Colorado University Athletics
At Pac-12 Halfway Mark, Buffs Boast Strong NCAA Resume
February 01, 2016 | Men's Basketball, Neill Woelk
BOULDER — Halfway through the Pac-12 season, Tad Boyle's Colorado Buffaloes find themselves in solid position to earn an NCAA Tournament berth.
The Buffs held a No. 20 ranking in Monday morning's NCAA RPI, along with a 17-5 overall mark and a 6-3 Pac-12 record. That's good enough for a four-way tie for second place in the conference with Utah, USC and Washington, just one game behind league leader Oregon.
The Buffs, who beat Oregon in Boulder earlier this season, have a chance to make up ground on the Ducks this week when they travel to Oregon on Thursday for a 7 p.m. game (Fox Sports 1). They'll finish their Pacific Northwest trips for the season Saturday when they play a 6:30 p.m. game at Oregon State (Pac-12 Networks).
The simple math is this: if the Buffs can match their first-half performance in Pac-12 play, they'll almost certainly hear their name called March 13 when the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee announces the field in New York. A 6-3 record in the second half would make them 23-8 overall and 12-6 in conference play heading into the Pac-12 Tournament (March 9-12 in Las Vegas).
But even matching that first-half mark won't be easy. Five of the Buffs' final nine games are on the road, and three of those are are against teams currently in the top 50 of the NCAA RPI: Oregon (3), Utah (14) and USC (19). The other two are at Oregon State (64) and UCLA (68).
Neither are the four remaining home games a cakewalk. Still scheduled to visit Boulder are Arizona (34), Washington (49), Arizona State (73) and Washington State (168).
But the good news is that just about everyone else in the Pac-12 is facing a similar lineup. The conference is still regarded as one of the deepest — if not the deepest — league in the nation, and is still ranked No. 2 in conference RPI.
The Buffs are also positioned well ahead of where most prognosticators picked them to finish when the season began. That's something Boyle and his players haven't forgotten.
"Some of the greatest pleasures in life come from doing things people say you can't do, and people picked us seventh in this league," Boyle said late last week. "We have to make sure we don't finish seventh. We want to finish better than that. We have a chance to compete for a league championship."
If there's one game this year that still gives the Buffs nightmares, it's their early January encounter with Utah at the Coors Events Center. In what came down to a one-possession game, the Utes escaped Boulder with a 56-54 win on a buzzer-beating shot. If the Buffs had collected a win that night, they'd be tied for first with Oregon.
"We'd love to have that Utah game back, but life doesn't work like that," Boyle said.
Boyle, though, continues to stress to his players that with the conference season just at the halfway mark, there are no guarantees.
"Our guys are smart enough and they're a veteran group to know that it's not done yet," Boyle said. "We've got a lot of work to do. Look at the league standings, there's nobody that's far and away a cut above everybody else. Every game's a battle. These guys know that. It's something they understand and certainly I understand"
Other Buffs and Pac-12 resume´ notes and numbers:
— The Pac-12 entered Monday with the third-most teams in the nation — seven — in the top 50 NCAA RPI. The ACC led with nine and the Big 12 had eight. The Big Ten, meanwhile, checked in with six and the SEC had four.
— The Buffs moved up in both of the most popular NCAA bracket projections this week. Jerry Palm of CBS Sports projected the Buffs as a No. 6 seed Monday morning, up from a No. 7 last week; while ESPN's Joe Lunardi had the Buffs as a No. 8 seed, up from No. 10 a week ago.
Overall, Palm has seven teams from the Pac-12 in his bracket: Oregon (3), Utah (5), Colorado (6), USC (6), Arizona (7), Washington (9) and Cal (11). Lunardi's latest bracket includes eight Pac-12 teams: Oregon (3), Arizona (6), USC (6), Utah (7), Colorado (8), Washington (10), Cal (11) and UCLA (12).
— The Buffs' "measurables" continue to be strong. Their overall strength of schedule is currently ranked No. 36 in the nation, and they have a 6-5 record against teams in the RPI top 100. Those include victories over Oregon, Cal, Stanford (two), BYU and Oregon State.
— While the Pac-12 continues to have a strong showing in the RPI rankings, the national voters aren't giving the league as much respect. The latest Associated Press poll had Oregon checking in at No. 16 and Arizona at No. 23, with USC and Utah also receiving votes. The USA Today/Coaches' poll had Oregon at No. 17 and Arizona at No. 20, with Utah, USC, Cal and Washington also receiving votes.
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu
