Brooks: Buffs Aiming For Better Aim On Oregon Trip

BOULDER - Today's hoops hypothesis: Shooters shoot themselves out of slumps. Pose that to the Colorado Buffaloes, who - a real cynic would say - might have difficulty shooting themselves in either foot.

The Buffs keep putting up the shots, lots and lots of them, in practice as well as afterwards on their own time. But come tip time over the last four games, it hasn't mattered. They're convinced it will, that their marksmanship will improve and that an offensive turnaround is possible in the regular season's final three weeks.

The Buffs are shooting 42.0 percent from the field in Pac-12 play - ninth in the league, not a dazzling number, and one that slides a little further over their four most recent games, three of which were losses. After shooting 46.2 percent in a triple overtime win at USC, they dropped to 36.4 at UCLA, 29.8 at home against Utah, 36.7 against Cal and 32.8 against Stanford.

The only win among those last four was 64-58 last Sunday over the Cardinal, and it obviously was achieved more on the defensive end with key late stops. At the conclusion of that game, CU coach Tad Boyle remarked to FS1 analyst Kevin O'Neill that the Buffs were "a little offensively challenged."

O'Neill, of course, noticed. At one point during his afternoon at the Coors Events Center, when both teams had turned their offensive ends into hard-hat areas, O'Neill remarked, "I don't think either one of these teams could shoot it any worse if they turned the lights off."

An exaggeration perhaps, but the Cardinal checked out at 33.3 percent from the field to the Buffs' 32.8. Maybe the lights had been dimmed.

"Shots are not going in right now, that's just the bottom line," Boyle said Tuesday before the Buffs headed to Eugene to face Oregon on Wednesday (9 p.m. MST, ESPNU). "The last couple of games have been tough. I mean, we've gotten good shots, we just haven't made them. Again, that's why you have to rely on other parts of your game to have a chance to win."

THE BUFFS HAVEN'T LOST all belief that they can shoot straight, but they do recognize their shortcomings.

"Shooting the ball, we're a pretty streaky team," guard Jaron Hopkins said. "We have to get more consistency out of everyone. We just have to get better shots; with better looks shots go in. We shoot the ball well, we defend well and we have pretty good games.

"Once we get rolling we've seen ourselves shoot pretty well. In the Washington State game (a 90-58 win) everybody shot pretty well. We had a lot of guys (six) score over ten points. Yeah, we can shoot our way out of slumps. Streaky is not a good thing, but when it's going good for us, it's going good. Hopefully we can get some consistency out of that."

But Boyle has said it before and did again Tuesday when asked if this team has anyone who would qualify as a "pure shooter."

"No," he answered. "The closest thing is Josh Fortune (transfer from Providence who must sit out this season). But in terms of guys who are playing, no, there's no pure shooter."

I asked Hopkins and Dustin Thomas if it was difficult to identify any teammate who came close to being a pure shooter and here's what they said:

Hopkins: "Yeah, real difficult. I think we've got some good set shooters and guys who can create their own shots. Set shooting-wise, I'd probably say Tre'Shaun (Fletcher) . . . 'XJ' (Xavier Johnson) does pretty well, too. Those are probably the top two, at least percentage-wise . . . but we don't have that knock-down shooter, the guy you can count on every time he touches the ball. Hopefully we can get there, everybody can keep working on their game."

Thomas: "Brett Brady, definitely . . . we've got guys who can shoot the ball, but nobody is really labeled as a pure shooter. I play 'HORSE' with Brady all the time and have shootouts with him. That's my competition when it comes to shooting." (Brady, a walk-on junior from Highlands Ranch, has played seven minutes in three Pac-12 games and has not taken a shot.)

The key to shooting your way out of slumps is shooting, shooting and more of the same. The key to becoming a pure shooter might have something to do with genetics, but probably has more to do with "want to" - which former Buffs guard Levi Knutson (2007-2011) had by the barrel-full.

Knutson, says Boyle, "was a good shooter coming out of high school who made himself into a great shooter. The only way to do that is by putting time in the gym in the off-season." Knutson's 47.4 3-point percentage in 2010-11 remains CU's single-season best.

Fortune, said Boyle, was targeted as a prospect with that kind of shooting potential when CU latched onto him. "We knew he could do that, but I'm not saying he's Levi," Boyle noted. "But he could be; he's got the ability to knock down open shots more often than not - and we're going to need that next year."

As for this year, to break free of their slump and find more nylon than iron, "The main thing is confidence," said Thomas. "We've got a lot of guys who can score the ball. It's just everybody figuring out what their role is right now, what they can do to help the team. But I think we've got a lot of good shooters; it's just about going up there and doing it."

HE ECHOED BOYLE'S Rx on increased "gym time . . . that's the solution to everything, getting in the gym and getting better at what you need to get better at. Pushing teammates to do the best they can do. I come in at night and shoot the ball. I try to stay consistent with what I'm doing."

Continued Thomas: "Every shooter is going to go through a slump now and then. It's about going out in every game with the same amount of confidence you had in the first game and just shooting the ball. It's going to fall sometimes, sometimes it's not. It's something you've just got to deal with."

Among the Buffs averaging 18 or more minutes in conference play, the most accurate shooter has been Hopkins at 47.9 percent. His 73 attempts (35 makes) are second on the team but 101 fewer than Askia Booker has tried (73-of-174, 42.0 percent).

Hopkins said any mechanical changes in his shooting will be addressed in the off season, "But right now I'm working on reps, just getting my confidence up and taking my shot free-minded." He echoed the overall team need for more gym time: "Confidence has to be high; you have to have faith in your shot every time you release it."

That confidence has been noticeably lacking. Although Boyle wants his shooters to be unfettered as far as taking good shots within the offense, not many of the Buffs - aside from Booker - have appeared eager to shoot the 3-ball. It often puzzles Boyle because CU is third in the league in 3-point field goal percentage (38.5).

The Buffs' goal for this week's trek to the Pacific Northwest is to maintain the defensive and rebounding principles that carried them past the Cardinal - and have a few more shots fall. The Ducks (18-8, 8-5) might cooperate in that regard; they're No. 3 in scoring offense (74.2 ppg) but No. 11 in scoring defense (74.5 ppg).

Oregon's Joseph Young is second in the Pac-12 in scoring (20.1 ppg), while Booker is third (19.7). Young, hitting 42.2 percent of his treys, is third in 3-pointers made per game (2.69), while Booker is fifth (2.60). And here's something that stands out on CU's scouting report: If the game is tight down the stretch, deny Young the ball and foul him only as a final option. He's the league's best free throw shooter, hitting 94.4 percent.

The Buffs (12-12, 5-7) are 1-7 on the road this season, but they've won four straight against the Ducks and Boyle is 5-2 against the school that gave him his first collegiate coaching job (1994 on Jerry Green's staff). Hopkins and Thomas, as well as Boyle, believe Sunday's Stanford win at least returned the Buffs to a winning mindset.

Said Thomas: "We needed that win against Stanford and need the momentum to carry over into the road games. We've only got one road win this year; we've got to make a change, figure something out and just get it done."

Getting stops and rebounds is always a good fallback but getting the ball to go in the basket works pretty well, too.

Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU