Plati-'Tudes: More March Madness Fantasy Fun (and a lot more!)

Welcome to a notes and comment column in its 19th year, penned by CU Associate Athletic Director David Plati, who is his 36th year as the Buffaloes' director of sports information.

Plati-'Tudes No. 115 ... Week three of "sheltering at home." I think the last time most of us did that in Colorado was back in 2003, when we had that crazy snowstorm that dumped something like 45 inches of snow in two days. But we were really just homebound for what, four days? I personally then go back to the winter of 1978 in New York, when we had a major storm that closed school for a week prior to the winter break, so we essentially had two weeks off my senior year in high school.

Opening Trivia
CU—This year's spring football game, originally set for April 25, has been postponed until further notice due to the coronavirus pandemic. We believe spring games started here sometime after World War II, but definitely by 1953. It has been cancelled just one time since, that occurring in 1978. Why?
Music—The CU football team was ranked No. 1 for the first time in the polls of November 27, 1989 … this soon-to-be infamous song for the wrong reasons appeared at No. 1 for the first time that same week. What was it?
Name That Tune—From 1961: "I saw your lips, I heard your voice … Believe me, I just had no choice … Wild horses couldn't make me stay away."

Quick Hits

With the last decade now complete (2010-11 through 2019-20 athletic seasons), which of our teams had the best dual record? Women's lacrosse, which posted seven winning seasons (out of seven, its first year was 2014) and went 79-40 (66.4 winning percentage). Men's basketball got the runner-up spot at 210-134 (61.0; easily its most wins ever in decade, topping 154-102 in the 60s, which was 60.1 percent) … As far as records against Division I competition, the men's cross country team ran away with it, going 989-69 (93.5) for the decade; the women's cross country team followed at 982-111-2 (89.8) with the ski team right behind at 501-58 (89.6) … We had two undefeated national champions, the men's cross country team in 2014 (100-0) and the skiers in 2013 (56-0) … Sorry to learn of the passing of Dale Bublitz, long-time Associated Press reporter; he passed away from complications due to stomach cancer last Saturday (April 4). He was one of the good guys, and always looked out for the small fish in the big pond (giving other sports and athletes their due). I dated back to his Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference days when he lived in Utah and covered the conference when I was the league's info director from 1980-84 (on the side).

CU Night On Pac-12 Networks
This Wednesday (April 8), the Pac-12 Network will have a CU showcase night, starting at 7:00 p.m. mountain time. Five classic games have been selected, all with significant meaning. The list (all times MST):

7:00 p.m. — 2016 Football: 38-24 win over Washington State
8:00 p.m. — 2016 Football: 41-38 win at Oregon
9:00 p.m. — 2013 Men's Basketball: 75-72 win over Kansas
10:30 p.m. — 2013 Women's Volleyball: victory over No. 1 Washington
12:00 a.m. — 2001 Football (Big 12 Championship) 39-37 win over Texas

Ask The Coaches
I polled some of our head coaches with a couple of fun questions. "While we're all sequestered away like we're on the jury for the trial of a Mafioso":

What one movie do you hope to watch?
Tad Boyle (men's basketball): Good Will Hunting.
Roy Edwards (men's golf): Godfather Trilogy (in order).
Anne Kelly (women's golf): Sleepless in Seattle (feel good/sappy); Hoosiers (sports).
Jesse Mahoney (volleyball): Spike Lee's Inside Man (he already watched it!).
Danny Sanchez (soccer): Non-Commercial version of Shawshank Redemption (seen it with commercials 53 times
Mark Wetmore (cross country & track): Classic Mark, "Let's put them together to minimize couch time and watch When We Were Kings."
And myself: Three Days of the Condor

What one sporting game/event would you want to see a replay of?
Boyle: The 1986 Masters (Nicklaus' fifth and final win at age 46).
Edwards: 1991 Orange Bowl (CU 10, Notre Dame 9)
Kelly: The Masters (either 1986, Nicklaus winning; 1995, Crenshaw win; 2019, Tiger win). Or the 1980 Miracle on Ice.
Mahoney: 1992 Olympic Men's Basketball Gold Medal Game (USA 117, Croatia 85; "Not a lot of drama but fun to see that group of athletes.")
Sanchez: 1989 Big East Men's Soccer Championship (has to exist somewhere!)Wetmore: see above.
Plati: 1977 World Series Game Six and 1996 U.S. Open final round (CU's Steve Jones win)

March Madness: What If CU's Best Four Teams Played Each Other (Part II)
So this week I'll play off four of the best men's basketball teams in our history, jiving with what would have been the men's title game tonight (April 6). I seeded the teams, easily up for debate (as are the results for that matter), and if there were back-to-back teams that featured the bulk of the same rosters, I selected one of those (e.g., 1961-62/1962-63). This was for pure fun an to create some content to counter the Coronavirus (I've seen it capitalized, and I've seen it not, by the way). I could have easily placed the '41-42, '68-69, '02-03 and '19-20 teams in the mix, but decided to go with the four above; leaving out '68-69 was tough, but the Sox Walseth Era is repped by '61-62. Nothing personal, guys!)

Note: There was no shot clock until 1985-86 (first introduced in college basketball and at 45 seconds). Top seeds in this fantasy game get to have the rules applied that they adhered to (no three pointers, either).

CU Men's Semifinal #1: (1) 1954-55 vs. (4) 2011-12
CU's second (and last) team to reach the Final Four up against one of the few teams in history to win four games needed to claim a conference postseason tournament. And a match-up of two of the best coaches in school history between H.B. Lee and Tad Boyle. A team with two Olympians in Burdette Haldorson and Bob Jeangerard against one with two future NBA players in Spencer Dinwiddie and Andre Roberson. The '54-55 team was 2-1 against ranked teams (all in the postseason), the '11-12 bunch 1-1 (same). Haldorson led his team with 21.0 points per game (still the seventh highest in school history some 65 years later), with Jeangerard averaging 16.0, to this day one of the top 1-2 scoring punches ever at CU; the team averaged 70.9 points per game and allowed 62.8. Fast-forward to the '11-12 team, Brown led four players in double figures (12.6), the team averaged 67.5 points per, and allowed 63.0.

'54-55 Starters (19-6): F Bob Jeangerard, F Mel Coffman, C Burdette Haldorson, G Charlie Mock, G Tom Harrold (6th: F Jim Ranglos)
'11-12 Starters (24-12): G Spencer Dinwiddie, G Carlon Brown, G Nate Tomlinson, F Austin Dufault, F Andre Roberson (6th: G Askia Booker)

So how do you limit a team with scorers like Spencer Dinwiddie, Carlon Brown and Andre Roberson? Use the benefit of no shot clock and a 22-footer counts as much as a layup. The No. 1 seed gets to play with '54-55 rules; no shot clock, no threes, the key looks like a key so All-American and two-time Olympian Burdette Haldorson will have rebounds rain down on him. The counter? I never saw the '54-55 team play (even on film), but have heard plenty, including Bill Russell say that Haldorson was one of the best players he ever lined up against. The '11-12 gang for sure was conditioned—one of a handful to win four games in as many days to win the school's first-ever appearance in the Pac-12 tournament. This one came down to defense, the Haldorson-Jeangerard combo took a while to get going but combined for 20 first half points to give the '54-55 team a 31-24 lead at intermission. The '11-12 team rallied to tie the game at 38 six minutes into the second half, but that's when Haldorson took over, taking feed after feed from Charlie Mock and Tom Harrold to finish with 31 points, leading his team to a 69-60 win. He hauled down 20 rebounds as well, with Jeangerard adding 16 points and seven boards. Dinwiddie and Roberson led the '11-12 squad with 14 points apiece, as their squad was held to just 34.4 percent shooting, the ninth time under 40 percent for the year.

CU Men's Semifinal #2: (2) 1961-62 vs. (3) 1996-97
The first of two back-to-back Big 8 Conference championship teams (13-1 in '61-62 and 24-4 combined in conference including '62-63) against the team with the most recent highest finish in league play ('96-97, second in the Big 12). Ken Charlton averaged 19.9 points and 9.7 rebounds per game – team highs in both – with Wilky Gilmore (13.2 ppg) and Jim Davis (11.0 ppg, 8.6 rpg) complementing Charlton nicely; Davis became the first Buff to shoot over .500 from the field (50.2) as the team set a record for field goal accuracy at the time (41.1). Both the '61-62 and '62-63 teams won their first round NCAA tournament game, but fell to Cincinnati both years to keep from advancing to the Final Four (Cincinnati was the '62 champion and '63 runner-up). CU averaged 64.2 points on offense and 61.4 on defense and was 1-0 against ranked teams (only 10 teams were ranked for most of the 60's); with four of the losses by a combined 22 points. The 1996-97 team finished second in its first year in the Big 12 (11-5 record), and had several signature wins, including an 80-62 rout of Indiana in the first round of the NCAA tournament (spoiling a second round match-up between Indiana's Bobby Knight and North Carolina's Dean Smith). Chauncey Billups led the team in scoring (19.1) and assists (4.8), with support from Fred Edmonds (12.4 ppg, team-best 6.4 rebounds per game) and Martice Moore (10.0 ppg). The team averaged 73.1 points per outing, and allowed 69.6 in going 2-4 against ranked teams.

'61-62 Starters (19-7): F Ken Charlton, F Wilky Gilmore, C Jim Davis, G Eric Lee, G Gil Whissen (6th: F Milt Mueller)
'96-97 Starters (22-10): F Fred Edmonds, F Martice Moore, F Ronnie DeGray, G Chauncey Billups, G Howard Frier (6th: F Will Smith)

This game really could have gone either way; not sure if anyone on '96-97 could stop Ken Charlton; ditto on '61-62 being able to corral Chauncey Billups. Chauncey's bunch needed to shoot well, the '61-62 could rebound with the best in the country, so not too many second chances were going to happen – and didn't. The lead changed hands 12 times in the first half and fittingly ended in a 31-31 tie. But the '96-97 squad had their big men in foul trouble trying to keep Charlton (11 points), Jim Davis (8 points, 9 rebounds) and Wilky Gilmore (6 points, 5 rebounds) in check; Fred Edmonds and Ronnie DeGray were each saddled with three fouls. Billups explosive first half (17 points) kept his team in the game. It was more of the same: every time the '62 team tried to pull away, the '97 gang caught 'em. Five different times '62 led by six points, and all five times '97 tied the game, but could never vault into the lead. Milt Mueller's 12-foot jumper put '62 ahead, 66-64, with 11 seconds left, but Billups nailed a 23-footer at the buzzer to send the game into overtime (remember, '60s rules, no threes). In the overtime, the 1-2 punch of Charlton and Davis (7 and 6 points, respectively) proved to be too much, as the '61-62 Buffs advanced to the title game with an 83-79 victory. Charlton finished with 25 points and Davis 19, with each hauling in 16 rebounds, mostly on the defensive end as the '97 team had just four offensive boards all game. Billups had a game-high 29 for the '97s with Will Smith adding 12 off the bench.

CU Men's Championship: (1) 1954-55 vs. (2) 1961-62
In speaking with the legendary Burdie Haldorson, he said a game between these two teams would be in the low 60s, maybe the 50's. So with that mindset, and the reminder no shot clock, these teams probably spent the better portion of the first half feeling each other out and how to get the ball inside to their top scorers. Haldorson and Davis (both 6-foot-8) would have been a heckuva battle to watch, and I can't imagine either team running away from the other and that was exactly the case – the first half alone had five lead changes but 13 ties as the '55 Buffs took a 28-25 halftime lead. The '62 CUers opened the second stanza on an 8-0 spurt to take it is largest lead of the game at 33-28, but the sharpshooting guards of Mock and Harrold scored two baskets apiece with Haldorson adding one of his patented hook shots for a 10-0 run of its own to have '55 retake the lead at 38-33 seven minutes into the half. It was then the classic cut the lead to one, fall back by five for literally the next 10 minutes, with '55 ahead 58-56 with a little over three minutes remaining. Now very deliberate on offense, and with no reason to rush a shot, Charlton works himself open at the top of the key and drills home a 20-footer to tie the game at 58 with 1:21 left to play. The '55 squad then decides to go for the final shot, Mock dribbling just across the center line for what seemed like an eternity. With 12 seconds left, he starts into the offense, drives right, stops and fires the ball inside to Haldorson; but with Davis draped all over him, Haldorson kicks it back outside to Harrold who fires from 17-feet and nails it as time runs out, '55 beats '62 by a score of 60-58. Haldorson and Charlton lead their respective squads with 18 points each, with Jeangerard and Davis each adding 14; Davis is the leading rebounder with 11. No assists leader—it wasn't an official stat until later in the decade.

Burdette Haldorson's Thoughts (he turned 86 in January): "The team was absolutely, truly a team. The five guys in the lineup all had their specific jobs and did them very well. If even one player hadn't done his, we might have tripped up. We had a good point guard (Mock), a good shooting guard (Harrold), as a good a small forward you could ask for (Jeangerard), and the other forward is what they now refer to as a "4" (Coffman or Ranglos).   And everyone who came off the bench filled those roles as well. Charlie (Mock) had a heckuva set shot – not very many took jump shots back in the day – and I used to tell him to take his shot, but he'd defer to passing the ball inside to me. His attitude was, 'Hey, if I feed it into you, you have an even better chance of making your hook shot."'

This P-'Tudes Number: 50-19-2
That was CU's record in the two stints Karl Dorrell spent as an assistant coach here in the 1990's: 17-5-2 in two seasons under Bill McCartney (1992-93), and 33-14 in four under Rick Neuheisel (1995-98). That included a bowl record of 4-1.

The P-'Tudes Mailbag
A few questions this week … guess many of us are bored … or sentimental …

Q: Any idea where CU ranks all-time for hiring African-American head football coaches?
A: I did some research on this. Since Wichita State hired Willie Jeffries in 1979 as the first black head coach in college football's top division, just nine schools have had as many as two full-time African-American coaches … but only two schools have hired as many as three: Colorado (Jon Embree (2011-12), Mel Tucker (2019) and Karl Dorrell (first season) and Stanford (Dennis Green (1989-91), Tyrone Whittingham (1995-2001) and David Shaw (2011-present).

Q: Were you surprised that Karl Dorrell was who we turned to after Mel Tucker bolted for Michigan State?
A: I was only surprised because I literally read the day before he had been promoted to assistant head coach for the Dolphins. I figured he'd be one of the next in line (along with Eric Bieniemy) for an NFL head coaching job. When Rick George told me on Saturday (well, he made me guess first—his told me we're hiring someone whose daughter had been on our volleyball team), I was pretty fired up, having worked with Karl for six years in the 1990s. You go from "wow" to what a no-brainer.

Q: What was really behind that so-called media tour that Tucker did the day he resigned?
A: More was made out of those than what they were. If you recall, Mel was in the group that went to California on Friday for our annual post-signing day donor events. He also spoke somewhere on Thursday in a previous engagement; the three radio interviews on that Tuesday were all set in advance to talk about our recruiting class – interviews we didn't have room to fit into his schedule the week before. And like everyone else, I had zero clue as to what would transpire later that day…

Q: Any crazy ideas about a how a shortened football season could look because of the virus?
A: I'm full of crazy ideas. How about an 8-game regular season that runs Oct. 3-10-17-24-31 and Nov. 7-14-21 (or if time permits, 10 games starting Sept. 19, nine games on Sept. 26). No bye weeks, and make them all conference games (or if a 10-game season, one regional game, but no FCS opponents, and the remainder nine league games—sorry ACC and SEC, deal with it). We would play CSU and the nine Pac-12 games already on the schedule. Conference championship games on Nov. 27-28. Then have a one-time, 16-team playoff that TV would go wild for that could help recoup many of the dollars we'll all likely be short of. All 10 conference winners and six wild card schools (including one of the independents if worthy). First round Dec. 5 at campus sites, quarterfinals Dec. 12 or 19 (in regional locations, say Detroit, Las Vegas, Orlando and San Antonio, subbing for the earlier bowl games there; semifinals remain on New Year's Day (Rose and Sugar bowls), championship remains on January 11 (Miami Gardens, Fla.). Hey, this might not be that bad of a half-brained idea if the season has to be cut short!

Trivia Answers
CU—The 1978 game, scheduled for May 6, had to be cancelled due to a spring snowstorm that dumped nearly a foot of snow in Boulder and along the Front Range. It remains the latest in state history that that amount of snow has fallen after the end of April along Colorado's Front Range of the Rockies (well before the fall, of course).
Music— The No. 1 song that week was Blame It On The Rain, by the German duo Milli Vanilli; but soon it would be revealed that other performers actually sang their songs and they lip-synched everything. They even had to return their Grammy Award for best new artist. Fortunately, it only spent two weeks in the top spot and was bumped out by Billy Joel's We Didn't Start The Fire. (I won't provide the link to listen to that song because I personally can't stand it!.)
Name That Tune—Hello Mary Lou by Ricky Nelson. Listen to it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9iqB52nK_8.

"Plati-'Tudes" features notes and stories that may not get much play from the mainstream media; offers Plati's or CU's take on issues raised by those who have an interest in the program; answers questions and concerns; and provides CU's point of view if we should disagree with what may have been written or broadcast. Have a question or want to know CU's take on something? E-mail Dave at david.plati@colorado.edu, and the subject may appear in the next Plati-'Tudes.

Plati-'Tudes: More March Madness Fantasy Fun (and a lot more!)

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