Brooks: CU Scratches Selection Sunday Suspense

LONGMONT - At about 3:55 p.m. on Selection Sunday 2012, Tad Boyle settled into the same chair in his den that he occupied a year earlier. He was far more comfortable this time around - unless he thought too much about SS 2011 and the upbeat occasion that eventually morphed into a room of gloom.

But by the end of this afternoon, there would be no burst bubbles, no broken hearts. This season, members of his Colorado Buffaloes basketball team had not waited to be beckoned to the Big Dance by the NCAA Selection Committee.

"They didn't invite us to this party; we're crashing it," Boyle would say later, a half hour maybe after the announcement that CU is a No. 11 seed in the South Region and will play No. 6 seed UNLV Thursday in Albuquerque. Tip times are to be determined.

Word came in the first 15 minutes of the selection show, and senior Carlon Brown noted not having to wait probably was a good thing: "I guess it gets your nerves out of the way. But we would have been happy if it had been the first or the last; we were just glad to be in there."

Boyle had "no clue, no expectations" as to where the Buffs might land or who they might meet in the 68-team NCAA field. He was clueless by design, because he had expended "not one ounce of thought or energy" into making a forecast. "After what we've been through so much these last four days, it was like, 'Hey, bring it on.'"

"Bracketology" is best left to others, and all Boyle knew going in was that as Pac-12 Conference champs CU was in - as opposed to being on the outside looking in last March, with hands out and hoping for an at-large invitation that never came.

That whole bitter experience still is hard for him to shake, so much so that he wanted to host this Selection Sunday gathering at the same site just to "flush the (bad) karma out of this room," he said, maybe joking, maybe not. "We knew we were in today; maybe future ones we'll do in the (Coors) Events Center or one of our practice gyms. I wanted to do the next one - when we knew we were getting in - right here. I didn't know if it would be this year; I'm glad it is."

He's also as jubilant - maybe even more so - about the Buffs taking the hard route to the Pac-12 championship as them earning the NCAA berth that goes with it. Don't get him wrong; he views taking a CU basketball team to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2003 as a major accomplishment.

But, Boyle explained, "When you go through what we went through last year, it becomes personal. I'm more angry now today about our team last year not getting in than I was last year. I am. It's personal because of the young men that you're coaching, what it means to them. Everybody else looks at the program and it's just a name on the screen . . . for me it's personal.

"I'm more proud to be Pac-12 tournament champions than I am going to the NCAA Tournament. It's diminished a little bit in my eyes the subjectivity of teams getting in or not getting in. And that's not to say that you can always make a case . . . last year we had holes in our resume, but we were a darn good team and deserved to be in. There's no question in my mind. It gets personal.

"But we played our way in this year so we don't have to worry about that or talk about that. We just have to keep building this program with good players, developing the young guys we've got and getting that respect nationally we all want. There's only way to get it - earn it."

CU earned this trip in a way that still seems hard to believe. After losing three of their final four regular-season games and hardly resembling a future tournament champ in an ugly first-round win against Utah, Boyle said the Buffs "found their heart" in Los Angeles.

Senior guard Nate Tomlinson, on Sunday afternoon still wearing the net around his neck that was cut from a Staples Center basket 24 hours earlier, begged to differ with his coach. "I think we found our hearts before we got on the plane," Tomlinson said. "We kind of re-checked each other and knew we were going to make something happen. When we got to L.A., I think we realized how good we can be. You find out a lot about yourselves when you go out and win four games in four days."

The Buffs (23-11) like their pairing with the Runnin' Rebels (25-8) mainly because their three-guard styles are similar. Also, neither team features a monstrous front line. "I think the matchup fits us well; we both like to get up and down the floor and run and make the best of our transition games," Brown said. "It should be a fun one to watch."

With only three NCAA appearances since 1970, CU is hardly a Big Dance regular - a trend Boyle is determined to change. He and his players are mindful of the "just-glad-to-be-here" syndrome that often helps take out infrequent NCAA teams before their first-round tip.

"It's something we'll talk about, absolutely," Boyle added. "We're not just happy to be here; we're playing for a national championship . . . we've got to get that in our minds, to get our minds right. The good thing for us is that we're just coming off a great experience in the (Pac-12) tournament. We're not going to have to win four games in four days in the NCAAs. It's a little different deal.

"I like where our team is right now mentally. I just think teams that win their postseason tournaments . . . you'd much rather come off of that than a disappointing loss. You never know how teams, kids are going to react. Going into the Pac-12 tournament we had lost three of four; it was like we were limping in. But these guys obviously have resiliency and toughness and the mindset to flip that switch. We're obviously going to have to have that again."

If Boyle had his druthers, he would have chosen Friday-Sunday dates rather than Thursday-Saturday to allow for an extra day of preparation. But Albuquerque's proximity to Boulder - roughly 475 miles south - suits him fine, and he hopes Buffs fans share that view and will hit I-25 in droves.

He's also hoping for more offensive efficiency and consistency in the NCAA first round than CU showed in the Pac-12 championship game. He believes the Buffs rediscovered their defensive identity but lapsed too often on the other end. Their final 9 minutes against Arizona in the title game produced three points and hundreds of ulcers for CU fans.

Said Boyle: "One thing we learned in Los Angeles is you have to be a playmaker this time of year, whether it's Carlon or Spencer (Dinwiddie) - any of our guys. Andre (Roberson) made some big-time plays. Again, preparation-wise we'll be well-prepared for UNLV and UNLV will be well-prepared for us. It'll come down to who makes plays and who executes."

No. 20 UNLV, which features a first-year coach (David Rice), lost 72-67 in the Mountain West Conference semifinals to New Mexico on Friday night. Maybe on the upside, the Runnin' Rebels got another look at the arena - "The Pit" at UNM - where they play annually and face the Buffs on Thursday.

Boyle isn't sure that familiarity offers any edge in NCAA play, but he is certain of the team showing up with the keenest "sense of urgency" having an edge. "It's loser go home," he said. "You don't want to be one-and-done."

The Buffs will be underdogs, but that's a surprise to no one. They were picked in the preseason to finish 11th in their Pac-12 debut season, and Boyle said when they were announced as a No. 11 seed for the postseason, they viewed it as a year bookended by a lack of respect.

"We'll go there and just play, let it all hang out," Boyle said. "We've got nothing to lose."

Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU