Colorado Basketball

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Colorado Basketball

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November 5th

… CU in the Arena … 

Buffs rally for 76-56 season-opening win over Eastern Washington (down 27-10 in first half) 

Related … “Halftime lineup shuffle pays off for CU Buffs” … from the Daily Camera

From CUBuffs.com …  Colorado overcame a 17-point first-half deficit Monday night to take control in the second half and collect a 76-56 win over Eastern Washington in the Buffaloes’ season opener at the CU Events Center.

Colorado improved to 13-2 in season openers under head coach Tad Boyle and 15-0 in home openers in the Boyle era.

But this one didn’t come easily. The Buffs were plagued by turnovers and poor shooting early and trailed, 27-10, with just under seven minutes to play in the first half.

But Colorado shaved the deficit to six points, 31-25, at the break, then slowly erased the deficit in the second half. The Buffs took their first lead of the game, 48-47, with just under 10 minutes to play, then cranked up the pressure with a 17-2 run to take control down the stretch and collect the win.

Colorado put four players in double figures, led by 13 points from freshman Sebastian Rancik, who was 4-for-5 from long distance. Javon Ruffin and Trevor Baskin each tallied 12 and Andrej Jakimovski added 11.

Nic McClain led EWU with 16.

The Buffs had 13 turnovers in the first half but just five after the break. After shooting just 33 percent in the first half, CU shot 56 percent after the break to finish the game 27-for-59 (45.8 percent).

Colorado held the Eagles to 36 percent shooting (21-for-58) and the Buffs also held a commanding 45-28 edge on the boards. Jakiovski and Elijah Malone each had seven rebounds for CU while Julian Hammond III led CU with four assists.

Even though the Buffs ended up winning by 20, Boyle was less than pleased with the overall effort.

“We obviously weren’t ready to play out of the gate tonight for whatever reason, and that’s very unusual for a team like this,” Boyle said. “We turned that thing over like it was nobody’s business and then started feeling sorry for ourselves … Eastern Washington was the better coached team and they played better than us. Thank God they got tired and they were playing at altitude. Otherwise it would have been a loss for us, but our guys finally woke up defensively. We got some stops, strung some stuff together and  got out in transition.”

… Continue reading story here …

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November 4th – Game Day!

… CU in the Arena … 

Can’t tell the players without a scorecard

From the Daily Camera … The Buffs’ three graduate transfers — Elijah Malone, Trevor Baskin and Andrej Jakimovski — are all but certain to make their CU debuts against Eastern Washington. Buffs fans might also get a glimpse of the team’s three true freshmen (Sebastian Rancik, Felix Kossaras, Andrew Crawford) in addition to redshirt freshman Courtney Anderson, whose preseason has been limited by a groin injury.

“This will be a work in progress,” Boyle said. “Again, we’ve got a lot of depth on this team. I had individual meetings with all these guys (last week) and talked to each player about kind of where I see them now and today. Now, where they are now and today might be completely different than where they are two weeks from now, or a month from now. What I want the freshmen to do is just come to work every day and learn and grow and get better. I don’t know how much they’ll play early. We’ll see.

“Now, I’m going to try and play 10 guys, maybe 11, on Monday. But we’ll see. I may get down to eight.”

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The CU men’s basketball team opens its 2024-25 season Monday night with a home date against Eastern Washington at the CU Events Center (7 p.m., ESPN+). Both teams sport overhauled rosters, Eastern Washington even more so than the Buffs.

The Eagles won the regular season crown in the Big Sky Conference last year before getting upset in the league tournament, but former coach David Riley parlayed that success into his new job as the leader at Washington State. Eastern Washington turned to veteran coach Dan Monson, best known for his time at Gonzaga who also is coming off a 17-year run at Long Beach State, which fired Monson last spring despite leading Long Beach to the Big West tournament championship and the NCAA Tournament.

… Read full story here …

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November 3rd

… CU in the Arena … 

Tad Boyle hopes to play ten players in opener (in search of a starting five)

From the Daily Camera … There are a whole bunch of lost points for Colorado to recover from last year’s high-scoring squad.

But the Buffaloes lost the bulk of their rebounding total, too.

With opening night for the 15th season under head coach Tad Boyle closing in for the CU men’s basketball team, plenty of questions remain for a new-look team that makes its season debut on Monday at home against Eastern Washington (7 p.m., ESPN+).

Boyle said he’s still uncertain who will fill the starting lineup and the top spots off the bench, although he also indicated he hopes to play up to 10 players in the opener. On a team with an abundance of question marks, Boyle expects to base the bulk of his personnel decisions on defense and rebounding, as he has throughout his CU tenure.

“I think this is a team, that we’ve got a lot of different guys that can start a game,” Boyle said following Friday’s practice. “To me, the question is who is going to finish the game. To me, that’s what I’m battling and considering, the finishers and not the starters. Quite frankly, I don’t think it matters. We don’t have that one dude, when he’s on the floor his team wins. We’ve had that in the past. We don’t have that with this team. The strength of this team is our depth, our ability to play together. It’s going to be different guys on different nights.”

While Colorado lost nearly 89% of the production that led to the second-highest point total in program history (2,935) there is a confidence the versatile Buffs will score enough points to compete. Boyle might be a little less confident in filling the holes on the glass.

… Continue reading story here …

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November 2nd

… CU in the Arena … 

Julian Hammond III and Javon Ruffin represent the old guard for new look CU

From the Daily Camera … It has been nearly four years since the Colorado men’s basketball team signed the most highly-regarded recruiting class in program history.

The group certainly has enjoyed its moments, thanks mostly to KJ Simpson. Yet as a unit the group has suffered significant attrition, and the five players signed in November of 2020 have collectively brought mixed reviews to Boulder.

Julian Hammond III and Javon Ruffin still have an opportunity to script the final chapters for the 2021 class.

That pair of senior guards, along with graduate transfer Andrej Jakimovski, represented the Buffaloes on Wednesday at the Big 12 Conference men’s basketball media day. Hammond and Ruffin have been productive when on the floor, but both have battled injury setbacks. This year, with the rest of their recruiting classmates now long gone, Hammond and Ruffin will be tasked with leading the way for a new-look Buffs rotation that will be thin on Division I experience beyond the trio that made the trip to Kansas City.

“I haven’t gotten a ton of opportunities to show what I can do, but I’m proud to be part of that class,” Ruffin said. “I think us being here, in this era, shows who we are. We’re loyal to where we came from. That’s the biggest part of being part of this class. There’s not many four-year guys left.”

Simpson put together one of the greatest seasons in program history last year before getting selected by Charlotte in the second round of this year’s NBA Draft. But that counts as the most significant, and nearly solitary, achievement by the 2021 class, which was ranked as the top group in the Pac-12 and 13th nationally by 247Sports.

… Continue reading story here …

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November 1st 

… CU in the Arena … 

Associated Press preseason poll: Five Big 12 teams in Top Ten (new record)

From USA Today … If the initial Associated Press poll is to be believed, the 2024-25 college basketball season could prove to be a monster season for fans of Big 12 men’s basketball.

The conference boasts not only the No. 1 overall team in the preseason rankings, released Monday afternoon, but also three of the top five teams and five of the top 10 teams. Led by coach Bill Self, the Kansas Jayhawks were the top-ranked team. Houston (No. 4) and Iowa State (No. 5) joined Kansas in the top five, while Baylor (No. 8) and newcomer Arizona (No. 10) also seem poised to make noise.

No. 20 Cincinnati was the other Big 12 team ranked in the top 25, while Texas Tech, Kansas State, BYU and Arizona State were all good enough to garner votes.

The Jayhawks were picked to win the 16-team Big 12 in the preseason poll released last week by coaches, while graduate center Hunter Dickinson was named the conference’s preseason player of the year. Kansas basketball also opened the 2023-24 season ranked No. 1 overall, but finished 23-11 and lost in the second round of the 2024 NCAA Tournament.

The Big 12 tied the SEC with eight total bids in the 2023-24 NCAA Tournament, also a conference record. A ninth team, Oklahoma, was among the tournament’s “First Four out.” The Sooners and Texas ― which also qualified last season ― have since moved to the SEC.

Last season, the Big 12 had a tournament-high five teams reach the second round, but had only two teams reach the Sweet 16 and none in the Elite Eight. Houston and Iowa State reached the Sweet 16, as did Arizona, but it was in the Pac-12 last season.

1. Kansas (30)
2. Alabama (14)
3. UConn (11)
4. Houston (4)
5. Iowa State
6. Gonzaga (1)
7. Duke
8. Baylor
9. North Carolina
10. Arizona
11. Auburn
12. Tennessee
13. Texas A&M
14. Purdue
15. Creighton
16. Arkansas
17. Indiana
18. Marquette
19. Texas
20. Cincinnati
21. Florida
22. UCLA
23. Kentucky
24. Ole Miss
25. Rutgers

Others receiving votes: Illinois 92, St. John’s 91, Xavier 73, Texas Tech 58, Wake Forest 37, Kansas State 30, Michigan State 29, Ohio State 29, Michigan 19, BYU 14, Oregon 12, McNeese State 11, Miami 11, Boise St. 9, Saint Louis 9, Clemson 9, Providence 9, Mississippi State 6, VCU 6, Wisconsin 5, Saint Mary’s 5, Louisville 4, UAB 4, Arkansas-Little Rock 3, Grand Canyon 3, Arizona State 2, San Diego State 2, Princeton 2, High Point 1, Maryland 1.

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October 31st 

… CU in the Arena … 

CU picked 15th in Big 12 preseason poll

Press release from the Big 12 … Kansas was selected as the favorite in the Big 12 men’s basketball preseason poll, marking the 20th time in 28 seasons the Jayhawks have sat atop the preseason poll. KU’s Hunter Dickinson was voted as Preseason Player of the Year by the Conference’s head coaches for the second consecutive year.

Baylor’s Jeremy Roach and K-State’s Coleman Hawkins shared Preseason Co-Newcomer of the Year honors. The Bears’ VJ Edgecombe was Preseason Freshman of the Year.

The Jayhawks enter the season as the preseason favorite for the second consecutive year and were closely followed by Houston, who has ranked second in the preseason poll in both of its seasons in the Big 12. Iowa State, Baylor and Arizona rounded out the top five.

All awards were voted on by the league’s 16 head coaches, who could not vote for their own team or players.

Preseason Big 12 Poll

1. Kansas (9 first-place votes) – 215 points
2. Houston (5) – 211
3. Iowa State (1) – 194
4. Baylor – 185
5. Arizona (1) – 179
6. Cincinnati – 140
7. Texas Tech – 135
8. Kansas State – 133
9. BYU – 116
10. TCU – 90
11. UCF – 83
12. Arizona State – 64
13. West Virginia – 62
14. Oklahoma State – 46
15. Colorado – 37
16. Utah – 30

This post, about the Colorado Basketball game, from the 2024 Season, is filed under Article.
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