Colorado University Athletics
Brooks: Boyle, Buffs Seek Answers As Pac-12 Looms
December 31, 2014 | Men's Basketball, B.G. Brooks
BOULDER - It was Tuesday morning, midway through a practice that was pushing Tad Boyle ever closer to the boiling point. He finally reached it, which he's been doing with bewildering frequency during the first two months of his Colorado basketball team's season.
With his players gathered around him at mid-court, Boyle didn't go light on either decibels or language and made a promise: "WE ARE GOING TO GET BETTER THIS WEEK!"
And with that, he instructed the training staff to be ready to tape ankles or anything else for another full practice later in the afternoon. Prior to that, he began hour-long individual player meetings that carried into New Year's Eve. Soul-searching among coaches and players continues.
CU's spring semester doesn't begin until Monday, Jan. 12, and the guess here is that some of the Buffs might see a return to that routine as an escape from Boyle's "you better get better" mandate. A coach can only do so much, and this one is about a dozen tantrums beyond frustrated.
"I understand it," said junior forward Josh Scott of his coach's exasperation. "He's never hidden the fact he's an emotional guy. He wears his emotions on his sleeve and that's how he's going to coach. That's what we all signed up for. We haven't been playing well, so I'm not going to sit here and say it's out of the ordinary. He's very, very honest and true. He's the coach, we're the players. We'll do what he's set out and mandated for us."
Improving, said Boyle, is "what we're supposed to do. It's no different now than in years past. There's a little more of a sense of urgency now because we're 7-5; we've never been 7-5 and in this situation before. But if we were 10-2 we'd still need to get better. That's where we're at, but we're not where we want to be. I'm not happy, the players aren't happy. This is not what it's about and it's not what we're about."
With Pac-12 play beginning Friday against UCLA (8 p.m., Coors Events Center, Fox Sports 1), the Buffs closed out their non-conference schedule with a pair of losses and one win in the Diamond Head Classic. They have fallen perplexingly short of their own expectations and preseason forecasts ranking them as the third-best team in the Pac-12.
I ASKED BOYLE IF THE PAST two months were as frustrating as any he's experienced as a head coach. "Yes it is," he answered before proceeding to detail why. He's certain that he's got talented players. He's certain he's not asking his players to perform at a level they're not capable of attaining. He's also certain, for whatever reason, they're underachieving.
Were he asking the Buffs to exceed their capabilities, "Then I'm making a mistake as a coach. I want to put guys in position to be successful. We've got good players, guys who are capable of doing what we ask them to do . . . that's why I'm frustrated. I know we're capable of playing better. All I want is maximum effort, intensity and desire."
He saw some of that in Hawai'i, but not enough to prevail in a pair of three-point losses to George Washington and Hawai'i. He took the Buffs to the islands hoping they would return a more consistent team, but they didn't unload that baggage. They did some things well - rebounding comes first to mind - but were mostly haphazard on the offensive and defensive ends.
When the Buffs reconvened on Tuesday, Boyle was still trying to unravel leadership issues and sort through his rotation, trying to determine the most consistent in an inconsistent group. He didn't think he would be pondering leadership questions as the New Year rolled in, "But I am," he said. "You've got to play for something greater than yourself. When you're worried about yourself it shows."
He sees that particularly in his two must-have areas - defense and rebounding, which he says "have nothing to do with talent, but everything to do with effort, energy, passion, desire, commitment. When you don't have it you don't have it. Mediocre teams don't have it, good teams have it most of the time, elite level teams have it all the time. There's a pride, a sense of what you're playing for, that's greater than yourself."
He's open to changing starting lineups, but believes "starting" is an overvalued term - "not a lot of teeth behind it," he said. "I've got to play five guys. Some guys are getting gift minutes because nobody behind them can take (minutes) from them. Seriously.
"Look, I don't want to be ultra-negative. I'm just trying to be real. The reality is, we're three possessions from being 10-2. We're two possessions away from winning the Hawai'i tournament. Instead, we come back 1-2. That's the fine line there is between winning and losing.
"The sky isn't falling. It's not like, 'Oh, the program is in disarray, we got no chance and no hope.' No, we're right there - and that's what's so frustrating. I've coached bad teams; we're not a bad team. We've got talent, got guys who are capable. But we're not getting it done. And I take that personally as a head coach."
The one player who usually stands tall in the area of consistency is Scott, who is averaging 14.8 points and 7.7 rebounds, with 24 blocked shots. But Boyle conceded, "Even Josh has been inconsistent with his play at times, which is unlike him. We expect so much of him and when he doesn't have a good game or is subpar it sticks out like a sore thumb."
WHAT STICKS OUT LIKE TWO handfuls of sore thumbs is the Buffs' assist-to-turnover ratio. With 138 assists and 154 turnovers, CU's 0.90 ratio is the worst in the Pac-12. Couple that with roller coaster shooting percentages - Boyle says it goes from 51 percent in wins to 37 percent in losses - and an inability to get critical stops and a 7-5 team "is who we are right now."
No one - players or coaches - is digesting those numbers. "It's not where we want to be," Scott said, adding if there's any silver lining it's in the camaraderie the adversity has created. "Honestly, if anything, I feel kind of closer to the guys. It feels like it's us against the world. And that's OK. We're here for each other and we'll pull closer together and figure something out."
But that has to take place ASAP, with this weekend the optimal launch point. Coming off three consecutive losses, UCLA is 8-5 and encountering many of the inconsistency issues that plague CU. "They're kind of struggling as much as us," Scott said. "I would guess it's going to be a battle of wills."
It will also be a battle on the boards. The Bruins are second in the Pac-12 (12th nationally) in rebounds per game (41.8), while the Buffs are eighth in the conference (37.1). UCLA and USC - CU's Sunday opponent - are the only schools featuring two players ranked among the conference's top 10 rebounders. Bruins Kevon Looney, a 6-9 freshman, is second (10.4), while 6-9 junior Tony Parker is ninth (7.6). Looney, a McDonald's All-America selection last season, is the nation's only freshman currently averaging a double-double (12.8 points, 10.4 rebounds).
CU has struggled against UCLA both before and after joining the Pac-12, trailing 1-8 all-time and 0-4 in the conference. But these Bruins are searching for many of the same answers that the Buffs seek. Friday offers an opportunity for both teams to turn the page as the conference schedule opens.
"It's not end-of-the-world stuff with this team. It's just learning from those things and moving on and getting better. We've got to be better."
That's not Tad Boyle, it's UCLA's Steve Alford. Boyle and the Buffs have company - not bad company, but certifiably erratic and exasperated company. Something must change for somebody.
Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU
