BOULDER – The Colorado/Colorado State rivalry has a little bit more intensity inside one Buff's household. Junior guard Kennedy Leonard is a Buff through-and-through and admittedly has never cheered for the Rams. But she is a minority at home, or at least she was until she began her college career.
Leonard's parents both went to Colorado State, the Buffs' biggest in-state rival. Her father Kyle majored in political science and her mother Lyndsey majored in nursing. In fact, Lyndsey was a student-athlete, competing for CSU's swimming team for four seasons and was a two-time all-conference performer for the Rams.
Kennedy's parents
Despite coming from a family of CSU grads, Kennedy never considered school in Fort Collins and was not even really recruited by the Rams.
"I got one letter from CSU and it was one of those generic questionnaires so they didn't recruit me a ton. My dad always made fun of it because he was like, 'oh wow, my alma mater can't recruit you.'"
As soon as Leonard committed to CU, her parents had to change their allegiances, or at least adopt a second favorite team.
That rivalry was still a battle in the family until she got to college in 2015. She remembers a story from high school where her she and her father's favorite teams clashed.
"My dad has a CSU flag in his office in my house and he has this wooden-crafted Ram that he got when we were in Mexico. And one time I took down the flag and he took away my phone and got mad."
Kennedy's sister, Taylor
Allegiances have changed now, and her parents support both schools.
"Outside our house, we have a CSU flag and a Colorado flag and they sit right next to each other so it's kind of weird and funny. It's funny that my dad went there, but he wears more Buffs stuff now than just Rams. My parents went to the opening football game at CSU this year in their new stadium and he's a donor for CSU. It's always fun to play against [his alma mater]."
The women's basketball rivalry between CU and CSU has been dominated by the Buffs historically, with Colorado holding a 36-12 edge all-time. But in Leonard's two seasons in Boulder, the two teams have split their matchups.
The Rams took the meeting during Leonard's freshman season in 2015 in Fort Collins, edging CU 64-63 on a last-second shot. Leonard, who scored 21 points in the game, made a layup with 3.6 seconds remaining to give CU a one-point lead. But the Rams, following a timeout to advance the ball to halfcourt, inbounded to Ellen Nystrom, who hit a fadeaway jumper from the baseline to beat the buzzer and the Buffs.
Leonard helped CU get revenge last season on Dec. 8 in Boulder, scoring a career-high 31 points and tying a school record with seven 3-point field goals. It was a much more comfortable game for Buffs fans with CU leading for the majority of the contest and earning a convincing 74-56 victory.
"We had lost to them the year before and they came in ready to get us again, like they will on Wednesday," Leonard said of last season's win. "We played a crazy defense that they didn't understand and we made them turn the ball over. I think that was a huge part of it and every player came to play. We might not have made every basket or every pass or every steal, but we all came ready to play. That was a great feeling to come out of the game with two minutes left and let everyone else get in there and we could celebrate how we just played."
Leonard hopes to have that feeling again, this time on CSU's home floor. Both of her parents and her uncle, who also attended CSU, will be in attendance, sitting in CU's fan section. She just hopes they are all wearing black and gold.
"My parents have plenty of CU stuff, but I have to find my uncle a shirt before Wednesday," Leonard joked.
WEDNESDAY'S GAME: CU travels to CSU on Wednesday for a 7 p.m. game in Fort Collins.
SCOUTING CSU: The Rams enter Wednesday's contest on a three-game winning streak and 5-2 overall. They dropped games to Idaho and Oklahoma, but own wins against Gonzaga, Eastern New Mexico, North Carolina Central, Denver and BYU.
Freshman guard Lore Devos leads CSU in scoring, averaging 10.7 points, while shooting 84.2 percent at the line and 43.3 percent from the floor. The 6-foot Belgian scored the bulk of her points in a season-opening loss to Idaho when she shot 10-of-16 and scored 25 points. She has cooled over the past two games, averaging 6.0 in wins against DU and BYU.
Redshirt senior guard Hannah Tvrdy is second in scoring, averaging 8.6 points and 6.0 rebounds. She had eight points in last season's matchup and she led the Rams to a 56-54 win over BYU on Saturday with 10 points and eight rebounds.
Junior guard Sofie Tryggedsson is the team's top outside threat, averaging 2.0 3-point field goals per game and 7.1 points.
Junior wing Callie Kaiser scored 17 points off the bench on 7-of-8 shooting in last season's matchup between the two schools, but is averaging 6.8 points this season. She has continued her sharp-shooting, connecting at 60.9 percent from the floor and has made all nine of her free throw attempts.
6-foot-1 forwards Veronika Mirkovic and Annie Brady have provided solid rebounding down low, averaging a combined 12.1 rebounds per game. Both average just over five points per game.
Altogether, CSU has seven international players on its roster, including Devos, Tryggedsson (Denmark) and Mirkovic (Sweden).
2017 RIVALRY: For those keeping track of the all-sports rivalry this season, CU is leading so far. The Buffs have won in football (17-3) and volleyball (3-2), while dropping men's basketball (72-63). In non-team sports, CSU edged CU by one spot each in a pair of men's golf tournaments. However, CU's women's golf team more than made up that different in two tournaments, finishing well ahead of the Rams in both competitions (by a combined 111 strokes). In cross country, it was once again the Buffs that dominated all four competitions that both schools were at, including the Buffs winning CSU's season-opening meet.
NOTES:
STAT RANKINGS: CU is 32nd in the nation in rebounding margin (+9.6) after finishing last year 233rd in rebounding margin (-1.9) ... the key has been improved defensive rebounding, where CU is currently sixth nationally in defensive rebounds per game (32.0) ... Leonard is 10th in the nation in assist per game (7.1) and 22nd in steals (3.29).
RPI/TOP 25 UPDATE: The Buffs are still yet to receive votes in the top 25 despite a 6-1 record and a win over No. 24 Miami, perhaps a sign that voters are waiting for a second big win after the Buffs started 10-1 last season with a win over No. 15 Kentucky, but faded after that ... despite the lack of confidence by the top-25 voters, CU has plenty of reason to believe this season is better as it opens the season at No. 37 in the first RPI of the season, which was released on Monday ... the highest CU was rated in the RPI last season was 32 ... the Pac-12's highest-rated team in the RPI is Utah at No. 17, followed by Cal at No. 19 and Oregon at No. 23 ... George Mason (No. 67) is the highest-rated team CU has faced so far ... the RPI of the remaining non-conference opponents: CSU No. 214, Dartmouth No. 200, Air Force No. 334 and Westminster is a Division III school so it is not rated ... the conclusion from that is even if the Buffs win their remaining four non-conference games, they will probably not move up in the RPI ... regardless of the ratings, it's too early to put any stock into the RPI (Utah is a perfect example: last season the Utes were rated No. 13 in the first RPI and they finished No. 79).
CU SELECTED FOR NCAA ADVANCEMENT PROGRAM: Colorado was one of just 30 programs selected to participate in the NCAA Women's Basketball Advancement Program, a first-year program to assist schools in growing the sport through marketing and branding efforts ... CU's women's basketball marketing team, led by Tracy Whitfield, will have access to industry leaders to share ideas and provide feedback ... click here more info on the NCAA Advancement Program
