utah with 13 points each.
Colorado led by three at the break, 33-30, after the Utes used a 15-0 run to erase a 14-point CU lead before the Buffs came back to regain the lead in the final minutes of the half.
The Buffs then took full control for the final 20 minutes, building their lead to double-digits less than eight minutes in. Utah briefly cut Colorado’s lead back to five with just more than nine minutes to play but the Buffs used a 16-5 surge over the next five minutes to take a 68-52 lead and put the game away.
Colorado shot 28-for-63 from the floor, including an efficient 7-for-14 from long range. CU held the Utes to 33% shooting (21-for-64), including an 8-for-30 night from beyond the arc. Utah hit six 3-pointers in the first half but missed its first eight attempts in the second half and finished just 2-for-16 in the final 20 minutes.
CU also finished with just seven turnovers and had a 47-37 edge on the boards. The Buffs are now 91-6 in the Boyle era when hitting the “gold standard” of holding an opponent to 40% percent or less shooting and having at least a plus-8 rebound margin.
“I’m really proud of this group, especially to win a game when we certainly didn’t play our best in the first half,” Boyle said. “The credit goes to these players. They’re a veteran group who understand how to win, understand what it takes to win, and they made adjustments at halftime. We held them to two 3s instead of 6 and that was the difference in the game. These guys deserve a lot of credit for what they’ve done this year and what we’ll continue to do this year.”
… Continue reading story here …
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March 14th – Game Day!
... CU in the Arena …
Bubble Battle set: Utah routs Arizona State to set up quarterfinal match with Buffs: “Win or go home”
… Related … “Bajema, Smith lead Utah to 90-57 rout of Arizona State at Pac-12 Tournament” … from ESPN
From CUBuffs.com … After two critical road wins last weekend, the Colorado men’s basketball team finds itself on the right side of the NCAA Tournament bubble, with the majority of bracket predictions having the Buffaloes as at least one of the “last four” teams in.
Now Tad Boyle‘s Buffs, owners of a six-game winning streak, have to make sure that bubble doesn’t pop this week at the Pac-12 tournament in Las Vegas.
The Buffs, the No. 3 seed, open play Thursday with a 9:30 p.m. (MT) game at T-Mobile Arena against the winner of Wednesday’s Arizona State-Utah matchup.
One more win would be a huge boost to Colorado’s tourney resumé. A loss, however, would put the Buffs in a precarious position and leave them playing the waiting game until Sunday’s bracket announcement.
There is, of course, one way Colorado can guarantee an NCAA berth — win the conference tournament. Boyle’s Buffs won the first-ever Pac-12 tourney in 2012 to earn a bid and there would be some synchronicity involved if the Buffs could bookend that title with a championship in the last Pac-12 tournament.
But the Buffs haven’t spent the week looking forward to Saturday’s championship game — or even the Friday semifinals.
All that’s on their mind is Thursday night’s game.
“Win or go home,” Boyle said after last weekend’s win over Oregon State. “You’re in the Pac 12 tournament, you lose, you’re done. You get to postseason play, you lose, you’re done.”
The Buffs are also expecting to be closer to full strength for Thursday’s game. Boyle said standout freshman Cody Williams, who has missed the last four games with an ankle injury, has practiced two days in a row and could be available Thursday.
“He’s an extremely talented guy who’s come in and been a great teammate,” Boyle said. “He can affect the game in a lot of different ways. He can pass the ball, he can obviously shoot the ball, he can score the ball in transition. He’s a good defender. He’s got great length … It’s been an up and down year for him, no doubt. But it’s good to have him back out. We’ll keep our fingers crossed he’ll be in uniform on Thursday.”
Boyle also said reserve guard Julian Hammond III, who has missed the last five games with a knee injury, is still a question mark.
… Continue reading story here …
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March 13th
… CU in the Arena …
Kiss of Death? Jon Wilner picks CU to win Pac-12 tournament
From the San Jose Mercury News … Our picks for the tournament …
(Note: All games will be televised by the Pac-12 Networks except the late games on Thursday and Friday, which are on FS1, and the championship, which is on Fox.)
Opening round (Wednesday)
No. 6 Utah vs. No. 11 Arizona State (9:30 p.m.)
Comment: The Utes are on the wrong side of the NCAA bubble, in part, because they lost twice to ASU during the regular season. Neither game was particularly close. This version should be tight, but the result won’t change. The Sun Devils survive and advance.
Pick: Arizona State
Quarterfinals (Thursday)
No. 3 Colorado vs. No. 11 Arizona State (9:30 p.m.)
Comment: The hottest team in the conference takes the court in T-Mobile Arena for the nightcap and wastes little time laying waste to the first of several victims.
Pick: Colorado
Semifinals (Friday)
No. 4 Oregon vs. No. 9 USC (6 p.m.)
Comment: For teams that advance out of the opening round, Day 3 is the point when legs become heavy. The Trojans will need production from players other than Collier and Boogie Ellis, plus a solid strategy to combat Oregon big man N’Faly Dante.
Pick: USC
No. 3 Colorado vs. No. 10 Stanford (8:30 p.m.)
Comment: CU has too many ways to score and the best player on the floor in point guard KJ Simpson. Given that the Buffaloes are on the NCAA bubble, we don’t see complacency as an issue even though they won handily two weeks ago in the only regular-season meeting. Close early, not close late.
Pick: Colorado
Championship (Saturday)
No. 3 Colorado vs. No. 9 USC (7 p.m.)
Comment: Colorado won the first conference tournament of the 12-school era in 2012 and will collect the trophy from the final edition — not because the arc of history bends toward Boulder but because coach Tad Boyle has the most complete team: an elite point guard (Simpson), a super-skilled wing (Tristan da Silva) and a future NBA lottery pick (Cody Williams) who is merely the third or fourth scoring option.
Pick: Colorado
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March 12th
… CU in the Arena …
KJ Simpson first-team All Pac-12 (but not Player of the Year); Tristan da Silva and Cody Williams also honored
Press release from CUBuffs.com … Three Colorado Buffaloes received Pac-12 Conference men’s basketball postseason honors, the league office announced on Tuesday.
Junior guard KJ Simpson was named to the All-Pac-12 First Team and earned honorable mention to the All-Defensive Team. Senior forward Tristan da Silva is an All-Pac-12 Second Team pick while Cody Williams was selected to the league’s All-Freshman Team.
The Pac-12 postseason awards were voted on by conference coaches. Da Silva and Simpson are All-Pac-12 performers for the second time, swapping positions from last season. Da Silva was an All-Pac-12 First Team pick as a junior in 2022-23 while Simpson earned Second Team honors as a sophomore.
Simpson tops Colorado at 19.6 points, 4.9 assists and 1.7 steals per game while ranking third in overall rebounding (5.5 rpg). He leads the Pac-12 in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.3) while ranking second in scoring, 3-point percentage (.451) and assists, third in steals and fourth in free throw percentage.
Simpson is the ninth different Buffalo to be named to the All-Pac-12 First Team and the 13th honor overall. The Buffaloes have had at least one All-Pac-12 First Team member each of the last six seasons.
Da Silva is second on the team in scoring, field goals made (162), 3-pointers (51) and steals (33) while ranking fourth in rebounding (5.4 rpg). He is sixth in the Pac-12 in free throw percentage, ninth in scoring, 14th in defensive rebounding (4.4 drpg) and 18th in 3-point shooting (.375).
The Buffaloes have had at least one player on either the All-Pac-12 First or Second Team all 13 seasons of their conference membership. It’s the fifth time in the last six years Colorado has had multiple players represented on the all-conference teams, and seventh time overall.
Williams is the sixth Buffalo to earn Pac-12 All-Freshman Team honors and first since Simpson two years ago. A 2023 McDonald’s All-American, Williams is third on the team in scoring at 13.7 points per game while shooting a team-best 59.0 percent from the field. He is shooting 45.7 percent from 3-point range and is second on the team in blocked shots with 13.
Colorado is 22-9 overall and the No. 3 seed at the 2024 Pac-12 Men’s Basketball Tournament, March 13-16, at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The Buffaloes, who finished conference play at 13-7, will play the winner of No. 6 Utah and No. 11 Arizona State in a quarterfinal game on Thursday, March 14, at 9:30 p.m. MT (FS1/850 AM & 94.1 FM KOA).
2023-24 Pac-12 Postseason Awards (voted on by league coaches)
PLAYER OF THE YEAR, PRESENTED BY NEXTIVA
Caleb Love, Sr., G, ARIZONA
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR, PRESENTED BY NEXTIVA
Adem Bona, So., F, UCLA
FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR, PRESENTED BY NEXTIVA
Myles Rice, G, WASHINGTON STATE
MOST IMPROVED PLAYER OF THE YEAR, PRESENTED BY NEXTIVA
Maxime Raynaud, Jr., F, STANFORD
SIXTH PLAYER OF THE YEAR, PRESENTED BY NEXTIVA
Koren Johnson, So., G, WASHINGTON
JOHN R. WOODEN COACH OF THE YEAR
Kyle Smith, WASHINGTON STATE
ALL-PAC-12 TEAM
FIRST TEAM
Oumar Ballo**, Arizona, C, R-Sr., Koulikoro, Mali
Adem Bona, UCLA, F, So., Ebonyi, Nigeria
Keion Brooks Jr., Washington, F, Gr., Fort Wayne, Ind.
Branden Carlson**, Utah, C, Sr., South Jordan, Utah
N’Faly Dante**, Oregon, C, Sr., Bamako, Mali
Isaac Jones, Washington State, F, 5th, Spanaway, Wash.
Caleb Love, Arizona, G, Sr., St. Louis, Mo.
Myles Rice, Washington State, G, R-Fr., Columbia, S.C.
KJ Simpson, Colorado, G, Jr., Panorama City, Calif.
Jaylon Tyson, California, G, Jr., Plano, Texas
SECOND TEAM
Jermaine Couisnard, Oregon, G, Sr., East Chicago, Ind.
Tristan da Silva, Colorado, F, Sr., Munich, Germany
Boogie Ellis, USC, G, 5th, San Diego, Calif.
Pelle Larsson, Arizona, G, Sr., Nacka, Sweden
Maxime Raynaud, Stanford, F, Jr., Paris, France
HONORABLE MENTION (receiving at least three votes): Isaiah Collier, USC; Frankie Collins, ASU; Jordan Pope, OSU; Deivon Smith, UTAH; Jaylen Wells, WSU.
* denotes number of All-Pac-12 First Team honors
PAC-12 ALL-FRESHMAN TEAM
Isaiah Collier, USC, G, Atlanta, Ga.
Sebastian Mack, UCLA, G, Chicago, Ill.
Myles Rice, Washington State, G, Columbia, S.C.
Jackson Shelstad, Oregon, G, West Linn, Ore.
Cody Williams, Colorado, F, Gilbert, Ariz.
HONORABLE MENTION (receiving at least three votes): Kanaan Carlyle, STAN; KJ Lewis, ARIZ.
PAC-12 ALL-DEFENSIVE TEAM
Oumar Ballo, Arizona, C, R-Sr., Koulikoro, Mali
Adem Bona**, UCLA, F, So., Ebonyi, Nigeria
Frankie Collins, Arizona State, G, Jr., Sacramento, Calif.
N’Faly Dante, Oregon, C, Sr., Bamako, Mali
Kobe Johnson**, USC, G, Jr., Milwaukee, Wis.
HONORABLE MENTION (receiving at least three votes): Keshad Johnson, ARIZ; Spencer Jones, STAN; Joshua Morgan, USC; KJ Simpson, COLO.
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March 11th
… CU in the Arena …
J’Vonne Hadley named Pac-12 Player of the Week
Press Release from CUBuffs.com … University of Colorado senior guard J’Vonne Hadley has been named the Pac-12 Conference Men’s Basketball Player of the Week for his efforts during the week of March 4-10, the conference office announced on Monday.
Hadley, a native of St. Paul, Minn., averaged 17.5 points, 9.5 rebounds and 2.0 assists to lead the Buffaloes to a road sweep of Oregon and Oregon State last week. He shot 63.2 percent from the field (12-of-19) while hitting 5-of-6 from 3-point range and sinking all six of his free throw attempts.
The Pac-12 Player of the Week honor is the first for Hadley. He is the third different Buff to earn that distinction this season, joining Tristan da Silva (Dec. 11) and KJ Simpson (Feb. 26). It’s only the second time three different Colorado players have been conference player of the week in the same season. David Harrison, Stephane Pelle and Blair Wilson earned separate Big 12 Conference weekly honors in 2002-03.
Overall, Monday’s weekly honor is Colorado’s fourth this season, adding in Cody Williams’ Freshman of the Week award on Jan. 22.
Hadley had 20 points and a career-high 12 rebounds to guide the Buffaloes past Oregon, 79-75, on March 7. He hit 8-of-11 from the field, including a perfect 4-of-4 from 3-point range. Hadley’s eight field goals made matched a personal best while he set career-highs in 3-pointers made and attempted.
Against Oregon State on March 9, Hadley had 15 points, seven rebounds and three assists. He made 4-of-8 from the field and 6-of-6 from the line in Colorado’s 73-57 victory, as the Buffaloes secured their fourth same-weekend road sweep in the Pac-12 era and second against the Oregon schools (2012-13).
The win over Oregon State gave the Buffaloes a school-record 22nd win in the regular season and the program’s first six-game winning streak in conference play since 1996-97.
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March 10th
… CU in the Arena …
CU to face Utah/ASU winner – Bracketology has CU moving up to “Should Be In” category
From CUBuffs.com … Colorado is the No. 3 seed in the 2024 Pac-12 Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament set for March 13-16 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
The Buffaloes, receiving a first-round bye for the third time in four seasons, will play the winner of No. 6 seed Utah (18-13, 9-11) and No. 11 seed Arizona State (14-17, 8-12) in a quarterfinal game on Thursday, March 14, at 9:30 p.m. MT (FS1, 850 AM & 94.1 FM KOA). The Utes and Sun Devils meet in a first round game on Wednesday, March 13, at 9:30 p.m. (Pac-12 Network).
Colorado wrapped up a record-setting season on Saturday with a 73-57 win at Oregon State to finish in sole possession of third place in the final Pac-12 standings at 13-7. The Buffaloes, 22-9 overall, set a school-record for wins in a regular season and enter the final Pac-12 Tournament on a six-game winning streak, their longest in conference play since 1996-97.
Colorado At The Conference Tournament:
Colorado is 17-11 all-time in the Pac-12 championship and has won at least one game in 11 of their previous 12 Pac-12 Tournament appearances.
Colorado has met both possible quarterfinal opponents in Pac-12 Tournament action once with the Buffaloes winning both. No. 6 Colorado defeated No. 11 Utah in the first round of the 2012 Tournament, 53-41, en route to four wins in four days in Los Angeles for the inaugural tournament championship. The No. 8 Buffaloes defeated No. 9 Arizona State, 97-85 in a 2018 first round game.
Colorado is 9-2 as the higher seed. Seven of Colorado’s 11 Pac-12 Tournament losses have come to the top two seeds.
Bracketology ...
From ESPN … Here is our current projection of the bubble:
Teams from traditional one-bid conferences: 22
Locks: 32 teams
The bubble: 27 teams for 14 available spots
Should be in: 7 teams
Work to do: 20 teams
PAC-12
Locks
Arizona Wildcats, Washington State Cougars
Should be in
Colorado Buffaloes
Bubble Watch has a theory regarding Colorado and its at-large prospects. The Buffaloes actually received more of a boost on their team sheet from winning at Oregon than might be expected. CU then followed that up with a 16-point victory at Oregon State. Neither result alone jumps off the page, but together, the road wins have fortified Colorado’s profile significantly. All of the above transpired in less than 48 hours, and mock brackets are working hard to keep pace. Bubble Watch is conditionally moving Tad Boyle’s group up to “Should be in” based on the current metrics. Prove yourselves worthy, Buffs. (updated March 9)
Work to do
Utah Utes
Utah badly needs quality wins after an 0-2 road trip at season’s end dropped Craig Smith’s team to “next four out” status (or possibly even one tier below that). If there’s any glimmer of hope it’s that, relatively speaking, the Utes caught something of a break with their draw in the Pac-12 bracket. No, Utah doesn’t get Arizona in the quarterfinal. Still, If the Utes can advance against Arizona State they will get Colorado in the quarters. Win there and a game against Washington State could be next if the bracket holds form. The Buffaloes and the Cougars are both top-50 NET opponents, the only ones in the league not named Arizona. (updated March 10)
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March 9th – Game Day!
Buffs finish regular season with a six-game win streak, taking out Oregon State, 73-57
… Related … “Colorado dumps Oregon State 73-57 behind Lampkin Jr. to close Pac-12 with six straight wins” … from ESPN
From the Daily Camera … At the end of the line for the regular season, the Colorado men’s basketball team finished the job.
The Buffaloes jumped ahead early and never looked back, completing the regular season with a 73-57 victory against Oregon State on Saturday afternoon at Gill Coliseum.
CU ends the regular season with a six-game winning streak, marking the program’s first six-game win streak within conference play since the start of the 1996-97 Big 12 schedule. After clinching third-place in the Pac-12 with Thursday’s win at Oregon, CU secured just its fourth two-game road sweep in 13 seasons in the Pac-12.
The Buffs set a program record with their 22nd win of the regular season, and it also is the first time CU has won its final six regular season games since the Final Four team of 1954-55.
Those are some historic marks for a team that has battled personnel issues all season, with freshman Cody Williams (ankle) and reserve guard Julian Hammond III (knee) once again sidelined at OSU. Nevertheless, the Buffs will have a chance to regroup ahead of its first game in its final Pac-12 tournament on Thursday in Las Vegas.
“It’s a testament to our kids’ toughness, both mental and physical. It’s a testament to their resiliency,” CU head coach Tad Boyle said. “People ask me all the time throughout the season, the expectations on this and that. I think they picked us fifth in the league. We finished third. To me, that’s always a good barometer of where they thought you would finish and where you did finish.”
… Continue reading story here …
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From Must-Win to Can’t Lose: Buffs take on Oregon State
… Related … “When Cody Williams returns for CU Buffs, it might be off bench” … from the Daily Camera
From CUBuffs.com …
Oregon State, Saturday, March 9, 2024
Gill Coliseum, Corvallis, Ore.
Tip: 3:02 p.m. MT
TV: Pac-12 Network (Ted Robinson, Matt Muehlebach)
Watch Online: Pac-12 Now App, Pac-12.com
Radio: KOA 850 AM & 94.1 FM (Mark Johnson, Scott Wilke)
Satellite: Sirius XM 390 & SXM App (980)
Listen Online: CUBuffs.com
Live Statistics:https://statb.us/v/colo/486663
THE BUFFALOES: Colorado is 21-9 overall and in third place in the Pac-12 Conference at 12-7 following a 79-75 win at Oregon on Thursday. The Buffaloes have won five in a row in conference play, it’s longest league streak since a five-game run from Feb. 5-19, 2022.
Colorado’s 21 wins match the most in a regular season in team history. It’s the fifth time the Buffaloes have reached that mark (1996-97, 2013-14, 2015-16, 2019-20, 2023-24). On Saturday, the 2023-24 edition of the Buffaloes will look to be the first to reach 22 wins in a regular season.
Colorado has clinched the No. 3 seed in the upcoming Pac-12 Tournament, matching its highest seed in the Pac-12 era (2020-21). The third-place finish will also match Colorado’s best in the Pac-12 (2013-14, ’20-21). At 12-7 in the Pac-12, the Buffaloes have won at least 12 conference games in three of the last four seasons.
ABOUT THE BEAVERS: Oregon State is 13-17 overall and in last place in the Pac-12 at 5-14. The Beavers have won two of three since a season-long seven-game losing streak snapped last week, including a 92-85 decision over Utah on March 7. Oregon State averages 69.7 points on 44.4 shooting. The Beavers are the second-best free throw shooting team in the Pac-12 at 74.1 percent. Defensively, Oregon State allows 72.9 points while opponents are shooting 44.5 percent from the floor. The Beavers are the top 3-point defense in the Pac-12, allowing 32.3 percent from long range.
Guard Jordan Pope leads Oregon State at 17.9 points and 3.4 assists per game. He also tops the Beavers in 3-pointers made (63) hitting 37 percent from long range. Forward Tyler Bilodeau averages 14.4 points and 5.7 rebounds. Dexter Akanno is OSU’s third double-digit scorer at 10.6 points an outing.
SERIES RECORDS: This will be the 34th meeting between Colorado and Oregon State with the Buffaloes holding a 22-11 advantage. Colorado won the first meeting, 90-57 in Boulder on Jan. 20, and has won seven of the last nine meetings overall. Oregon State olds a 7-6 edge in Corvallis.
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March 8th
… CU in the Arena …
Buffs pick up an important 79-75 road win over Oregon: “Our guys really executed down the stretch and I’m really proud of them”
… Related … “March surge: Win streak continues as CU Buffs men’s basketball tops Oregon” … from the Daily Camera
… Related … “Colorado takes of 3rd in Pac-12, tops Oregon 79-75” … from ESPN
From CUBuffs.com … Colorado rallied from a 12-point first-half deficit Thursday and the Buffaloes’ men’s basketball team took a crucial 79-75 win at Oregon to clinch the third spot in the Pac-12 standings.
Tad Boyle‘s Buffs won their fifth in a row to improve to 21-9 overall and 12-7 in Pac-12 play while the Ducks dropped to 19-11, 11-8.
The Buffs thus guaranteed themselves of a first-round bye in next week’s Pac-12 tournament and will open play Thursday at 9:30 p.m. (MT) against the winner of the No. 6 seed and No. 11 seed.
Equally importantly, the victory is a huge boost to CU’s NCAA Tournament resumé, giving the Buffs another much-needed Quad 1 victory.
CU’s J’Vonne Hadley delivered a 20-point, 12-rebound double-double on 8-for-11 shooting, with 18 of those points coming in a second half that included a 4-for-4 effort from 3-point range. Tristan da Silva scored 22 points and KJ Simpson added 17 points, six rebounds and six assists.
Jackson Shelstad led Oregon with 23 points.
Colorado fell behind early, 18-6, after the Ducks opened with an 11-0 run. But the Buffs didn’t flinch and slowly climbed back into the game. CU put together its own 11-0 run to close the gap and the score was tied at 37-37 at the break.
Neither team managed to create anything resembling a big lead for much of the second half as there were seven lead changes. But Colorado finally took the lead for good with a 9-0 run that gave the Buffs a 70-61 edge with 3:20 to play.
Oregon then battled back to close the gap to one, 76-75, in the final minute. But the Buffs got a big bucket from Hadley with 13 seconds remaining, then notched a defensive stop and added one more free throw from Luke O’Brien with 2 seconds left to clinch what is arguably CU’s biggest win thus far this season.
The Buffs were once again missing starter Cody Williams (ankle injury) and Julian Hammond III (knee) but CU still had enough firepower for the win. Colorado shot 55 percent from the floor (32-for-58), including 8-for-17 from 3-point range, and the Buffs had a dominant 36-24 edge on the boards.
… Continue reading story here …
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March 7th – Game Day!
… CU in the Arena …
No. 18 CU blows 12-point 4th-quarter lead, falls to No. 13 Oregon State in double overtime
From ESPN … Raegan Beers had 27 points and 13 rebounds, Timea Gardiner added 13 points and 11 boards and No. 13 Oregon State beat No. 18 Colorado 85-79 in double overtime on Thursday in the quarterfinals of the Pac-12 Conference Tournament.
Oregon State (24-6) will play the Stanford-Cal winner in the semifinals on Friday.
Oregon State did not attempt a free throw until Beers completed a three-point play with 4:59 left in the fourth quarter to get within 50-49. The Beavers made 14 at the stripe in the second overtime — 11 coming in the final minute — to seal the victory.
Talia von Oelhoffen, Donovyn Hunter and Dominika Paurova also scored 13 points for Oregon State. Hunter, a freshman, also had nine assists. Beers, in her second game back after an injury, was 12 of 17 from the field in 42 minutes.
Jaylyn Sherrod had 23 points, six rebounds, seven assists and four steals for Colorado (22-9). Aaronette Vonleh added 20 points and Frida Formann scored 19.
The close contest changed for Colorado in the second overtime when 6-foot-3 center Vonleh picked up two fouls in less than 30 seconds to foul out with 3:36 left. Oregon State took advantage by going inside. Paurova made a contested shot in the lane for a 70-69 lead with 2:22 left and she added a wide-open layup at 1:12 for a three-point lead.
Paurova also gave Oregon State an 81-73 lead with 24 seconds left. Hunter and Von Oelhoffen combined to go 4 of 4 from the stripe in the final 20 seconds after Colorado scored three points on back-to-back possessions to make it close.
It was the first double-overtime game in the history of the women’s tournament.
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Bubble Buffs facing crucial game at Oregon (7:00 p.m., MT, ESPN2)
… Related … “Oregon opportunity a huge one for CU Buffs men’s basketball” … from the Daily Camera
Tip: 7:05 p.m. MT
TV: ESPN2 (Roxy Bernstein, Sean Farnham)
Watch Online: WatchESPN
Radio: KOA 850 AM & 94.1 FM (Mark Johnson, Scott Wilke)
Satellite: Sirius XM 384 & SXM App (974)
Listen Online: CUBuffs.com
Live Statistics: https://statb.us/v/colo/498955
From CUBuffs.com … With two regular season games remaining and then the Pac-12 tournament, the Colorado men’s basketball team has some work to do if the Buffaloes want to hear their name called on NCAA Selection Sunday.
Of course, the Buffs could guarantee themselves an NCAA tourney berth by running the table at next week’s conference tournament and earning the automatic bid that goes with a tourney title.
But short of that, the Buffs need to collect some wins to improve their resumé — and there may be no better opportunity to burnish their qualifications than Thursday night’s game at Oregon (7 p.m., ESPN2).
After that, the Buffs wrap up the regular season at Oregon State on Saturday in a 3 p.m. game (Pac-12 Network).
The Buffs (20-9 overall, 11-7 Pac-12) are currently tied with the Ducks (19-10, 11-7) for third in the Pac-12 standings. The top four teams in the standings earn a first-round bye in the conference tournament.
But of equal importance is CU’s current NCAA Tournament status. Colorado is perched squarely on the tourney bubble, with a handful of bracket predictions having the Buffs in the field and others with CU on the outside of the party looking in.
Colorado’s overall NET ranking — a critical evaluation metric for the NCAA Selection Committee — currently sits at 31, a solid number. The Ducks, meanwhile, are at 64. A win over Oregon on Thursday would give CU another much-needed Quad 1 win.
But Boyle and the Buffs aren’t spending time studying bracketology.
Rather, they are taking aim at going into Eugene and collecting a road win — something that hasn’t come easily this year for CU. The Buffs are just 2-7 in true road games this season.
“I just want to go out and play as well as we can,” Boyle said. “We know that Oregon’s a good team. They’re a talented team that can really get out in transition and put points up. The best way to guard them is to not let them get out in transition. Get set and lock in. If we do that, we’ll have a chance.”
… Continue reading story here …
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March 6th
… CU in the Arena …
No. 18 Buffs quickly dispatch Oregon, 79-30, setting up a must win rematch v. Oregon State Thursday
… No. 18 CU v. No. 13 Oregon State, Thursday, 1:00 p.m., MT, Pac-12 Networks … If the Buffs want to have a chance at hosting the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament, this is a must-win game (against a team which beat them twice in the regular season) …
From ESPN … Frida Formann scored 17 points and 18th-ranked Colorado handed Oregon its worst loss of the season, 79-30 in the opening game of the Pac-12 Tournament on Wednesday.
Quay Miller scored the first four points of the game and the Buffaloes had the last 13 points of the first quarter for a 26-7 lead.
Colorado (22-8), the fifth seed, plays fourth-seeded and 13th-ranked Oregon State in the quarterfinals on Thursday.
Tameiya Sadler had 11 points and Miller 10 for the Buffaloes, who shot 9 of 18 from 3-point range — with Formann going 5 for 6 — and shot 48% (33 of 69) overall. Colorado also had a 54-28 rebounding advantage.
The Ducks (11-21) shot just 19% (10 of 53), 1 of 13 from 3-point range, to run their school-record losing streak to 14. The skid is the longest for any member school since the conference expanded to 12 teams. They also fell to 0-14 against ranked teams.
Oregon made two shots in each of the first two quarters and three each in the last two. A 3-pointer with 1:50 left was the last Oregon basket of the game. Their previous lows were 30.4% shooting, 1 of 11 from 3-point range and 41 points. It was the lowest scoring game since the Ducks had 30 on Jan. 13, 1976.
Colorado coach by JR Payne, who was an assistant when Oregon coach Kelly Graves was at Gonzaga, has won five straight against the Ducks.
The Buffs led 38-11 at the half and 53-19 after three quarters.
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March 5th
… CU in the Arena …
Five CU women earn a total of six Pac-12 postseason honors
Press release from CUBuffs.com … Five Colorado women’s basketball players accounted for a total of six Pac-12 postseason honors to open Pac-12 Tournament Week on Tuesday.
Graduate Jaylyn Sherrod and junior Aaronette Vonleh earned All-Conference honors, while Sherrod secured her third All-Defensive team selection. Senior Frida Formann and graduate Quay Miller both earned honorable mention All-Conference honors. Junior Kindyll Wetta rounds out the group with her honorable mention All-Defensive team nod.
“I’m very proud of all our players but definitely excited for those who have been recognized with All-Pac-12 honors,” head coach JR Payne commented. “To be listed among the best in the conference is truly a testament to their individual and collective hard work over the years.”
Sherrod, now a two-time All-Pac-12 selection, ranks fourth in the Pac-12 in total assists (136), assists per game (4.7), steals (62) and steals per game (2.14). She is averaging 12.8 points per game this season. She earned Pac-12 Player of the Week and numerous National Player of the Week honors after recording a career-high 34 points against then-No. 12 Utah. She enters the Pac-12 Tournament with 370 points scored this season, three off her single-season best set last season. Sherrod has started all 29 games for CU and became the Buffs’ all-time leader in career starts (128) last Saturday. She is hitting a career-best 44.3% from the field this season and is hitting a career-high 77.4% from the free-throw line. Sherrod also dished out a career-high 13 assists against UT Arlington and has five or more assists in 12 games this season. She has had at least one steal in 25 games this season.
Vonleh, last season’s Co-Most Improved Player of the Year, leads the Buffs with her career-best 14.4 points per game. She scored a season-high 24 points in Colorado’s season-opening win over then-No. 1 LSU, earning the first Pac-12 Player of the Week award. Vonleh has scored in double figures 24 times this season, including five games with 20 or more points. She had back-to-back 20-point games at Washington State and Washington for the first time in her career. The Bend, Ore., native, has two double-doubles this season. She recorded a career-high 11 rebounds against Le Moyne and has a career-best 4.9 boards per game. Vonleh ranks 24th in the NCAA in field goal % (56.6) and is fifth in the Pac-12 with 175 field goals made.
Formann picks up her second consecutive honorable mention. She ranks 2nd in the Pac-12 with 71 3-pointers this season, averaging 2.5 makes per game. She became the 34th player in program history to reach 1,000 career points and is averaging a career-best 12.6 points per game through 29 contests. Formann started the season with a career-high 27 points against LSU and hit the mark again at Washington State. She tied the school record for 3-pointers in a game, making seven twice this season. Formann dished out a career-high nine assists at Washington and has totaled a career-best 65 helpers this season. She’s currently positioned second on CU’s single-season free throw % rankings (min. 50 made), shooting 93.1% (54-58).
Miller, a Renton, Wash., native, sits seventh in the conference at the start of the Pac-12 Tournament with a team-high 223 rebounds this season. She snagged a season-high 15 boards against WSU and has 12 games of double-digit rebounds. Miller has a team-leading nine double-doubles this year, including a three-game streak against ASU, Cal and Stanford. She became the 35th player in CU history to record 1,000 points in the Black & Gold. She’s averaging 9.2 points per game this season, scoring in double figures 14 times.
Wetta, a Castle Rock, Colo., native, is seventh in the Pac-12 with 1.8 steals per game this season. She swiped a season-high five steals against Kentucky and is second on the team with 51 steals this season. Wetta has also been tough on the glass with a career-high 97 rebounds.
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March 4th
… CU in the Arena …
Jaylyn Sherrod named Pac-12 Women’s Basketball Scholar-Athlete of the Year
From CUBuffs.com … Colorado graduate point guard Jaylyn Sherrod has been named the 2024 Pac-12 Women’s Basketball Scholar-Athlete of the Year the conference announced on Monday.
Sherrod will graduate this spring with her third degree from the University of Colorado. She graduated in three years with a 3.83 GPA and her bachelor’s degree in Sociology. She completed her first master’s last year in Organizational Leadership and is now pursuing her second master’s in Criminal Justice. Sherrod is currently maintaining a 3.93 GPA this season and a combined 3.82 GPA in her two years of graduate studies.
The Birmingham, Ala., native, is a three-time Pac-12 Academic Honor Roll honoree and a 2023 College Sports Communicators Academic All-District selection. She was awarded the Byron R. White Leadership and Initiative Award in 2022, which is awarded annually to those student-athletes who have exhibited outstanding initiative and demonstrated a strong commitment to service to the CU and Boulder communities. Sherrod is also a three-time Dean’s List, a nine-time AD’s Honor Roll honoree and a 4.0 Club (2023) member.
On the court, Sherrod is averaging a career-high 12.8 points per game this season. She became just the third player in CU women’s basketball history to have over 1,000 career points (1,417) and 600 assists (609). She scored a career-high 34 points in CU’s win over then No. 12 Utah and handed out a career-high 13 assists against UT Arlington. This season she has earned multiple national Player of the Week honors and has been listed on various Player of the Year watch lists, including the Drysdale, Wooden and Naismith Awards.
Sherrod is the 10th Colorado student-athlete to earn Scholar-Athlete of the Year honors and the first since Eliza Cahil (lacrosse) in 2021.
… Continue reading story here …
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Buffs win fourth straight, taking down Stanford, 81-71 – Boyle: “We just keep chugging along and we’ve won 20 games”
From CUBuffs.com … Colorado’s Tristan da Silva celebrated Senior Night with a 27-point, 11-rebound double-double Sunday to lead the Buffaloes men’s basketball team to an 81-71 win over Stanford at the CU Events Center.
Tad Boyle‘s Buffs won their fourth straight game to improve to 20-9 overall and 11-7 in Pac-12 play. Stanford lost its sixth straight game to fall to 12-17, 7-12.
Colorado also improved to 16-1 at home this season as the Buffs cliched their 10th 20-win season in Boyle’s 14 years in Boulder.
Along with da Silva’s second double-double of the season, KJ Simpson added 22 points and seven assists for the Buffs, J’Vonne Hadley scored 15 and Eddie Lampkin Jr. chipped in 11.
Maxime Raynaud led Stanford with 26 points and 12 rebounds.
Colorado trailed at the midway point of the first half but used a 23-6 run to take control and the Buffs led by seven at the half, 44-37. Stanford briefly cut the lead to just three early in the second half but Colorado quickly responded to push the lead into double digits and led by as much as 20 down the stretch.
The victory moved the Buffs into a tie for third with Oregon in the Pac-12 standings, with the top four in the league earning a first-round bye in the conference tournament. The win also guaranteed the Buffs a winning conference record, Boyle’s ninth winning conference mark in 13 Pac-12 seasons.
The Buffs were once again without the services of starter Cody Williams and key reserve Julian Hammond III (injuries), but the Buffs had more than enough firepower to dispatch the Cardinal.
Colorado shot 53 percent from the floor (33-for-62), including 11-for-25 from long range. CU also had a 38-27 edge on the boards and tallied 13 second-chance points.
Stanford shot 25-for-57 (44 percent), but the Buffs limited the Cardinal to just 11-for-29 shooting in the second half, including a dismal 3-for-18 effort from long range.
Da Silva finished 11-for-18 from the floor (5-for-10 from beyond the arc) while Simpson shot 8-for-17, including a 5-for-9 night from long range.
… Continue reading story here …
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March 3rd – Senior Day!
… CU in the Arena …
Buffs look for win No. 20 on Senior Day (Stanford, 7:00 p.m., MT, FS1)
From CUBuffs.com …
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March 2nd – Senior Day!
… CU in the Arena …
No. 13 Buffs out-scored 14-0 in final three minutes, fall to WSU, 72-63 – JR Payne: “I don’t have a lot to say”
From CUBuffs.com … No. 13 Colorado struggled to the finish on Senior Day, falling 72-63 to Washington State at the CU Events Center on Saturday.
The loss, just the third at home this season for the Buffaloes, drops the team to 21-8 overall and 11-7 in the Pac-12. Washington State (18-13, 7-11 Pac-12) splits the season series with CU, moving to 7-6 on the road.
CU finishes fifth in the Pac-12 standings and plays No. 12 Oregon in the first game of the Pac-12 Tournament next Wednesday in Las Vegas.
“I don’t have a lot to say,” head coach JR Payne said after the loss. “I’m disappointed with the outcome of the game. I hate to have a game like that on Senior Day because it should be a joyous day where we can celebrate these incredible women, which we still did and still do. After all, they are that remarkable. But, [I] was disappointed with the outcome but also very proud of our team for its composure and I’m happy to be able to celebrate these incredible women on our team.”
Colorado had three players finish in double figures, led by Jaylyn Sherrod, who made her school-record 128th career start on Saturday. The fifth-year point guard scored 18 points, going 11-for-12 from the free-throw line to pace the Buffs in her final regular season game in the Black & Gold. Aaronette Vonleh (15) and Frida Formann (10) rounded out CU’s top scorers.
“Jaylyn and I have really grown up together in some ways,” Payne reflected. “As she mentioned, she came here as a 17-year-old kid, and we threw her into the fire very quickly at a young age. She wasn’t like basketball-wise ready for what we were doing, throwing her into the fire, but she was always mentally ready. Always so fearless and tough. I’ll never forget for as long as I coach, our first Pac-12 game at Oregon. They had Sabrina [Ionescu] and all those guys and we lost I think by 56 points. The commentator put a microphone in front of her face right after the game and said ‘Welcome to the Pac-12, what do you think?’ The first words out of her mouth were, ‘Well they still have to come through Boulder.’ Of course, they were significantly better than us at that time. Just the fearlessness in that statement is in her DNA. We’ve been through a lot together. Lots of wins. Lots of big moments. Lots of key moments. Lots of developing. Lots of long and hard talks, and challenging each other to be great. These guys are all like my daughters and I’ve been with Jaylyn the longest so she’s like my oldest kid. It won’t really be sad until the season’s over. But yeah, just disappointed we couldn’t get the win for them on Senior Day.”
… Continue reading story here …
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CU hands out Season Awards in advance of Senior Day
… Related … “Senior bios for the players to be celebrated before CU’s matchup with Washington State” … from the Daily Camera
From CUBuffs.com … The No. 13 Colorado women’s basketball team took a moment to celebrate the 2023-24 season on the eve of the team’s regular-season finale Friday night at the NerdWallet Touchdown Club.
During the banquet, the team handed out several individual and lettermen awards.
The Buffaloes reflected on the season’s accomplishments thus far, including a third consecutive 20-win season, three wins against top-10 opponents and four overall ranked wins. With one regular season game left this season, CU remains the only DI team to upset a No. 1 opponent, taking down the defending national champion and then No. 1 LSU on the season’s opening night.
Colorado has been ranked all 17 weeks this season and climbed as high as No. 3 in three different polls. The Buffs recorded the largest in-season poll-to-poll jump, moving from No. 20 in the preseason poll to No. 5 after the win over LSU. CU has been ranked in 23 consecutive polls dating back to last season.
Team Awards
Most Valuable Player – Jaylyn Sherrod
Offensive MVP – Aaronette Vonleh
Defensive MVP – Kindyll Wetta
Newcomer of the Year – Maddie Nolan
Iron Buff – Frida Formann
Crystal Ford Adams Scholar-Athlete – Sophie Gerber
Lisa Van Goor Rebounding Award – Quay Miller
Ceal Barry Pride Award – Charlotte Whittaker
Buff Service Award – Formann, Nolan, Wetta, Whittaker
Sherrod was honored with the team MVP for the second consecutive season. The fifth-year graduate will set the school record on Sunday, making her 128th career start. She became just the third player in CU history to record 1,000 career points and 600 assists. She scored a career-high 34 points at Utah to start Pac-12 play this year, earning her numerous National Player of the Week honors. Sherrod is also on the watch lists for the Drysdale, Wooden and Naismith Player of the Year Awards along with being a top 10 candidate for the Lieberman Point Guard of the Year.
Vonleh leads the Buffs this season with 14.2 points per game. She has scored in double figures in 23 games this season, opening the year with a season-high 24 points against LSU. The junior center has two double-doubles this season and the Buffs have an 18-5 record when she scores in double digits.
Wetta picked up Defensive MVP honors for the second straight year. She’s totaled 51 steals this season, averaging 1.8 per game. Wetta recorded a season-high five steals against Kentucky at the Paradise Jam Classic and has had five or more rebounds five times this season. The junior guard currently boasts a 2.4 assist/turnover ratio.
Nolan is coming off her best night as a Buff, going for a CU-high 20 points against Washington. It was her fifth 20-point game, but her first in the Black & Gold. She tied a career-high with seven made field goals and was one shy of her career-high going 6-for-7 from 3-point range. She’s currently averaging 6.2 points, 2.4 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game.
… Continue reading story here …
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March 1st
… CU in the Arena …
No. 13 Buffs hold off Washington, 68-62 – JR Payne: “I’m just proud and happy to be back in the win column”
… Related … “No. 13 CU Buffs hold off Washington to snap losing skid” … from the Daily Camera
… Related … “No. 13 Colorado women end 4-game skid beating Washington 68-62” … from ESPN
From CUBuffs.com … The No. 13 Colorado Buffaloes women’s basketball team got back on track after taking down the Washington Huskies 68-62 at the CU Events Center Thursday night.
After a four-game skid, the Buffs (21-7, 11-6 Pac-12) averted a late comeback bid made by the Huskies (15-13, 5-12 Pac-12) to return home with a win. Eight of nine Colorado players who saw game action converted at least one field goal in the 40 minutes.
“I’m just really happy to be back at home,” head coach JR Payne expressed. “I’m really happy with how we played in spurts. Certainly not 40 minutes, but we played really well in spurts on both sides of the floor. Pushing through fatigue and some injury. I knew we’d be tired. I was really happy with how we responded. A lot of different people came in and really contributed at different times. Playing through frustration and missing some shots we normally make, but we kept our heads in the game. When the game was on the line, we were able to execute and do some good things. I’m just proud and happy to be back in the win column. Excited to be home. Happy that Senior Day is coming up.”
Maddie Nolan led all players in scoring after cashing in on six 3-pointers (6-for-7), four of which came in the first half. She finished with a new CU career-high 20 points.
“It definitely felt nice,” Nolan expressed. “My teammates, as always, do a great job of finding me and you saw a couple times Jaylyn [Sherrod] kick ahead to me in transition and I passed it back but it’s nice to play with people that know where you are on the floor and are always looking for you.”
Frida Formann was also a big contributor offensively, catching fire in the second quarter with 10 points and helping the Buffs gain a comfortable lead in the first half. A big difference-maker was Colorado’s ability to share the ball, especially from Tameiya Sadler and Kindyll Wetta who combined for 10 of the team’s 13 assists.
… Continue reading story here …
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111 Replies to “Colorado Basketball – March, 2024”
Manning seems like a really good hire, to me.
Go Buffs
surprise surprise
Hopefully Manning can add more to the team than a “few nuggets” or was that a veiled reference to the Denver team which looks like it has run out of want right now.
With all the tall guys Tad has right now Danny should be the guy to coach their game well.
Tad can recruit. He has a room full of big guys now and I am feeling real positive about Baskin and Malone. Malone looks like he will be a big upgrade on Lampkin who was a big upgrade on Lovering. The fact that he is a scoring machine at center and blocks shots means he is agile and quick footed.
With these 2 guys the scoring load should be picked up from last year from the guard position. Hammond should be a decent distributor. Hopefully Smith will show us something too. After all these years I cant believe I am saying this now but if Tad has one more schollie left he might get some depth a guard.
Stu, can you give us a writeup on any men’s BB names that are giving CU a look? I’m concerned since we didn’t have the NIL $$$ to keep Javon and Eddie, what makes us think we can land a good transfer to replace them? We had a good looking team going into next year before they bailed, now I fear we will be the bottom of the barrel in the Big 12. Please give us some reason to hope!
Actually, no.
I don’t post anything about recruits before they commit, for football or basketball.
This is where Adam makes his money, so I leave recruiting alone.
Once a commit hit social media, I’ll post as much information as I can find, but not before.
I appreciate your ethics and didn’t mean to imply you should act dishonorably, etc. But have you heard anything to give us hope for next year? We couldn’t pay or match NIL money for our 2 big men starters, has that NIL situation been rectified or at least improved? Are we doomed to not be able to lure good players here this offseason, but outbid by lessor programs?
I wouldn’t be too worried.
When Calipari arrived at his new job at Arkansas, he told the press: “I met with the team. There was no team”. Every single player on the roster was either graduating, heading to the NBA, or in the Portal.
Will next year be as good as this year? Probably not – but then again, no team before this one ever won 26 games in a season.
There are going to be some news in the near future. Will it make CU a Top 25 team? Probably not.
Will CU even be in the top half of the Big 12 next season? Probably not.
But I wouldn’t be surprised if Coach Boyle put together another 20-win season …
TALKIN’ WOMEN’S AND MEN’S BASKETBALL…. I DON’T KNOW IF I’VE SEEN A BASKETBALL PLAYER “PUSH THE LIMIT” LIKE SHERROD.
THERE’S SIMPLY “NO STOP” IN THAT LITTLE “FIRE-PLUG.” SHE PUTS THE “ENERGIZER BUNNY” TO SHAME.
AT LEAST FOR THE WOMEN’S PROGRAM, THERE SHOULD BE A “JAYLYN SHERROD” AWARD FOR A PLAYER WHO GOES BEYOND WHAT ANYONE COULD IMAGINE OR EXPECT TO HELP HER TEAM WIN…….IT SHOULDN’T BE A YEARLY AWARD AND SHOULD ONLY BE BASED ON “EXTRA EFFORT’ DONE ON EVERY PLAY ON THE FLOOR. CALL IT THE “UNIVERSITY COACHES AND PRESIDENT’S JAYLYN SHERROD” AWARD. THE WOMEN’S BASKETBALL COACH COULD NOMINATE A PLAYER, BUT ALL 100% OF OTHER UNIVERSITY COACHES AND THE UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT MUST APPROVE IT.
JUST SAYIN’ AND PLEADING….IT HAS TO START SOMEWHERE. (THE CRITERIA ABOVE IS JUST A SUGGESTION).
GO HERD
Thanks for the tadbit on Knecht earache. Its obvious you have some connections. Maybe they can also teach you a little about the game.
I’m sure all the snark is aimed at me. Lets talk about revisionist history. What revisionist history? Is this like Stuart’s interpretation of hindsight?
And comparing Tad with Few is a laugh. Using your words, Few’s record is “way better.” I’m not going to look it up for my snark here but I’m guessin Few has gone sweet 16 and beyond “way better” times that Tad has even been to the dance. Are you also saying Tad cant do “way better?”
Just found out about the Knecht kid at Tennessee. He transferred from N. Colorado. How did Tad let him get away?
Can’t wait to see your post on which of the current players on the Northern Colorado team are going to do well next year somewhere else.
Let’s see if your foresight is as good as your hindsight.
Are you telling me he was a clunk at NC? Is that why Tennessee welcomed him?
Hindsight?
merely reading an article. I hope Tad has more awareness of the recruiting field than me or you.
foresight?
I can think of one example. Go back and read my post when KJ first got here. I told you he would make people forget some other fairly high rated PG temp commit who finally wound up at Louisville.
Sorry my comments upset you….not
No, I’m not saying that Knecht was a clunk at UNC. The inference from your previous post was that Tad missed on recruiting a quality player in his backyard – with no factual basis for the claim other than Knecht went somewhere else.
Your comment about KJ suggests that Coach Boyle (like you?) can spot a diamond in the rough. So I guess Tad can recruit after all …
No worries on your comments upsetting me. If your comments upset me … I would just delete them. 😉
Fellas. Since revisionist history is a thing for some around here, google says tad did recruit dalton when he was transferring from unc. He just didn’t land him. Apparently an oversold flight may have cemented his and his parents relationship with Rick Barnes.
A wise man once said you can’t worry about the kids you don’t get. You have to focus on the ones you do.
But really, tad, like Mark few, just isn’t good enough. No championships. Buffs can do way better. Says ep.
Go Buffs
It just pops out that all the womens teams that are moving on have a
Superstar. Even some that got be by teams with a superstar.
That great coach needs a super star.
Go find one!!
Go Buffs
Was fortunate to tune into the second half of UConn’s 30 point mauling of SDST. San Diego had the better athletes but UConn’s teamwork and movement off the ball was a thing of beauty. The team work extended on D as well. They all knew when to double up and had quick hands.
You can throw out some reidiculous 30/70 percent figure but the fact is talent and coaching have to fuse. On offense the coach has to be the first point guard so to speak. What you saw on offense and for most of Tad’s teams is individual talent that has carried him and this year there was an abundance of that. It doesn’t seem to me Tad can or wont coach an efficient half court offense. Tad has brought in a long list of excellent point guards to help him but but there is very little synchronized movement without the ball. This is really evident when the opposition really cranks it the D. Maybe 3 games this season the turnovers were real low, the assists were real high and there 4 or even 5 players in scoring in double figures. Should have been more games like that and a trip to at least the sweet 16.
Fire Tad or keep him. Maybe he can find an assistant who can help coach a half court game on offense.
Next year is up in the air. If KJ comes back that will help a lot. I think Eddies replacements maybe a wash. They are pretty slim and may not be able to keep from getting backed down as well but they will be quicker and better shot blockers. They also need to develop a better scoring touch. that will come with more minutes. Guys on the bench this year are going to have to step up. The kid from Columbine(?) could be a factor but we all know how Tad is about playing freshmen. Williams got plenty of time this year but Tad’s lack if half court game hampered his.
Into the unknown
Stu, we need you to do a little digging. Hammond as point next to Ruffin, Eddie and Javon inside plus the others and new guys could have been a pretty good team nest year. All season Eddie and Javon acted like they really liked Tad, but here they are bailing on him. Heard Luke is transferring too, but I thought he would just go over seas after graduating. Why are they leaving CU when the teammates were so close? Did they get bought by NIL money? Inquiring minds want to know!!!
What was Tad saying about playing defense?
Great game. Tough loss. Buffs were in two classics. I disagree with uga about lampkin. He was having a great tournament.
Gonna be fun to see what this team looks like next year.
Go Buffs
It won’t be the same team, KJ could be gone, Tristan is gone, and so is Cody.
Totally different team. Doesn’t mean it won’t be fun!
They got some talented youngsters.
Plus, Kj and Cody could come back. Kj is small for the nba, but could kill it overseas.
Everyone fawns over Cody’s potential. He could potentially be a bust. Jalen has the family covered. Maybe they want to make a run at the final four?
That would be tad’s best coaching job ever. Selling that vision.
Go Buffs
WITHOUT K.J., LAMPKIN AND CODY, IT WILL BE – LET’S SAY- AN EXPERIENCE.
I WISH EACH ONE OF THEM THE BEST. IF THEIR PATH LOOKS TOO BUMPY FOR THE “BIG TIME,” IT WOULD BE NICE TO SEE THEM IN BLACK AND GOLD.
CODY WOULD LOOK A LOT MORE ATTRACTIVE TO TEAMS IN THE NBA IF HE HAD ONE MORE YEAR- AT LEAST- TO PUT ON SOME POUNDS AND MATURE PHYSICALLY. I RECKON THE SCOUTS AND THE “POWERS THAT BE” KNOW A LOT MORE THAN I DO….
I WOULD LOVE TO SEE CODY IN BLACK AND GOLD ONE MORE YEAR. ‘YA HEAR, CODY ???
GO HERD !!!
I agree Bufftrax. And I will add that Cody needs another year to develop and gain experience, especially during clutch time in the tourneys. He had a chance in two games to secure the win for the Buffs, Florida was one of them, if he made both of his free throws with only 14 seconds left, he would have been the hero giving the Buffs a 4 point lead, but he missed and KJ got the glory with a last second score.
His TOs and missed shots seem to increase more during clutch play at the end of a close game than in the middle when/if he was in his grove. His weight and the need to put on more muscle along with the missed games due to injury should also be a reason to “season him” more in college and the NBA should pass on him this year, BUT some team already has him on their wish list because of his potential from in high school and some of his better college games. I bet there are guys graduating with 3 or 4 years of playing experience who are probably playing better at the moment than Cody, even if by only a slight margin who won’t get drafted while an NBA team locks Cody up for their G-league just so another team can’t get him.
For watching this game to win, which we will not, and the reason is Lampkin.
He is playing slow and sucks. He has contributed zero.
Dak should be in
UGA, YOU IS BLIND.
LAMPKIN’S PRESENCE IN THE LANE WAS FORMIDABLE….OFFENSIVELY AND DEFENSIVELY.
GET YUR’ ASTIGMATISM CORRECTED…..PERHAPS NEXT SEASON WILL LOOK BETTER AND YOU WILL BE HAPPIER. HAVE A GOOD SUMMER.
GO BUFFS.
My astigmatism says Eddie did acquire a great scoring touch under the basket which his predecessor still hasn’t developed. On D though he has white man’s disease. His feet are slow and he cant leave the floor high enough to block a shot from another center.
Congrats to Simpson for making the last second shot for the win. Cody could have been the
“clutch player” getting the accolades if he’d made both of his free throws at the end. The Buffs would have had a 4 points lead with only 14 seconds left and just don’t foul and you win even if Florida scores; but if they foul you again with time left you need to make those free throws.
Watching Cody’s play during the PAC12 & NCAA tournaments has me thinking he needs another year to mature and improve… And put on weight. Plus, I’d like to see him stay another year at CU and see how he does his second year in college; he could be a huge asset. He’s played well at times, but he’s made some rookie mistakes/TOs and missed a few shots that a seasoned player would make.
But the NBA is going to do what the NBA is going to do and they can afford to take kids and develop them in their G league.
Just when I thought I’d seen the worst “last 5 minutes of the game coaching” by Tad, here comes the Oregon coach to steal his thunder.
Wow. That was the game of the tournament, so far. Sounds like Marquette is going to be tough. I wonder if they should fire tad before or after that game?
Go Buffs
wearing a neck brace this morning after giving yourself whiplash? What, again, was that mythical coach/player percentage you keep spouting?
No whiplash. 70% or so playing, 30% or so coaching. And within that 30% includes increasingly bringing in the talent to win. Tad has continued doing that too.
Gonna be a good one tomorrow.
Go Buffs. And cougs
That was hard to watch
Boise is a team of goons and the refs were horrible too. I see why the goons get so many rebounds. They get away with a lot of shoving.
First half was total slop by both teams. Never seen so many air balls.
First half of the second half I was sure the Buffs were going down. The O was completely stalled. No one was moving without the ball. It was Simpson and the 4 statues.
Some how they did it.
Hopefully they wont give me a 40 minute heart attack against Florida.
Even though the Midwest is, to me, the easiest bracket, getting shoved down to play in makes you face a 2 seed to get into the sweet 16. Go WKU
Kind of game you can expect when you have 2 relatively inexperienced (as NCAA tournament teams) with the jitters.
I saw the same ep, especially the first half of the game, then towards the end of the game the Buffs played more like OU played against them in the PAC12 Tourney. The game was tight until the end for both games, but in the PAC12 game, it was Oregon who pulled out by 4 points in the waning moments of the game. Those four points and limited time left, leaving the Buffs to have to foul, worked against the Buffs and they lost by more than 4 points in what was a close game until the end.
This time it was BSU who was in a similar position as the Buffs were against Oregon. BSU played well enough at the end to be with in 4 points in the last minute or so of the game when lack of time and having to foul played against them and they lost in similar fashion as the Buffs lost to Oregon.
Can the Buffs use that first half of sloppy play and their recovery for the win to play a complete game and get a win tomorrow?
So proud of the perseverance last night. A lot of wins in march are ugly. Its about survive and advance. Its nice to be in the field of 64 again. Go Buffs!
Game on. GO BUFFS.
Thanks for the expose on the pundolt’s brackets Stuart. Besides trying to satisfy the schools with the most readers they were astute enough to remember the historical committee bias against the Buffs….or is it just something west of Kansas?
While I agree there is a bias against the Buffs, the reality is either put up or shut up. The Buffs have never made it past the second round, and this year (at least according to ESPN) they have 3 of the top 25 players in the tournament! It’s time to put up, and I mean in big numbers. A second round exit is just not acceptable with this talent. Hopefully they make it happen!
Bingo
and its not going to be any easier for Tad next year. If Cody and KJ are out the door with Tristan that is going to be tough.
I watched the CSU thrashing of VA. Those guys play together so well.
Good game. Bummer to lose. Nfalo had a heck of a game. Buffs be dancin’.
Go Buffs
#2 in the PAC12 and you might not make it int9 the tourney? That’s crazy.
Fingers crossed that the Buffs get in today.
Next season the competition gets much
tougher.
Bracketology…..Win against Utah and you’re in, no wait, win against WSU and your definitely in, well now that you did that, you’re still on the bubble, win against OU and we’ll see……🤞
It’s nice to see the Buffs go on a 8 game run and all playing well together at this time of the year. Good game against WSU, the Buffs made a couple of bad/boneheaded plays, but give WSU credit for causing some of that, but in the end the Buffs did good. Exciting game to watch.
Now sweep the ducks and make this season the success it should have been with this amount of talent. The ducks are going to want revenge for their losses to the Buffs this year and it’s hard to sweep any team as good as the ducks three times, but it can happen. And Should.
Looking forward to tonight’s game, many of the Buff’s games didn’t make it on TV where I live, PAC12 networse not available in my community; so, these last games that have been televised have been at the right time to see a lot of the run of wins. It’s great that the Buff’s seed was the bracket with all three games televised nationally; it was the only bracket with the games on FS1/Fox. Only the two teams that played CU was on national TV and the tourney Championship game will be on National TV, the rest were regulated to the soon defunct PAC12 networse.
No wonder the conference failed.
Go Buffs.
wow
just went to espn’s bracket. They have the Buffs in as a 10 seed playing the corn cobbs first game. I wonder if they plan on putting that game on their channel…(rhetorical question)
This has to be Tad’s favorite win all season. It was done almost entirely with D while the cougs were playing serious D of their own. Here a D, there a D, everywhere a DD.
The funny thing is Wilner is getting very close to his projection of the Buff’s winning the tournament. I guess he finally had to get in the Buff’s corner to be right.
Oregon has to be brimming with confidence. I wonder if heir win got them any closer to the dance.
Seems like a number of higher seeds have lost in their tournaments. Are they satisfied they are already in the dance and let off the gas?
Peese on the bracketologist boobs. They are with the same outfits that go for the clicks. Problem is the selection committee hasnt been very kind to them Buffs in the past either. Are they going to make the Buffs play an extra game to get into the bracket?
I can’t believe the selection committee could or would leave the Buffs off if they lost the next game. I’m a Homer but it would be another travesty by the group
Having said that I am keeping my fingers crossed and sending the good MOJO to Vegas for a win tonight . ‘SKO BUFFS 🖤💛
I want about to subscribe to the SJ rag even when the PAC was still alive. Who did Wilner have eliminating AU?
Makes no difference, Wilner is usually wrong with his predictions. One of the few bright things about the demise of the PAC 12 is getting rid of this posing twerp.
Just looked at a few mock drafts for the first time. some have Williams, Da Silva and Simpson all in the first round
yikes
I really don’t understand how a team that was on the bubble for the dance can have three players that are NBA ready, you would think a team with 3 out of 5 players on the floor going to the NBA would have won it all… Having missed as many games due to injuries as he did and over all playing time and his lower weight one would think it would be better for Williams to stay in college another year. But the NBA can afford to “groom” these guys and pay them to see IF they work out and become a phenom based on their potential.
242 players (so far) have put their name in for 60 spots, 64 teams play in the dance, so each team can average 3 or 4 players on that list. I say three or four because some teams not in the dance may have a player going too. But the point is, there are a lot of players that think or are being told that they should be drafted, but only a quarter of them actually will be.
And add that the NBA will take a player that needs more development, just because they want to lock him down from another team, and that’s one less space for a grown man that just played for four years.
Love Hadley’s game. He aint skeered of trees. He is a wildman to begin with and that makes him look like Zorro of the hoops court slashing with his sabre.
Looking at the TV schedule for the PAC12 tourney and only three games are on national TV, ALL OF THE REST are on the PAC12 network, including the #1 seeds first two games, no wonder the PAC12 are going the way of the Dodo. The good news is the pathway for the Buffs in the tourney are the three televised games on FS1 & FOX.
Good Omen for the Buffs?
I remember when people complained about the coaching and play of this basketball team. I foresee more complaining unless they go sweet 16 or further. My how the times have changed.
Go Buffs
This team has the most individual talent that Tad has had in a while. Another change is that the Buffs finally won the second game on the road they should have…and hopefully that was just in time to make the dance. After breathing a sigh of relief I am still holding my breath
And you are right about complaining if they dont get 2 wins in the dance, something no Tad team has ever done and most of that talent will be gone next year.
If anyone complains around here its out of a desire for improvement.
I dont think you understand the concept of competing to win in athletics. If you are happy with a world of participation ribbons thats fine but coming from that to throw shade on others who arent doesnt get very far.
I just enjoy the good times and appreciate that tad has built the best program in CU basketball history. No CU team has ever won 22 games in a season. It has been since you were a kid since CU basketball was won six conference games in a row.
Just because tad has yet to routinely get his teams into the tournament, and occasionally make a run through it, does not mean he cannot.
Oh, and I see no shot of Cody being a top five pick this year. My hope is he comes back, and will be next year.
Go Buffs
Eric, Eric, Eric your basing your thoughts on what you see on the court (which most of us do) but that is not what the NBA draft is about. It is about the potential (or ceiling ) of a prospect, and Cody checks all the boxes on potential, size and athleticism. Remember how they use to draft right out of High school? Now that was all based on potential, as high schoolers suddenly have the game to play in the NBA their first year? Nope, except for a few unicorns (LeBron) most just had to spend years developing into an NBA player.
I hear ya. But he’ll get mauled by grown men. In the g league.
He needs to bulk up, prove he can take the rigors of the next level, and improve his game.
Now, is there a debate about what option best allows for that? Definitely.
But get the kid some nil cash and watch him develop and dominate as a Buff next year. Says me.
Go Buffs
Its now or might as well be never, Shouldn’t be a herculean task. Just beat an comparable opponent on the road. Put together a game like the last one with Utan and it should be….pardon the expression…..a slam dunk. I noticed a lot of the Buff’s turnovers are ill advised passes. Gotta keep focused and everyone has to move well w/o the ball in sync.
When the Buffs take a good lead they have the tendency to take their foot off the gas. Even in the Stanford game it looked like it might be a little scary in the 2nd half except that for a time Stanford couldn’t hit a bull in the ass with a base fiddle.
If they do make the dance they will have some road games, Seems like a lot of higher seeds get an arena close to home. Pipe in crowd noise into practice? Wear earplugs in the game.? Under go hypnosis to ignore crowd noise? and/or play loose with focus?
Just win, baby
This may be one of Tad’s best coaching jobs considering they are among the leaders in the country with games lost to injury. Among the starters, only KJ and Eddie have been in the lineup for every game and Cody has missed over a 3rd of the games, 12 of 30, and they seem to have done it with offense more than the traditional defense and rebound emphasis.
The next step is to beat OSU and then get to the P12 tournament finals and have a chance to win the first and last P12 basketball tournaments. If nothing else, this has been a fun, frustrating, and ultimately (hopefully) successful season.
Hear hear!
Gotta see how it goes.
Go Buffs
If the ladies play like that (Oregon) the rest of the t Pac 12 Tournament I could se them getting in the top 8 at the NCCA Tournament
Lady Buffs have gone from a projected 1-seed earlier in the season, to a bubble team…. frustrating regression
Not a bubble team … unless you are referring to whether CU will be a No. 4 seed or a No. 5 seed. The “bubble” here is whether the Buffs will keep their No. 4 seed – and get to play the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament at home, or be a No. 5 seed, and have to win their second round game against a home team (like they did against Duke last season).
The Big 12 is a loaded bb conference
Go Buffs
OH LORDY !!!
NOW WE’RE GOING TO FIND OUT HOW DEEP THE MUD IS IN THE BIG-12.
MUD…. OR ANKLE DEEP WATER….(?)
The Women ate falling apart at the wrong time
The men are playing kind of average ball (excluding the win over Utah)
Come on Buffs let’s get on a roll heading into the tournament
they finally showed the can do it….like a well oiled machine. A complete game. I didnt get to watch dang it but I did look at the box score. Only 4 turnovers!!! against 19 assists. That has to be a record for a Tad team. All those assists led to balanced scoring with 4 guys in double figures and Luke close behind with 8. Makes it hard on the opposing D. Buff’s D was excellent as well…a happy Tad.
Gotta sit back and hope the roller coaster (Rooney’s word) keeps on the uphill grade and doesnt take the usual dive.
Jay Billis ranks his top 68 teams:
No. 36 Colorado Buffaloes: It’s been a bit of a roller coaster in Pac-12 play for Tad Boyle’s team. They are just 1-5 on the road in conference play and have struggled with consistency. KJ Simpson has been outstanding, posting career bests across the board in his junior season.
Please beat Utah for a change
and what should be 2 more bunnies at home …Stanford and Cal. Please don’t lose to them.
That will give Tad his perennial 20 win suit of armor but it still wont get the Buffs in the dance.
Looks like Buffs have to win out (5) to get that first round bye.
I imagine they could lose one at home and one on the road and maybe squeak in to the dance but win 4 including Oregon and it should be a lock. Beating Oregon on the road wont be easy for these guys….and if they do, no letdowns against the worst team in the conference on the road. That might be enough to kill an invite.
It shouldn’t have to be down to the wire with this team. Bottom line get some momentum at home and dont take your foot off the gas. …and that includes at least the first game at the dance…please? Don’t let Dr. Hyde in the door anymore.
Mr. Hyde has been showing up way too much the past few years.
Well, at least some good news for Colorado basketball… Mr. Big Shot (Chauncey Billups) just got elected to the NBA HOF +++
Nominated, but not yet selected.
Billups is on the list announced at the NBA All-Star game, but the electees won’t be announced until the Final Four in April.
Buffs paying out of control on offense…as usual ,,,,and against a UCLA team that always plays with Cronin control. Tad might as well tell everyone to get Cody the ball and clear out. Doesnt seem like he can get them to work together otherwise.
Horrible game in the paint at both ends. Absolutely no answer for UCLA’s point guard who could drive to the basket at will and shoot over the taller Buff defenders…and I use the term defenders loosely. Lampkin was real slow on D and must have dropped at least 4 passes for turnovers.
I was surprised they were able to close the gap at the end but a 4 point UCLA lead is more like am 8 point lead compared to other teams.
Is it time to start talking about a change at Mens BB. As much as TB has done for CU BB we are talking a different challenge in the Big 12. It may be time to talk about what it takes to not only recruit but coach in a new situation.
Talk about stating the obvious….
” It’s just we didn’t play well enough tonight to beat a really, really good Arizona team.”
Used to be a TB supporter, but at his point CU should be a solid NCAA tournament team. When you have talent that isn’t meeting potential then that is on the coach. Great coaches have teams that perform beyond the talent they have.
tuned in with 15 to go and the Buffs up by 17. The it started getting scary. ASU oitworked the Buffs on D. They were too intense, though, racking up a bunch of fouls which helped the Buffs win. Still, the ASU pressure had the Buffs getting that deer in the headlights look on offense. ASU was doubling up and sometimes tripling up the Buff with the ball in his hands. Only one time did I see a Buff move to an open area for a pass and a bunny.
Way to go Ladies. Awesome performance. Keep it up.🦬
Maybe the men should watch the women more often.
Fire tad.
Bwahahhahahaahha
Go Buffs
I’m not sure they will do that, but CU has to start winning again or this will be viewed as a lost season. Tad is recruiting well and this team looked good on paper. Certainly, if CU is 6th or worse and bows out of the conference tournament early, his seat will get very warm, and he could look elsewhere too. Once Cody Williams goes Pro plus the graduations, CU will not have a ton coming back.
Also, I’d add although this season may be blamed on injures; I think more of the focus will be on coaching. DeSilva, the SR has been all over the place in his games. IMO, even without Williams, CU has got enough out of their other players to win more in-conference games. Simpson has been great overall. I think Tad has got what he wanted out of Lampkin. Hadley has been a pleasant surprise. O’Brien and Hammond have played as expected. They just seem out of sync both on O and D.
Whew
One down and two to go. WSU obliterated Utah. They might be the toughest of the three. Hadley may not get drafted but I bet he gets a contract somewhere.
I was sky high on this team early on. We had da Silva, Simpson, Williams, a huge upgrade in the post with Lampkin and a solid experienced bench. Add to that Tad tweaked his somnolent O scheme.
With the road losses and the continuation of the never ending turnovers it appeared to be ground hog year all over again. When one of the players admitted the road crowd got on their nerves it pretty much played into my doubts about the dance.
So
the upcoming road stretch is against 3 middle of the pack teams they will have to beat to stay in contention If they can manage that maybe they can carry that momentum and attitude through the next road schedule and make me a believer again.
If you dont already have some ice in your veins you better find some quickly.
Bittersweet ending tonight.
Derrick White knocked down 24 but the Nuggets prevailed
Tad: Cody really grew up tonight….”
I would consider that a back handed compliment.
How bout?
Cody really showed what he can do tonight?
?\
Rooney, and quoting Tad, went off on Defense again, which is necessary. The first half against USC the D could be described as timid. Buffs were ushering them to the basket on drives. Add to that they were hitting threes as well. Thankfully Dr. Jekyll returned in the 2nd half.
On O in the first half Buffs poor shooting included a bunch of missed bunnies. And of course there are the turnovers. The glaring ones for me are the lazy, ill advised and picked off passes.
They obviously weren’t ready to play. Is Tad encouraging enough concentration, aggressiveness etc.?
Very few teams rarely play a perfect game. 40 minutes of hell is hard to do. The Starters have to rest a little bit. It may take 35 minutes of hell night in and night out to win a conference championship or get to the dance. Will we see that the rest of the season?
Well CU is now officially on the bubble (and on the outside looking in). I hate to say it but with possibly TWO first round draft picks on the roster (Tristan and Cody) you have to look at coaching and why this team is underperforming with the talent they have.
Simpson may be a draft candidate too.
Hey man, was going to ask this before tonight’s game, but asking now: you think not having two of your best players for a month made a difference?
They manhandled uo tonight.
Was that coaching g or players playing? Both?
Go Buffs
On the bandwagon, and finally was able to see the Women’s last two games. What is fascinating about this team is they are usually less ‘athletic’ than the opposing team, yet come 4th quarter, they are rock solid and the opposing teams make mistakes. Outside of Sherrod, every other matchup on the floor favored the Wildcats athletically (they look real good). Switch to the zone made the difference last night.
One negative observation…not sure why many WBB coaches dress like they are going clubbing vs. coaching a game, generally don’t care about things like that, but to me it seems they aspire to be bigger than the team (I will remember the coach from last night, more than anything else).
Where did Stanford come from? Are they taking the place of the Buffs as the new Jekyll and Hyde team?
And was surprised to see that Utah got waxed in Tempe.
Go et ’em Buffs. Tame theWildcats.
Sounds like Williams will be back soon. Anyone know how serious Da Silva’s ankle is? Get rid of the turnovers and this should be a sweet 16 team.
Tad Boyle on senior forward Tristan da Silva’s injury –>
“Five minutes to go in practice yesterday, nobody is around him and he just rolled his ankle. It is just a freak deal.”
Boyle on his timetable for a return –>
“I don’t know. Ankles are finicky. Sometimes when you’ve sprained an ankle multiple times, you can get back a little sooner than later. A lot of it depends on the swelling and the pain. That’s the biggest thing with that.
“I know one thing, Tristan will be back as soon as he can be back. People don’t realize this last year he came down on a guy’s foot in the UCLA game late in the year and he was not 100 percent down the stretch last year. But he played through it. He didn’t use it as an excuse.
“Tristan has got a high level of toughness about him. He’s a team guy. He wants to be there for his teammates. He loves his teammates, his teammates love him. So, he’ll be back as soon as he can be back. But I don’t know when that’ll be.”
Thanks Stuart
if it happened outside the heat of action it might not be too bad.
The fact it was a freak deal might mean it could be chronic. Hope not. This team has me drinking more kool aid than any time before.
After a slow start I am happy to see Mr. Lampkin become a serious contributor. Closes a big hole from last year.
IT’S EARLY FOR CRYIN’ OUT LOUD.
RESERVES WILL GET MORE EXPERIENCE AND – AS THE SEASON GOES ALONG – TAD, PERHAPS, WILL GET THE ABSENTMINDEDNESS OUT OF THE TEAM….AND THERE WILL BE MORE COORDINATION BETWEEN PLAYERS, THEREFORE ELIMINATING T/O’s…TAD’S NEMESIS.
HAVE FAITH IN THE BENCH AND KEEP PLAYIN’ THE “HOT-HANDS.”
ROLL HERD…….
Oregon and USC are getting schooled today.
Time for Tad?
You have to wonder how Miami is #24 and CU is #26 with identical records and CU running Miami off the floor on a neutral court.🙄
I’ve heard there’s this thing. ECB. East coast bias. Could be?
Oh, and that beatdown was without Cody. I expect some ups and downs still for this team, it’s college basketball, after all. But, Pac 12 play should be pretty fun.
Go Buffs
Actual results on the court or field sometimes don’t matter to these voters. Ask FSU. Plus Buffs are ranked higher by KenPom than CSU.
Started having my doubts after FSU but this was amazing. Balanced scoring. yes
Tad looks like a good coach with a good set of players, huh?
Oh, and his evolution to positionless basketball. Chicken or egg?
Either way, long season ahead but the early returns are pretty positive. And today was without Cody.
Go Buffs
Buffs looked good against The U… keep roll’n Tad +++
Tristan has played poorly in the FSU and now CSU games. He needs to be among the best 3 players during every game if the Buffs are going to meet the preseason expectations. Something seems off with him recently and I hope it gets sorted out soon.
CSU played the D of Tad’s dreams. Of course they had help from the Buff’s inept team work on offense. Tad was supposedly installing new offense but if it had a method the players werent executing it. Still plenty of standing around, zero picks away from the ball, which would spring a player like Williams for an and open shot resulting in one on one ball.
On O the Rams were much better coached. They used quick efficient passing more than the dribble to find open players inside as well for the 3. …especially open for the 3 in the first half. Down inside the Buffs didnt have much of answer. The refs and Lampkin didnt help much there either.
Buffs gotta stop digging holes for themselves…and since when did CSU become so good at basketball ?
they have a good coach
Rats.
In Daytona for some BBall .. Should be fun.. 😎