Colorado University Athletics
Woelk: CU's Seniors Still Have Time To Leave Positive Imprint
January 22, 2017 | Men's Basketball, Neill Woelk
BOULDER — A basketball season that many thought would involve the next level for the Colorado Buffaloes has instead produced a hard-to-fathom step back.
Guaranteed, nobody saw an 0-7 Pac-12 start coming from Tad Boyle's Buffs — beginning with Boyle. It's been a painful, gut-wrenching stretch for a senior-laden team that entered the year with high hopes.
But if anything, the Buffs' recent woes are an indication of just how narrow the margin is between success and failure at high-level Division I hoops.
Of CU's seven losses in Pac-12 play, four have come in games in which Colorado held the lead in the final minute of regulation or overtime. It means that the Buffs are literally four possessions away from being 4-3 in league play, a situation that has no doubt led to some agonizing "what if" moments in the film room.
But fact is, nobody is going to give the Buffs a mulligan — and the question now is not how they got to this point, but rather where they'll go from here.
That's a big question.
What we know is Colorado has 11 Pac-12 games remaining, plus the conference tournament. Technically, that's still enough time to turn the season back in the right direction and make a run at a postseason bid.
But any conversation today regarding the NCAA Tournament — or NIT or any other acronym, for that matter — is fruitless.
These Buffs must set their sights on the very simple task of winning their next game — and that focus has to come from the seniors.
After all, it is the seniors whose college careers are suddenly coming to a very quick end, no matter what happens from this point on. In a sense, they are playing for pride — and that's not something to which this group is accustomed.
All four of CU's seniors have played in multiple NCAA Tournaments. They have played a role in helping turn Colorado into a program that has made NCAA berths an expectation rather than a pleasant surprise. To see the chance for one more return trip now a long shot is certainly not something they expected.
But it doesn't mean they still don't have the chance to leave a positive impact on the program.
Saturday afternoon, in the wake of CU's latest heartbreaker, Boyle stressed that he didn't think his players had lost their fight or resolve. He made it clear that he saw no sign that these Buffs were ready to give up on the season.
If that is indeed the case, these seniors still have a chance to leave a lasting imprint on Colorado basketball — a program still in the process of climbing the ladder to elite status. It's a process that doesn't happen overnight, or even in the stretch of a few years. It takes time, it seldom follows a straight-line trajectory, and it requires a steadfast commitment, particularly in the face of adversity.
That is what this group of seniors still has the opportunity to impart. It's a lesson they can leave for every other player on the roster — a legacy that says Colorado basketball never quits.
On the surface, it may not seem like much. Nobody likes the idea of playing for pride instead of the prize, especially a group of seniors who began the season with an eye on making a run in the NCAA Tournament.
But now, Colorado's seniors find themselves at an interesting crossroads. While the postseason is still a possibility, it can no longer be their sole source of motivation.
Now the motivation must come from within. These seniors still have the opportunity to decide how they will be remembered. They still have the chance to leave an imprint on the program, a lesson that adversity is simply one more rung on the ladder of success.
It's a lesson they can leave behind — and a memory they can carry with them the rest of their lives.
That, it would seem, is a worthwhile prize still well within reach.
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu
