Colorado University Athletics
Brooks: Buffs Looking To Launch A Late Run In Vegas
March 10, 2015 | Men's Basketball, B.G. Brooks
LAS VEGAS - This time around, March Madness is merely an extension of the last four months for the Colorado Buffaloes. Madness, craziness, angst and who knows what else began infiltrating the Buffs' 2014-15 season in November, and while they've shown occasional signs of escaping they've never quite pulled both feet out of the quicksand.
Now's their chance. It's slight, but it's there. Or here - in the Pac-12 Tournament, which begins Wednesday in the MGM Grand Garden Arena. CU, the No. 10 seed, plays Oregon State, the No. 7 seed, at 7:10 p.m. MDT (Pac-12 Networks).
The Buffs have advanced past the first-round in every Pac-12 Tournament since becoming league members four years ago. But this season's tournament scenario bears no resemblance to the others.
Hauling a losing record (14-16 overall, 7-11 Pac-12) and other assorted baggage to Glitter Gulch for the first time, they need to advance to the title game to get to .500 - then win it to have a guaranteed postseason (NCAA, automatic bid) berth. Losing in the championship game would drop them to .500 again (17-17), which could send them to the NIT based on their meager late-season success - winning two of three final regular-season games and the possible Pac-12 tourney run.
The NIT revamped its selection process in 2006 and no longer requires teams to be above .500 to make the 32-team field. Still, all entries since then have been above .500 - which could make last weekend's 96-91 perplexing overtime loss at Washington State even costlier.
But the Buffs and coach Tad Boyle aren't crunching those numbers just yet, mainly because a loss on Wednesday night to the Beavers (17-13, 8-10) pushes the moot button on all postseason scenarios.
"It's one game, you win or you lose," said CU post Josh Scott. "Win or go home. That's how it is for us now."
Coaches are like this, but there's hope - Boyle believes real hope - for a first-round win. Asked on Monday about formulas for conference tournament success, Boyle pinpointed players' physical status at the end of the regular-season grind and, but of equal importance, their mental status.
"Guys in locker room who want the season to continue," he said. "Believe it or not, with 12 teams in the league I'm not sure there are 12 locker rooms that feel like that. We've got to be darn sure that Colorado's is one of them. I think it is; I got a sense after the Washington State game that it's almost like a rebirth. But we'll find out . . . if your players want to live to see another day, you've got a chance."
GETTING A READ ON THE BUFFS game-by-game mindset this season has been as easy as reading hieroglyphics, but judging the physical part isn't as difficult. Look first to Scott, whose back ailment sidelined him for most of January and kept him noticeably uncomfortable for periods thereafter. While he admits he isn't back among the 100 percenters, he was still healthy enough on the Washington trip to total 53 points and 21 rebounds, with his 32 points at Washington State a career high.
"He was running, finishing; he looks like the old Josh Scott," Boyle said. That's important (but) we need to get some guys going with him, get some inside-outside action going with him."
Added Scott: "I've been feeling better the past week and a half, two weeks. It's great to finally get my health back."
He didn't have it in the Buffs' regular-season loss at Oregon State, with his final line very un-Josh-like: four points, three rebounds, one block and two steals in 28 minutes. In fairness, not many startling CU numbers came out of that trip to Corvallis - unless you count startling in an ugly sense.
Consider:
- The Buffs trailed by 22 (34-12) at halftime, with their total the lowest of the Boyle era;
- Ditto for their shooting percentage. It was off the charts - in the other direction. It was 14 percent, with Wes Gordon hitting all three of his first-half field goal attempts and his teammates going a collective 0-for-18. The Buffs finished at 35 percent;
- They committed a season-worst 22 turnovers, which gift-wrapped 28 points for the grateful Beavers. The slimmest of silver linings: CU eventually cut its 22-point halftime deficit to eight, but still lost 72-58.
Credit for some of those heinous stats should go to Oregon State and its 2-3 zone, which was introduced by first-year coach Wayne Tinkle and hasn't been kind to most opponents. The Beavs' defensive turnaround has been dramatic; last season they allowed 75.6 points a game, this season 58.5 - second in the league. They're also at No. 2 in field goal percentage defense (38.2) and No. 1 in 3-point percentage defense (30.0).
When the Buffs visited Corvallis, they became Oregon State's 15th home victim, setting a school record. The Beavers finished the season with a 15-2 home record, making Wednesday night's neutral court meeting one the Buffs are anticipating.
But they still have to contend with Tinkle's zone, which features Pac-12 defensive player-of-the-year Gary Payton II and fellow guard Malcolm Duvivier out front. Both are long - Payton is 6-3, Duvivier 6-2 - and agile and can obscure passing lanes.
Payton was a solid candidate for defensive player-of-the-year before CU's visit, but in the aftermath his candidacy skyrocketed. His doubled his per game average with 24 points, but he also blocked a school-record seven shots, collected five rebounds and made four steals.
Payton is terrific, said Boyle, largely because he wants to be. Oh, there's athleticism and genetics involved too (he's the son of former NBA defensive great Gary Payton). Boyle's list of "great" Gary II attributes includes "great hands, great feet, great anticipation . . . and he plays extremely hard - that's the biggest thing."
NEED PROOF? BOYLE RECOUNTS a taped highlight that I'm guessing the Buffs were shown more than once. In it, Payton helped close off an Askia Booker drive, then when the ball was kicked out to Dom Collier for a perimeter shot, Payton hustled to Collier and blocked his shot - one of a school-record 13 in the game.
Said Boyle: "That's a big-time play. It's made by a guy with great effort."
As a rule, teams facing zones for the second time usually are more comfortable attacking them. But Scott concedes OSU's zone "is one of the harder defenses to score against in the Pac-12, and that's a credit to them. And they play hard."
Successfully attacking the zone, he added, comes in getting the ball "to open cutters within the zone." His good friend and teammate, Wes Gordon, does that well: "Wes is a good passer, he does a great job of finding people within the zone . . . I think the team (is more comfortable vs. zone). That's not to say that they can't guard us or want to guard us, but we have to find the open spot. That's just how basketball is; it's how you play the game."
Payback on Wednesday isn't a major motivator for Scott and the Buffs, but don't think it hasn't crossed their minds. "For me personally, I was not happy with my game (in Corvallis) and that's kind of a big deal," he said. "Secondly, I think we're playing for something (and) we've got guys who are understanding how to win."
Boyle hopes so. He would like to see his team take a hint from the CU women's team and its run to the semifinals of their Pac-12 tourney last week in Seattle. After a first-round over USC, the Buffs knocked out No. 1 seed and eighth-ranked Oregon State in the quarterfinals. Seniors Jen Reese, Lexy Kresl and Jasmine Sborov played with "intensity and resolve," said Boyle, and their teammates "fed off of that. We can learn a lot from that . . . you could tell those three seniors didn't want their careers to end."
The Buffs, save Booker, the lone playing senior, aren't concerned so much about careers ending as this season. Never mind that it has been sub-par, they believe it still has a pulse and is worth reviving. After the 28-point home loss to No. 7 Arizona last month, Boyle said his team had bottomed out. In the weeks since, he said the Buffs have "responded and played with passion, great intensity and effort. I certainly expect that to continue. You better play that way when you go into tournament basketball because every game could be your last."
Playing three more games after Wednesday is a longshot, but the Buffs aren't ready to write themselves off. If Boyle is right and last weekend's loss in Pullman indeed signaled a rebirth, things could get interesting in Vegas - a city where things usually are.
Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU
