Colorado University Athletics
Two Wins Boost Buffs' NCAA Tourney Resume?
February 29, 2016 | Men's Basketball
BOULDER — Bolstered by a pair of wins at home last week, Tad Boyle's Colorado Buffaloes enter the final week of the regular season with what appears to be a solid NCAA Tournament resume´.
The 21-9 Buffs, currently sitting in fifth place in the Pac-12 standings with a 10-7 mark, have one regular season game remaining. They travel to Utah on Saturday for a 7:30 p.m. meeting with the Utes (ESPNU), then head to Las Vegas the following week for the Pac-12 Tournament.
The Buffs still have a chance of moving up into fourth in the final conference standings and earning a first-round bye in the conference tournament. But as it stands today, multiple scenarios exist that could put the Buffs anywhere from fourth to seventh. If they manage to move up to fourth, they won't play until March 10. If they finish fifth or lower, they will play on March 9.
All four teams ahead of the Buffs were ranked in the latest Associated Press poll Monday: Oregon (9), Utah (13), Arizona (18) and Cal (25). The Buffs split their season series with Oregon and Cal, won their only game against Arizona, and lost their first meeting with Utah.
The Buffs also moved up another notch in the NCAA RPI on the heels of their 79-69 win over Arizona State on Sunday, checking in at No. 28, one spot ahead of Arizona. The Pac-12 had seven teams in the RPI top 50: Oregon (4), Utah (8), Cal (16), Colorado (28), Arizona (29), Oregon St. (32) and USC (43).
Colorado's strength of schedule also improved significantly after last week's games vs. Arizona and ASU. The Buffs now have the 27th-ranked schedule in the nation, a number that will only likely go up after Saturday's regular season finale vs. Utah.
CU's metrics also stack up reasonably well in terms of quality wins. The Buffs are 10-9 against teams in the RPI top 100, with four top-50 wins. Colorado also does not have a loss outside the top 100, with their lowest-ranked loss coming at the hands of No. 83 UCLA on the road; and the Buffs have two wins away from home against top-100 squads (Stanford and Penn State).
In the most-popular national bracket projections, the Buffs are also holding steady. CBS Sports' Jerry Palm and USA Today both had Colorado as a No. 7 seed in their latest projections while ESPN's Joe Lunardi moved them up two spots to a No. 8 seed.
All three brackets projected seven Pac-12 teams: Oregon, Utah, Arizona, Cal, Colorado, USC and Oregon State.
Here are the sites for the first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament:
March 17, 19 — Providence, R.I.; Des Moines, Iowa; Raleigh, N.C.; Denver.
March 18, 20 — Brooklyn, N.Y.; St. Louis; Oklahoma City; Spokane, Wash.
LEAGUE LEADER: CU forward Wesley Gordon, who had six offensive rebounds in Sunday's win over Arizona State, now leads the Pac-12 in offensive rebounding in conference games. Gordon is averaging 3.8 offensive rebounds per game, and is averaging almost five per contest over the last seven games.
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu
