Woelk: Boyle's Buffs Return Home With Backs To Wall

BOULDER — This is not where the Colorado Buffaloes wanted to be as they head down the home stretch of the Pac-12 schedule. Tad Boyle's Buffs had designs on bigger and better things.

But with three games to go and an 8-7 Pac-12 record, the reality is this: the 19-9 Buffs find themselves tied for sixth in the league standings and facing an uphill battle in their pursuit of a top-four conference finish. Meanwhile, what once seemed to be a solid NCAA Tournament resume´ is starting to look a little ragged around the edges.

Not that the Buffs are out of contention — not by any stretch of the imagination. But thanks to a pair of losses last week in Los Angeles, including another of the type that will haunt Boyle and his players for a long, long time, they find themselves in the same position as dozens of other teams around the nation: a team that needs to bolster its resume´ with a rock-solid showing over the last two weeks of the season.

While the Buffs had the day off Sunday after an early-morning arrival back from Los Angeles, it's a safe bet that Boyle and his coaching staff were already studying Arizona. The Wildcats, tied with Oregon for the league lead, pay a visit to Boulder on Wednesday. While coaches don't like to attach “must win” to any game, this one comes awfully close to the description.

What's equally certain is that Boyle and the Buffs won't be looking past Wednesday. Next Sunday's home finale vs. Arizona State and the ensuing weekend's conference wrap-up at Utah are no doubt important in terms of finishing strong. But Colorado can't afford to look past Wednesday. It is truly a “one game at a time” scenario. The Buffs have played their way into a corner, and the only way out is to play each night as if their season hinges on the outcome.

Perhaps the most disconcerting sign from the Buffs' most-recent stretch has been an absence of consistency — not what you would expect from a mostly veteran team heading down the home stretch.

There have been instances over the last two weeks when the Buffs have played some of their best basketball of the season: the first twenty minutes of a win over Washington and the first 30 minutes in the loss to USC provided examples of how well the Buffs can play. In both games, the Buffs built double-digit leads over quality opponents.

But those same games also provided glimpses of what happens when they don't play together. They held on — barely — for a win over the Huskies, but had no such luck against USC, when they saw a 12-point lead with just seven minutes to go turn into a seven-point loss. Then came perhaps one of their worst performances of the year, Saturday night's 77-53 loss at UCLA.

It points to a mental obstacle more than physical.

“We've got to be tougher than we are right now,” Boyle said after the UCLA loss. “Our toughness factor is not very good. That concerns me as a coach because that's how you have to win some games on the road, when you're not at your best — and we haven't been at our best for a while.”

Boyle has tried a variety of solutions. He's juggled up his starting lineup — Saturday night's group against the Bruins was CU's seventh different starting lineup of the season — and he's mixed and matched his combinations throughout games.

The result, like the Buffs' record over the last month, has been mixed. While they've received solid play for the most part inside from Josh Scott and Wesley Gordon, the production on the perimeter has been inconsistent on both ends of the floor.

Boyle, though, won't point fingers.

“I take the blame,” he said. “I take the responsibility. I'm the head coach and I've got to get this thing figured out.”

By no means are the Buffs in dire straits. Not yet. Two of their remaining games are against teams currently with top-30 RPIs (Arizona and Utah). Those are opportunities to shore up their NCAA Tournament resume´ in a hurry.

But there's also no doubt there backs are to the wall — and they'll need to respond with that kind of urgency, beginning Wednesday.

Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu