Colorado University Athletics
Colorado The No. 10 Seed In South
March 15, 2003 | Men's Basketball
Boulder - The University of Colorado men's basketball team has been selected to play in the 2002-03 NCAA Tournament as the No. 10 seed in the South Region. The Buffaloes will play No. 7 seeded Michigan State (19-12) in the first round at Tampa, Fla. on Friday, March 21 beginning at 5:10 (MST). The winner of CU/MSU game will advance to play the winner No. 2 Florida/No.15 Sam Houston State game in the second round.
"I think the No 10 seed is a more than fare seed and going to Tampa is far, but exciting," said head coach Ricardo Patton after learning of the team's selection on Sunday afternoon. "As far as our opponent there are no easy games in this tournament and we just need to get ready to play."
It's the second trip for Colorado during Patton's eight-year reign at CU. The last time the Buffaloes advanced to the 64-team field came in 1996-97 season when CU was seeded No. 9 and sent to the East Region to play No. 8 Indiana, where they subsequently defeated the Hoosiers, 80-62. CU lost to No. 1 seed North Carolina, 73-56 two days later.
"Last time we were there we had five seniors and an NBA point guard and just a group of guys that believe they could play with anybody," Patton said of his only other tournament team. "We have more young guys this year."
The Buffs learned of their tournament bid as a team watching the live CBS selection show.
"I've been waiting for it for the last three years," said senior captain Stephane Pelle, the only four-year player on the roster. "I've worked hard for this, the whole teams worked hard for this. It's not like we were jumping up and down because we've got a tough team on Friday."
Colorado, which finished this season with a 20-11 record is only the third team to post 20-win season in CU history with a pair of the those under the direction of Patton. CU went 22-10 in 1996-97 and in 1968-69 went 21-7 under Sox Walseth.
The Buffs will embark on its 10th trip to the NCAA Tournament and where they have a 9-11 record.
1996-97 Coach Ricardo Patton (22-10) - defeated Indiana, 80-62; lost to North Carolina, 73-56
1968-69 Coach Sox Walseth (21-7) - lost to Colorado State, 64-56, defeated Texas A&M, 97-82
1962-63 Coach Sox Walseth (19-7) defeated Oklahoma, 78-72; lost to Cincinnati, 67-60
1961-62 Coach Sox Walseth (19-7) defeated Texas Tech, 67-60; lost to Cincinnati 73-46
1954-55 Coach H.B. Lee (19-6) - defeated Tulsa, 69-59; defeated Bradley, 93-81; lost to San Francisco, 62-50, defeated Iowa, 75-54
1953-54 Coach H.B. Lee (11-11) - lost to Bradley, 76-64, lost to Rice 78-55
1945-45 Coach Forrest B. Cox (12-6) - lost to California, 5-44; defeated Baylor, 59-44
1941-42 Coach Forrest B. Cox (16-2) - defeated Kansas, 46-44; lost to Stanford, 46-35
1939-40 Coach Forrest B. Cox (17-4) - lost to Southern California, 38-32; lost to Rice, 60-56 (ot)
TICKET INFORMATION
A limited number of tickets will go on sale for the first round session in which the University of Colorado is participating on Monday morning. The sale begins at 8:30 a.m. in person at the Athletic Ticket Office, located between gates 4 and 5 at Folsom Stadium, or by phone at 303-492-8337 (dial 8 at the automated attendant).
Date: Friday, March 21, 2003
Time: TBA
Price: $55.00
Tickets are good for access to one session only, per NCAA rules; the two games covered in CU's session are Colorado vs. Michigan State and Florida vs. Sam Houston State.
In the event that the University of Colorado advances to the second round, those individuals that purchased tickets for the first round will be charged an additional $55.00 per ticket for second round tickets, which will be distributed via will call at the arena on Sunday, March 23.
For those interested in Tampe area hotel and visitor info, please go to www.visittampa.com.
Press Conference Quotes
HEAD COACH RICARDO PATTON
ON ANY REMAINING DOUBTS THAT CU WOULD GET IN-"I really didn't have one. I couldn't come up with any logical reason why we wouldn't be in."
ON THE EXCITEMENT-"We're all excited. I'm excited because we haven't been they in a long time."
ON MICHIGAN STATE AS AN OPPONENT-"They're very physical> I got to watch them play early and lat in the season they won some good games. They had some young kids that really came along. They typically play very physically. They score in the 50 to 60 point range so they don't really run the floor."
"We're not going to see anything we haven't seen. We've played physical teams and we've played teams with good point play and teams with good post play. It's just time to turn it up a notch."
ON CHANGES SINCE BIG 12 TOURNEY-"I think the last couple of games I didn't think played as good on the offensive end or the defensive end. I think we had more individual play. We need to get back to player more team basketball-get back to playing the kind of play that gave us success early and that's team play."
SOPHOMORE CENTER DAVID HARRISON
ON THE SELECTION-"I never had doubts we posted a great regular season, it could have been better, but we had a couple of great quality wins."
"I don't know about the seeding process but I think it's pretty good. We'll play in Tampa Bay and it's a good place to play."
JUNIOR FORWARD BLAIR WILSON
ON THE SEED-"I've just grown up and seen a ton of upsets and it's pretty fun to play team with big names and to have a chance to beat them."
