Brooks: Boyle, Buffs Steel Themselves For Shot At No. 1

BOULDER - By the time the pair of weekly national college basketball polls are released on Monday, Tad Boyle usually is well into his work day and not concerning himself with who sits where in the Top 25.

Oh, he knows this much about this week's rankings: His Colorado Buffaloes, on the heels of losing the game and guard Spencer Dinwiddie at Washington two weekends ago then falling at home to UCLA last Thursday, slid out of this week's national polls.

Boyle also knows that this week's first opponent - Arizona on Thursday night in the McKale Center - is a runaway No. 1 in both polls. Ask him if in the unbeaten Wildcats (18-0, 5-0 Pac-12) he sees a No. 1-worthy team and he hedges ever-so-slightly.

Don't jump to a foolish conclusion here. Know this: Boyle's reluctance isn't based on anything he's seen from Arizona; it's based on what he hasn't seen from most of the nation's top teams. When January, February and March hit, Boyle's overview of the college hoops world narrows to nearly nothing.

"I don't watch all the teams in the country, so it's hard for me to convincingly say," he said the other day after practice. "What I see (in Arizona) is a great defensive team, a great rebounding team. And I see a team that plays together offensively and a really talented one. There's not a lot of teams that can bring a McDonald's All-American off the bench and has great chemistry - which they have . . . they're obviously a good team."

Let us count the ways:

- The Wildcats are off to their best start (5-0) in Pac-12 play since the 2002-03 season and a win away from tying the longest winning streak in program history.

- Arizona currently has a 15-game winning streak at the McKale Center, a venue that Boyle views as tops in the league because it's full (14,545) in early November and late February. Said Boyle: "It doesn't matter who they play, what time of year they play, they're there to support the Wildcats . . . it doesn't matter if they're playing Bemidji State or Oregon State."

- The Wildcats are 68-11 (.861) overall and 32-7 (.821) in Pac-12 games at home under head coach Sean Miller.

- Arizona has been the AP No. 1 for a total of 36 weeks, the ninth-most in NCAA history and second-most in Pac-12 history.

- And here are a couple of numbers that particularly impress Boyle, whose rebounding/defense mantra has never been more urgent than it is now with Dinwiddie absent: Arizona has won the rebounding battle in 17 of its 18 games this season and ranks fifth nationally with a plus-10.6 rebound margin. The Wildcats' interior defense has limited opponents to 40.1 percent shooting inside the arc, ranking them third nationally in two-point field goal percentage defense.

Those are a mere sampling of Arizona's team highlights. Individual brilliance is there, too, but it actually shows more collectively. Three Wildcats - guard Nick Johnson (16.3 ppg), wing Aaron Gordon (12.4), forward Brandon Ashley (12.1) - are among the Pac-12's top 30 scorers, three among the top 20 rebounders - Gordon (7.8 rpg), Kaleb Tarczewski (6.6), Ashley (6.2).

Boyle's eye goes first to the 6-3 Johnson as being "the key to their team" primarily because of his defense on a team that leads the Pac-12 in that category (56.7 ppg). Continued Boyle: "I've noticed a difference starting in the Pac-12 Tournament last year . . . they really had an intensity on defense that we hadn't seen before. They've always been a good team, but I thought they were a great defensive team that night we played them. Then certainly going into this year, and I think it starts with Nick. He's a great athlete, but he's really taken on a defensive challenge."

The 6-9 Gordon is among the nation's top freshmen, but Boyle isn't sure Gordon is appreciated as much playing in the desert as he would be playing in another region. "I think he gets snubbed a little bit because of the West Coast; people don't get a chance to see him play - the time zone thing," Boyle said. "But I think Aaron Gordon is right up there in the conversation with any of (college basketball's top freshmen)."

The reasons: Gordon brings non-stop energy and in-close efficiency. "If you let him get too close to the basket he's going to finish or get fouled," Boyle said. "And he's a much better perimeter player than I gave him credit for coming out of high school . . . I wasn't sure if them playing him at the 'three' was going to work, but it obviously has. He's a terrific player."

All those good things said about Arizona, the Buffs (15-4, 4-2) are 3-3 against the Wildcats since joining the Pac-12. CU hasn't won in the McKale Center in 54 years (Dec. 3, 1960), although Buffs fans and much of the college hoops world never will concede that last season's visit was a loss. Sabatino Chen's 3-pointer at the buzzer was disallowed, leaving the game tied at 80-80 and sending the game into OT. Arizona won 92-83.

The Wildcats won two of three meetings with the Buffs last season, including 79-69 in the Pac-12 Tournament quarterfinals. But the six CU-UA games under Boyle-Miller have been taut enough, competitive enough to make this series a cut above many that either team plays in the Pac-12. So is it a rivalry?

"Yeah, I think so," Boyle said. "We've played them tough; they've been great games, whether down there or up here. They've been fun games to watch. The game there last year and the way it ended. I don't know if Arizona considers Colorado a rival, but I know our guys really enjoy the opportunity to play against them. I respect their program; Sean Miller is a heck of a coach. I don't know if there's one rival we have, but Arizona has become a fun game."

In addition to that on Thursday night, it's an opportunity for the Buffs against a No. 1 team (CU is 0-15 all-time vs. top-ranked opponents) as well as an opportunity for more progress with their revamped roster (wing Tre'Shaun Fletcher also is out with a knee injury). Boyle believes his team is adjusting to Dinwiddie's and Fletcher's absences: "I think the guys understand now that he's not here, 'Fletch' isn't here . . . they know that. I think we're past that mental hurdle. It's still a situation where we need guys to play well and our margin for error is slim . . . the shock value is worn off."

Which leaves the opportunity to play No. 1 - or at least a team that would be very prominent in any Boyle conversation about who's No. 1. "This is as big as it gets - the opportunity to compete against the No. 1 team in the country on their home floor," he said. "As a player you've got to relish that. Our guys will be ready."

Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU