Colorado Basketball – Preseason

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Colorado Basketball – Preseason: 2024-25

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July 31st 

… CU in the Arena … 

Poor offensive showing ends CU’s run in The Basketball Tournament

From the Daily Camera … Despite reeling off three consecutive wins to reach the quarterfinals of The Basketball Tournament, it had not been the best showcase offensively for the former Colorado basketball players of Team Colorado.

Those offensive frustrations deepened in the quarterfinals, and this time Team Colorado’s defense couldn’t pick up the slack.

The Houston alums of Forever Coogs made quick work of Team Colorado on Tuesday, jumping to a big lead early without looking back as the former Buffs were eliminated from the $1 million winner-take-all TBT with a 74-49 defeat.

The run to the quarterfinals was Team Colorado’s best showing at TBT since reaching the title game in 2016, while Forever Coogs moves on to the semifinals in Philadelphia on Friday against Eberlein Drive.

Team Colorado fell behind 8-0 out of the gate and never led the entire night, as Forever Coogs built a 23-10 at the end of the first quarter and led 39-19 at halftime. The former Buffs finally slowed the hot start of Forever Coogs after switching to a zone defense in the second quarter, but Team Colorado couldn’t generate enough offense to make a difference.

… Continue reading story here …

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July 24th

… CU in the Arena … 

Late comeback sends Team Colorado into the quarterfinals of The Basketball Tournament

From the Daily Camera … The Schwartz is with them.

For the second time in three days, Team Colorado rallied from a late deficit in dramatic fashion, and once again it was Colorado Springs native D’Shawn Schwartz who hit the win-clinching shot, as the squad led by former Buffaloes basketball standouts survived with an 84-81 victory against Mass Street in the Sweet 16 of The Basketball Tournament on Wednesday night in Wichita.

Fifth-seeded Team Colorado moves on to the Elite Eight of the $1 million, winner-take-all TBT with a matchup against the Houston alums of Forever Coogs on Tuesday in Houston (7 p.m. MT, Fox Sports 2). The quarterfinal matchup essentially will be a fourth consecutive road atmosphere for Team Colorado, which defeated Purple Reign (Kansas State) in the first round before topping the Wichita State alums of Aftershocks on Monday.

As was the case during Monday’s win against Aftershocks, Team Colorado fell behind by 11 points, this time in the fourth quarter, before rallying. Team Colorado managed to trim the 11-point deficit to 76-69 when the Elam Ending went into effect, setting the winning point total at 84.

(In the Elam Ending, the game clock is turned off at the first dead ball under the 4-minute mark of regulation, with a target winning score set eight points ahead of the winning team’s score.)

… Continue reading story here …

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July 23rd

… CU in the Arena … 

Team Colorado upsets No. 1 seed in The Basketball Tournament

From the Daily Camera … D’Shawn Schwartz knocked down a clutch winning 3-pointer during his time with the Colorado Buffaloes.

He connected on another in dramatic fashion to keep Team Colorado alive in The Basketball Tournament.

Team Colorado twice wiped out sizeable deficits, and Schwartz sent the former Buffaloes basketball stars into the Sweet 16 of the $1 million winner-take-all TBT with a 3-pointer that clinched a 65-61 victory against the top-seeded Aftershocks, a squad of former Wichita State standouts playing on their home floor.

Team Colorado returns to the TBT Sweet 16 for the first time since 2017. The fifth-seeded former Buffs will play second-seeded Mass Street, a squad of Kansas alums, on Wednesday night (7 p.m. MT, Fox Sports 1).

… Continue reading story here …

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July 22nd 

… CU in the Arena … 

CU announces its non-conference schedule – Highlights: Maui Invitational and a home game with CSU

Press release from CUBuffs.com … Colorado men’s basketball will usher in its return to the Big 12 Conference with eight home games during the nonconference portion of its schedule, head coach Tad Boyle announced on Monday.

The Buffaloes will host three teams that advanced to postseason play in 2023-24 and two programs that won their respective league’s regular season championship.

Colorado tips its season off with reigning Big Sky Conference champion Eastern Washington on Monday, Nov. 4. The Eagles were 21-11 overall and 15-3 before being upset in the first round of the Big Sky Tournament. The Buffaloes stay in the Big Sky for a regional showdown with Northern Colorado on Friday, Nov. 8. UNC, 19-14 overall last year, tied for second in the Big Sky and participated in the College Basketball Invitational postseason tournament.

The Buffaloes warm up for their trip to the prestigious Maui Invitational with games against Cal State Fullerton on Wednesday, Nov. 13 and Harvard on Sunday, Nov. 17.

Colorado’s nonconference home schedule is split evenly on both sides of its trip to Maui, Nov. 25-27, with four games before and four after. The bracket for the Maui Invitational, which includes NCAA champion UConn, North Carolina, Auburn along with other elite programs, has yet to be announced.

Following a first-time meeting with Pacific on Monday, Dec. 2, the basketball edition of the Rocky Mountain Showdown returns to Boulder as Colorado hosts Colorado State on Saturday, Dec. 7. The Rams are coming off a 25-11 season that included a trip to the NCAA Tournament.

The Buffaloes face a second-straight formidable challenge in less than a week by hosting 2024 NCAA Tournament participant South Dakota State on Friday, Dec. 13. The Jackrabbits were 22-13 last season and won both the Summit League regular season and tournament titles.

Colorado will end nonconference play with a first-time match up with Bellarmine out of the Atlantic Sun Conference on Saturday, Dec. 21, as a final tune up before its 20-game Big 12 schedule begins.

Times and television for Colorado’s nonconference home games will be announced at a later date.

Colorado men’s basketball season tickets are on sale now at https://cubuffs.evenue.net/events/MBS.

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July 8th

… CU in the Arena … 

Evan Battey returning to CU as an assistant coach

… Related … “Evan Battey: “Mayor of Boulder”, including a great Neill Woelk essay and a video of Battey’s post-Arizona game speech to the faithful …

… Related … CU at the Game Podcast interview with Evan Battey … (recorded the week after CU’s upset win over No. 2 Arizona on Senior Night) …

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Press release from CUBuffs.com … One of the most iconic figures in the recent era of Colorado men’s basketball has officially made his way back to Boulder.

After two years of playing professionally overseas, Evan Battey has joined Tad Boyle‘s staff at Colorado as an assistant coach/quality control analyst.

“There’s no better Buff in my mind from head to toe than Evan Battey,” Boyle said. “He loves the University of Colorado. He loves what it did for him and he’s a kid that wants to just give back and being a coach is the best way to do that. He’s going to bring a lot of knowledge about playing college basketball and representing the University of Colorado. He will have the ability to impart the wisdom that he’s learned through his years as a player both at CU and as a professional. He’s helped impart that on the players in our program and he’s going to be able to sell our program.”

Battey returns to Boulder after playing for the Lugano Tigers of the Switzerland Basketball League in 2023-24 where he averaged 19.1 points 8.0 rebounds and 3.1 assists over 26 games. He spent his first professional season with Rilski Sportist in Bulgaria, averaging 8.0 points and 4.0 rebounds in 29 contests.

“It’s so surreal,” Battey said. “Having the experience of playing here and the experience of forming relationships with the coaches, staff and community and then to be welcomed back with such open arms…it’s been great.”

Battey enjoyed a storied playing career at Colorado between 2017-22. After redshirting the 2017-18 season, he was on the floor for 88 wins over the course of the next four years, the most in team history. He didn’t miss a game in his four-year playing career, appearing in 133 contests with 108 starts. Battey helped Colorado to the 2021 NCAA Tournament and a pair of postseason NIT appearances. A certain second NCAA bid in 2020 was wiped away due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

A native of Los Angeles, Battey is one of 12 Buffaloes to record at least 1,300 points and 600 rebounds. He finished his career ranking fourth in games played, eighth in starts, 15^th in minutes (3,313) and 18^th in points (1,307) and rebounds (667). Over the course of his career, he averaged 9.8 points and 5.0 rebounds while shooting 50.2 percent overall from the field and 74.8 percent from the free throw line.

Battey earned All-Pac-12 Conference Second Team honors as a senior in 2021-22, averaging 12.4 points and 4.7 rebounds ranking second on the team in both categories. He led the Pac-12 in 3-point accuracy both overall (.488) and in conference play (.541).  He was a 2021-22 Senior CLASS Award First Team All-American and earned his bachelor’s degree in Journalism from Colorado in May 2021.

“I’ll bring the energy, the emotion, the experience,” Battey said. “Just coming from a place that I can relate to the players we have now, in being a former player. I know what they’re going through, and I can add insight and perspective. A lot of communication with the guys. I just want to make sure these guys have the best experience they can have in college basketball.”

In his new role, Battey will be able to coach on the court and recruit on the road as in recent years the NCAA has expanded the number of coaching staff members that are allowed participate in those roles. Aside from those two broad job duties, Boyle will task Battey with simply learning everything he can about the coaching profession.

“Evan is going to be learning as he goes as a first-year coach,” Boyle said. “He’s got a great number of assistant coaches from Mike Rohn to Bill Grier and now Danny Manning and even Zach (Ruebesam) who’s a young coach whose got some experience now in the business. He can learn from them. But I think in terms of the things I’m going to task him with is going to be communication and the relationship with players that are in the program. That’s first and foremost to me.”

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