Colorado University Athletics
Brooks: Time For The Buffs To Begin Traveling Well
January 24, 2012 | Men's Basketball, B.G. Brooks
Not to be confused with road warriors, the Buffs won twice in regular-season league play away from the Coors Events Center. But that, students, was marked improvement.
Recent history suggests - make it confirms - that while winning on the road is no carefree stroll anywhere in college basketball, CU has made it more difficult than most. Ugly historical reference point: CU's 81-68 win at Nebraska in 2009-10 snapped a 36-game Big 12 road losing streak.
But last season, the Buffs began a slow and what we're thinking will be a steady erasure of those really bad afternoons/nights away from home. Tad Boyle's first CU team won at Kansas State (74-66) and at Texas Tech (71-68), with sharpshooter Levi Knutson instrumental in both wins (20 points at KSU, 18 at Tech).
Knutson is launching (and making) threes in Italy this season and Boyle is wondering who his next consistent road man (or men) will be.
"It doesn't have to be one guy," Boyle told me the other day. "The strength of this team is our balance. But the point is, on any given night, somebody has to (step up) and it doesn't have to be the same guy. Now, last year, it just happened to be Levi against K-State and Levi against Texas Tech.
"It could have been Cory (Higgins) but Levi was the one who did it last year in crunch time. It could be Carlon (Brown), it could be Nate (Tomlinson). He was nails for this year down at Air Force; we don't win that game without Nate."
In that game, a 76-73 CU win in overtime, Tomlinson hit four of his seven three-point attempts and finished with a team-best 19 points - one of four times he's reached double figures this season. He's not a consistent scorer, although there are times when a few more points from him would be beneficial. But he and his coach know Tomlinson's role and his value.
I asked Tomlinson about Knutson's road value last season and whether the Buffs needed one or several players to fill that void now. "I think we're an entirely different team; you can't really say that," Tomlinson said. "Obviously we need someone to step up, but if everyone steps up, that's what we're missing. Especially defensively against Stanford, we were pretty poor. Everyone needs to play better . . . I don't think if one guy played better that game it would have made too much difference.
"I think it's just a team mentality. We had that last year; it was an older group that had been together for a while and we kind of learned how to win on the road. That's just what it's going to take this year."
CU has made one Pac-12 Conference road swing this season, losing close at California (57-50) and not-so-close at Stanford (84-64). The Buffs travel again this week, playing at Southern California on Thursday night at Saturday afternoon at UCLA (or somewhere fairly close; we'll get to that later).
Tomlinson and his coach believe this team is inching toward a road breakthrough. The seven-point loss at Cal didn't get away from the Buffs until the final minute. Said Tomlinson: "We played well enough to win . . . we just didn't make enough plays down the stretch. If we do those things again we'll put ourselves into good enough position to get a couple of wins this weekend."
Boyle agreed, and as for the Stanford loss, he also was in agreement with Cardinal coach Johnny Dawkins, who termed his team's effort against CU its best to that point. Said Boyle: "There are going to be some games (like Stanford). I look back on it and I give Stanford credit on that one. It wasn't like we were flat or not ready. Stanford just beat us that day. There no question it was (Stanford's best game)."
For scheduling purposes, the Pac-12 pairs its team as travel partners. Utah is paired with CU, and with the Utes not exactly lighting it up (5-14 overall, 2-5 conference), which of that pair do you think commands the full focus from that week's home teams? Just wondering . . .
Along those same lines, the Buffs' first stop this week in SoCal could be costly if focus is not maintained. Boyle's message to his team: Don't be lulled into complacency by the Trojans' record (5-15 overall, 0-7 conference).
"The thing we have to make sure that our players do, given USC's record, we cannot overlook them," Boyle said. "We can't overlook anybody. We have to play Colorado basketball and do what we do. If we do that, we'll be fine. But we cannot overlook anybody; we're just not in a position to do that - not that you ever are."
On Saturday, the Buffs' drive across Los Angeles won't be to historic Pauley Pavilion, which is undergoing renovation. The Bruins are playing in the LA Sports Arena, which is 15 miles from UCLA's Westwood campus. Driving time for students can be half an hour or more.
To make the 16,000-seat Sports Arena as homey as possible for the Bruins, plans were to paint the interior and the court in blue and gold and hoist the school's 11 national championship banners. Maybe it's worked, maybe it hasn't; while UCLA averaged 7,759 for its 18 games in Pauley last season, this season's 11-game average in the temporary digs has been 5,682.
Boyle has some experience on playing home games away from home: "When I was at Wichita State, we spent a year out of our arena. We were at the Kansas Coliseum and it was different. And it wasn't necessarily the games, it was the practices. You had to practice in the rec center, and it was the whole year. On game night, you're in a new arena. I don't know how often (UCLA) practices in the Sports Arena; my guess is not a lot because it's a long way from campus."
But some fans might have stayed away because of UCLA's record (10-9 overall, 3-4 conference). The Bruins battled early chemistry problems. Forward Reeves Nelson, the leading returning scorer and rebounder, was dismissed in December. UCLA still hasn't hit its stride despite a front court that features the 6-10 Wear twins (Travis, David) and 6-10 Joshua Smith.
The Bruins' 3-4 Pac-12 mark features wins at USC (66-47) and at home against the two Arizona schools (65-58 vs. UA, 75-58 vs. ASU). The Bruins are coming off road losses at Oregon State (87-84) and Oregon (75-68).
The Ducks have won four straight, eight of their last 10 games and share the conference lead with Cal (6-2). But only one game separates the top six teams in the loss column (CU and UW are 5-2, Stanford is 5-3, Arizona is 4-3). The Buffs, with a breakthrough on the road, can be a contender in what was tagged a transitional season in October. The Pac-12's RPI might not be impressive (No. 9 behind No. 8 Missouri Valley), but, hey, the league is wide open.
Tomlinson calls himself "a game-by-game guy, so I don't look at that too much. It's definitely open for the taking, but we knew that before the league even started. Playing a couple of games and competing against the top echelon teams - if you like to say that - has given us some confidence . . .
"We want to control home court, which we've done a pretty good job of (11-1 overall, 5-0 league), but we want to become a better road team. It just takes time and the right mentality. But I think if you do it once, you know what it takes. That's what we're looking for."
It's a big week for the Buffs, an opportune time to travel well.
Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU
