Colorado University Athletics
Boyle's Buffs Set To Open Season Against Veteran Northern Colorado Squad
November 09, 2017 | Men's Basketball, Neill Woelk
BOULDER — Colorado basketball coach Tad Boyle isn't exactly overjoyed with the guy who approved the Buffs' schedule this season.
Problem is, it's Boyle who is in charge of such things — and now his Buffs face a 6 p.m. season opener Friday against a seasoned Northern Colorado squad at the Coors Events Center.
"Not a very good schedule from my end," Boyle said only half-jokingly Thursday morning. "I'd rather be playing some directional school from someplace nobody's ever heard of."
But truth is, the game is not the picture-perfect opener for a young team that has nine players — including six true freshmen — who have yet to suit up in an official game for Colorado.
They will be facing a veteran, talented Bears lineup that includes three seniors who all redshirted last season while UNC served a self-imposed postseason ban. Now those seniors are back in uniform, and they showed their potential last week in an 83-79 exhibition loss at Colorado State, a game that was a two-point affair in the final minute.
"It will certainly a good barometer for where we're at," Boyle said. "I know our guys will be ready. The Buffs will be ready. … We have to exert our will. We're playing at home and hopefully we can get the crowd involved and play with great energy and get them behind us as well."
Boyle has had a chance to see his team in game situations twice thus far — an exhibition win over Colorado Mines and a closed scrimmage against SMU last weekend. Both provided mixed results.
But now the games count, and Boyle is anxious to see how his players react, especially the newcomers.
"It's going to be a learning curve for this group, for our freshmen," Boyle said. "They're going to make mistakes and they're going to have to play through the mistakes."
Boyle hasn't announced his starting lineup, but if it follows form from the exhibition game, it will include seniors George King, Tory Miller-Stewart and Dominique Collier, true freshman McKinley Wright IV, and either junior transfer Namon Wright or true freshman Tyler Bey in the fifth spot.
The starting lineup, however, won't be as important as what will be the rotation Boyle and his staff employ. The Buffs have 12 players capable of contributing, but as Boyle noted, a 12-man rotation is untenable.
"That's going to be a work in progress, a game-to-game thing," Boyle said. "We're still looking for that. … I wouldn't put a lot of stock in the starting lineup .We'll trot five guys out there because that's the rules. But the bench is going to be really important to us."
The Bears are a guard-heavy team that includes redshirt seniors Andre Spight and Anthony Johnson along with junior Jordan Davis. Spight had 25 points and eight rebounds against CSU while Davis and forward Tanner Morgan — another redshirt senior — had 15 points and seven rebounds each.
"They're a team we'd better respect," Boyle said. "I know what they did up at CSU. They could have, and I'm sure they feel like they should have, won."
Boyle said he will be looking for two things from his team in the opener.
"Great effort," he said. "With a young team, not pacing themselves. They have to play as hard as they can for the amount of time they're on the floor. And we need to have great concentration because they run a good offense and they're running at a very efficient clip right now. They're in midseason form right now offensively. We have to concentrate at an elite level as well for 40 minutes."
Without a commanding rebounding presence in the post, the Buffs will need solid team rebounding — something Boyle didn't see in the exhibition and scrimmage.
"It has to be everybody doing their job," Namon Wright said. "It has to be me getting seven, George getting 10, Tyler getting eight, D'Shawn getting five. That's how you win. Everybody doing their job."
NUTS AND BOLTS:
Tipoff: 6 p.m., Coors Events Center
Tickets: Available at CUBuffs.com
TV: Pac-12 Mountain with Drew Goodman and Mary Murphy
Radio: 850 AM KOA with Mark Johnson and Scott Wilke
Watch online: Pac-12 Now
Listen online: CUBuffs.com
Live statistics: CUBuffs.com
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu
