Colorado University Athletics
Brooks: Buffs Hope Mid-Week Bye Beneficial
February 08, 2010 | Men's Basketball, B.G. Brooks
With head coach Jeff Bzdelik in Chicago attending his mother's funeral, associate head coach Steve McClain said on Monday's Big 12 coaches' teleconference that daily improvement remains the objective for the Buffs, whose next game is Saturday (4 p.m. MST, Big 12 Network) at No. 9 Kansas State.
"We just want to get better every day," McClain said. "We don't have to prepare for a game for a couple of days, so we can get back and focus on the little things that we've got to do better."
The list contains no surprises - better defensive positioning, sustained intensity in rebounding, unselfish offense . . . all among the vitals that Bzdelik has emphasized since Day 1.
The Buffs (11-12, 2-7) played the Wildcats close last month in Boulder before losing, 87-81. But K-State (19-4, 6-3) is 11-2 this season at Bramlage Coliseum, and CU hasn't yet found an answer to its road difficulties (33 consecutive Big 12 losses away from the Coors Events Center).
Including the loss against the Wildcats, the Buffs have dropped six of their past seven, while K-State has won five of seven and climbed four positions in the national rankings.
That ascent is of little consequence to Wildcats coach Frank Martin, who said poll position in early February "doesn't mean anything to me. I'm proud of our guys . . . but I know (rankings) are important to K-Staters and I know how much the alums care about them.
"But at the middle of the season, rankings don't have a lot to do with what we're trying to accomplish."
After Saturday's 84-66 home loss to Missouri, CU took Sunday off, practiced Monday and will rest Tuesday before resuming work for the K-State trip and league play's closing stretch.
The Buffs have home games remaining against Oklahoma (Feb. 17), Iowa State (Feb. 27) and Texas Tech (March 6), and road contests at K-State (Saturday), at Kansas (Feb. 20), at Missouri (Feb. 24) and at Nebraska (March 2).
The Big 12 tournament is March 10-13 in Kansas City, and in its final seven regular-season games, CU would like to play its way out of a last seed. Currently, the bottom three teams are Iowa State (2-6), CU (2-7) and Nebraska (1-7).
McClain reiterated "there's a lot of basketball left - and we can do some things." But the improvement must start, he added, in practice.
Despite three consecutive defeats - the Mizzou loss was attributable more to subpar effort than the other two - McClain claimed the team's daily morale hasn't declined.
"They care, they hurt and they want to do better," he said. "We like their attitude; they're leaving it all out there."
Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU
