Buffs Prepare For Crucial Three-Game Home Stretch
February 27, 2019 | Men's Basketball, Neill Woelk
BOULDER — With a 16-11 overall record (7-8 Pac-12) and three regular season games remaining — plus at least one conference tournament game — the Colorado Buffaloes are on the edge.
If they can win their last three, then pick up at least a win or two in the Pac-12 tournament, they will be a solid candidate for an NIT bid. There is also the possibility that they could hit the jackpot in Las Vegas and run the table in the conference tournament, which would guarantee them an NCAA Tournament bid.
But every loss from here on out will put a serious dent in their postseason hopes, something head coach Tad Boyle has been trying to impress upon the Buffs this week.
"We've put ourselves where every game, every time we step on the floor, the game means something," Boyle said after Wednesday's practice. "I told our team today, there's two kinds of teams this time of year. There's teams that are preparing for postseason, there's teams that are preparing for spring break. ... I asked them which group we're in. They answered the right one. But it's one thing to say that. You have to come out and play that way."
Next up on the Buffs' agenda — and the only game, Boyle said, that matters today — is a 4 p.m. game Saturday with Utah, the first of CU's three-game homestand to end the regular season. The Utes (15-12, 9-6) are in a position very similar to the Buffs. They need to pick up three wins down the stretch, plus some tournament wins, to earn an NIT bid, or make a Pac-12 run to get the call from the NCAA.
In fact, there are a host of Pac-12 teams in the same position. While Washington (22-5, 13-1) appears to be in solid bet to earn an NCAA bid and Arizona State (19-8, 10-5) is on the cusp, there are eight Pac-12 teams who could put themselves in line for an NIT bid with a strong finish — and who also have a puncher's chance of running the conference tournament table for an NCAA berth.
"We're going to have to play our way into postseason," Boyle said. "We're not going to be able to back our way into postseason. Every game is important."
The Buffs are still alive in the hunt for a top-four Pac-12 finish, which would give them a first-round tourney bye. But that chance — bolstered by a five-game win streak to start the month of February — was dimmed considerably by last week's two losses in Washington.
Now, Boyle doesn't want his players spending too much time considering the long-term possibilities because if the Buffs don't beat Utah, their postseason chances will take a significant hit.
"I want our team thinking about how to beat Utah, I don't want them thinking about the NIT," Boyle said. "I don't want them thinking about the NCAA Tournament. I want them thinking about trying to beat Utah, and understanding that we want this season to go as long as it can."
Because this is the week of the Pac-12's designated "rivalry" game for CU and Utah, both teams have just one game this week. It meant Boyle had the chance to give his players two days off — Sunday and Monday — and still have four days of preparation for the Utes. The days off, Boyle said, came at a good time. CU has two games next week, then will face a quick turnaround before the Pac-12 tournament.
"This is the time of year when guys are nicked up and their bodies are a little achy, got some bumps and bruises," Boyle said. "We don't get another chance to do that (two days off in a row). This is it. That's why we wanted to use those two days."
Boyle also took the opportunity to remind his team Wednesday that when they tip off against Utah on Saturday, the calendar will say March — the month when college basketball rules the roost.
"I feel it," Boyle said. "Absolutely, absolutely I feel it. I feel it in my gut. I feel it 24-7. These guys, I don't know if they're feeling it or not."
And, he noted, teams that win in March are the teams that prepared.
"You don't rise to the level of your competition," he said. "You don't rise in March. You fall back on your level of preparation. How well prepared are you? How hard are you practicing? How hard are you competing every single day? That's what you have to do to win games in March. You have to play well, you have to execute, you have to compete, you have to play with toughness. I think it was Bill Parcells who said, 'You are what your record says you are.' We're 16-11 as of today, and that's who we are."
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu