Woelk: Solid Weekend Sets Stage For Buffs Showdown With Ducks
February 09, 2020 | Men's Basketball, Neill Woelk
BOULDER — This past weekend proved to be a very good one for Tad Boyle's Colorado Buffaloes.
For starters, the Buffs (19-5 overall, 8-3 Pac-12) wrapped up a two-game home sweep with wins over Cal and Stanford, which vaulted the Buffs into sole possession of first place in the Pac-12 standings. The 81-74 win over the Cardinal was particularly important for No. 24 Colorado, as it provided CU with a valuable Quadrant 1 win in the NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) rankings.
Meanwhile, the Buffs got some help around the conference. Oregon State pulled off an upset at home over rival Oregon while UCLA might have recorded the biggest upset of the weekend on the West Coast — a 65-52 win at Arizona.
The OSU win, coupled with the Buffs' victory over Stanford, gave Colorado (19-5 overall, 8-3 Pac-12) sole possession of first place in the conference standings. It also improved CU's early conference loss to the Beavers to a Quadrant 2 loss instead of a Quadrant 3 (trust us, that's a good thing).
UCLA's win, meanwhile, handed Arizona its fourth conference loss, something that could be critical as the league race heads down the home stretch.
It all adds up to the Buffs being in first place after 11 games of conference play, setting the stage for Thursday night's CU-Oregon (18-6, 7-4) matchup in Eugene — the current No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the Pac-12 (7 p.m., ESPN).
As for being in first place after 11 games, that's something that hasn't happened to Colorado for more than half a century.Â
The last time CU was atop the league standings at this point in the league season came in 1968-69, when the Buffs and Kansas were tied for the Big 8 lead with 8-3 records. That year, Sox Walseth's Buffs went on to win the Big 8 title with a 10-4 record and earn an NCAA Tournament berth.
But the Buffs have been 8-3 in conference play since then. Just eight years ago, Colorado was also 8-3 in the Buffaloes' first year in the Pac-12, good enough for second place in the standings at that point. CU then went 4-4 down the stretch to finish fifth in the Pac-12 with an 11-7 mark — but followed that with a memorable four-game run through the conference tournament to earn an NCAA berth.
No doubt, Thursday night's showdown — a rematch of the meeting earlier this year in Boulder, won 75-65 by the Buffs — has all kinds of implications. But it's just one game of a two-game road swing. While not as sexy in terms of matchup, Saturday's 8 p.m. game at Oregon State (FS1) is equally important. Not only is it a chance for the Buffs to make up for an earlier home loss to the Beavers — one that still stings — it's a chance for a conference road win.
AROUND THE LEAGUE: Yes, the Pac-12 continues to be a topsy-turvy, hard-to-predict conference.
We've already mentioned the Oregon State-Oregon and UCLA-Arizona scores, but there were other interesting results over the weekend.
Just 10 days ago, USC sat atop the Pac-12 standings. Now, after three straight losses — a home loss to Colorado and road losses at Arizona and Arizona State over the weekend — the Trojans are tied for fifth with a 6-5 conference mark.
UCLA, meanwhile, is heading up. The Bruins have won three of their last four — including victories over Colorado and Arizona — and have moved into a tie with USC for the fifth spot. Utah also earned a weekend sweep of the Bay Area schools and is hovering in the middle of the pack.
It all means the home stretch will be an interesting one, to say the least. While Colorado does hold the conference lead, there are six teams within two games of the Buffs in the loss column. Teams that can hold serve at home and win a road game or two in February and early March will be the teams that earn a top-four finish and first-round bye in the Pac-12 tournament.
SATURDAY SECOND LOOK: Saturday's collision between CU's Evan Battey and Stanford's Oscar da Silva and the ensuing huddle by both teams at midcourt was getting plenty of national attention Saturday night and Sunday morning — and for good reason.
It was a terrific show of sportsmanship by both squads, and it brought to the forefront the respect CU's Boyle and Stanford coach Jerod Haase have for each other. Both coaches take pride in running clean programs and both coaches are respected among their peers.
"I think it was a great show of unity," Haase said. "I have a great deal of respect for the Colorado basketball program. Coach Boyle is first class and I think everything you saw out there was genuine and real. Again, I think this game represents what's right about college basketball in a concerning time for our sport. Colorado and Coach Boyle are at the forefront of people doing it well. I know Coach Boyle has been an advocate for doing things the right way. He's involved with so many things in the NCAA. Although it was a tough game for us, it was fun to watch two teams just compete as hard as they could."
No doubt, CU fans can be proud of the program Boyle has built because of its successes. But Buffs faithful should also be proud of the reputation Boyle and the Buffs have built for themselves in terms of a program that is known for doing things "the right way."
RANKINGS: Monday's AP and coaches polls should see the Buffs move up several spots. While those polls technically don't have any effect on the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee, they nevertheless still have a positive effect on the overall perception of Colorado basketball. In that regard, they are important.
But rankings that matter to the selection committee include the NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) rankings, the Kenpom.com rankings, the ESPN Basketball Power Index (BPI) rankings and the Sagarin rankings. These metrics are all part of the selection committee's "team sheets" that are integral to the selection and seeding process.
As of Sunday, the Buffaloes were in good shape in those metrics. CU was 16th in the NET, 21st in Kenpom, 21st in the Sagarin and 28th in the ESPN BPI.
What does that mean? In early February, not a whole lot. But it at least means the Buffaloes have positioned themselves to be in the mix for a solid seed when the NCAA committee makes its decisions. The key will be how the Buffs finish down the stretch.
BUFFS BITS: Saturday's comeback win over the Cardinal — Colorado trailed by 16 early in the second half — produced some interesting numbers.
After hitting just 1 of their first 11 3-point tries, the Buffs hit their last 10 to finish 11-for-21 (.524 percent), their second-best shooting percentage of the year from long distance. Colorado also made 23 of its last 27 free throws after starting 7-for-13 from the line. CU is still second in the Pac-12 in conference games free throw percentage, hitting 74.5 percent of its attempts from the stripe.
DOWN THE ROAD: After this week's trip to Oregon, the Buffs have just two home games remaining — Feb. 20 against USC and Feb. 22 against UCLA — followed by a three-game road trip to wrap up the regular season. Colorado heads to the Bay Area for a Feb. 27 game at Cal and March 1 game at Stanford, then finishes with a March 7 matchup at Utah.
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu
