Colorado University Athletics
Woelk: Buffs Have Chance For Special Legacy
March 13, 2016 | Men's Basketball, Neill Woelk
BOULDER — There's no question the Colorado basketball team took a significant step back in the right direction this year.
After one down season — the first in the Tad Boyle era — the 22-11 Buffs bounced back with a year that should produce the fourth NCAA Tournament bid in Boyle's six seasons in Boulder.
For most programs in America, that's a successful stretch. For the Colorado basketball program, it's the most successful stretch in history. A program that once went through four head coaches and nearly three decades without a tournament berth no longer considers an NCAA invitation a special event.
Instead, participation in March Madness is now expected — and a fan base that once went giddy over seeing “Colorado” in the bracket now grumbles when the Buffs stub their toe in the midst of a 21-win regular season (matching the most ever in CU history).
It's the price of success in a “What have you done for me lately?” world.
No one — beginning with Boyle — will argue that there's still not plenty of room to improve. Asked in late February about his current senior class, one that will likely play in three NCAA tourneys, Boyle lauded their accomplishments — but quickly noted that this year's freshmen have a chance to play in four, something no CU player has ever done. In Boyle's eyes, the accomplishments thus far in his tenure are just the beginning.
Boyle wants to see a program that regularly draws capacity crowds to the Coors Events Center. He envisions a program that is on par with the nation's elite. As he said after CU students stormed the floor following a CU win over Arizona earlier this season, Boyle wants his Buffs to be the team that sparks a court-storming when it loses on the road.
Most of all, he wants a program that is expected to not only earn an NCAA Tournament berth, but one that has the ability to make a deep run when it gets there.
Which brings us back to this year's team, a squad that just missed a CU-record 22 regular season wins. While it's a team that has experienced its ups and downs — often in the same game — it's still a team that has a legitimate chance to burnish its legacy as one of the quality teams in modern CU history.
As of Sunday morning, most of the nation's most-popular “bracketologists” — ESPN, CBS Sports, USA Today and Sports Illustrated — were projecting Colorado as a No. 7 or No. 8 seed. If the Buffs are awarded a No. 7 spot, it would be CU's highest seed in the tournament's current format.
Since 1969, the Buffs have been to the NCAA Tournament five times — twice under Ricardo Patton and three times under Boyle — and have been seeded 11th, 10th (twice), 9th and 8th.
In those five appearances, CU has won two games.
Patton's first team, featuring Chauncey Billups, was a No. 9 seed and beat Bob Knight and No. 8 Indiana in the 1997 tournament before losing to North Carolina. Boyle's second CU squad advanced to the NCAA Tournament after running the table in the Pac-12 Tournament to earn a No. 10 seed, and then beat UNLV in its NCAA opener and lost to Baylor in the second round.
Looking for a CU team that won two NCAA Tournament games? It's happened only once, the 1955 bunch that beat Tulsa in the tourney opener and Bradley in the round of eight before falling to Bill Russell and San Francisco in the Final Four. (Those Buffs actually won three tourney games, as they rebounded from the loss to the Dons to defeat Iowa in the third-place game, a game the NCAA stopped playing after the 1981 season.)
But not since 1955 — a stretch that includes eight NCAA appearances — have the Buffs won two games in the tournament.
It's an attainable goal this year.
If the Buffs do indeed corral a No. 7 seed, it will mean a very winnable first-round game, followed by a likely matchup against a No. 2 seed — and this might be the year when No. 2 seeds are just a slight notch below those in a typical year.
Meanwhile, what we do know about this year's Buffs is they are a team that has played terrific basketball for stretches — and been equally unimpressive in others. Boyle has said more than once that when his team plays well, it can compete with just about anyone in the country. Given that Oregon, a team with whom the Buffs split a season series, is being projected as a No. 1 or 2 seed, it's not a far-fetched statement.
The question, of course, is whether the Buffs can put together a solid 40 minutes when they need it the most. They've done it on occasion this season — they own wins over Arizona, Oregon, Washington, Oregon State and Cal — but haven't managed to do it away from the Coors Events Center.
Thing is, they are capable. They dominated Utah, a likely top-four seed, for 33 minutes on the Utes' home floor. They did the same to USC, also a projected tournament team, on the Trojans' home floor. And, on a neutral court, they had SMU, a consensus top 25 team for much of the season, on the ropes for more than 30 minutes.
But in each instance, they let the game slip away.
I'll argue that these Buffs have already established themselves as one of the quality teams in CU modern history. They finished fifth in one of the toughest conferences in the nation, have nine wins against top-100 RPI teams (three against top-25 squads) and finished with 21 regular season wins — tied for the most in program history.
But if they can figure out how to put together a solid 40 minutes — and do it in back-to-back games — they have a chance to do something a CU team hasn't accomplished in more than 60 years.
That would be a legacy worth cementing.
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu
