Colorado University Athletics
Buffs Men Gear Up For NCAA Opener In Dayton
March 18, 2024 | Men's Basketball, Neill Woelk
DAYTON, Ohio — The task of playing in the NCAA Tournament's "First Four" is by no means optimal.
The game means a quicker turnaround for teams involved and the potential for three games in a five-day span, with an additional day of travel involved. For teams that just finished playing three games in three days in a conference tournament, the task can be particularly taxing — especially for teams whose depth has been dinged by injuries.
Tad Boyle's Colorado Buffaloes face such a challenge this week. The Buffs, a No. 10 seed in the tournament, will open NCAA play Wednesday in Dayton, Ohio, against No. 10 Boise State in a 7:10 p.m. (MT) game.
But the Buffs aren't complaining. Rather, Boyle and his team are trying to find a silver lining in the situation.
"I know from experience in the Pac 12 tournament, sometimes playing that first round game — even though you'd rather not — sometimes it's an advantage because your guys get the jitters out," Boyle said Monday morning before the Buffs departed for Dayton. "If you're lucky enough to win and move on and you're playing that next opponent and it's their first time on the stage and it's not yours, it can be an advantage. It really can."
If the Buffs do win their opener against the Broncos, they will play Florida on Friday in Indianapolis at 2:30 p.m. While that means the Buffs would have to travel on Thursday, they would at least get a day's rest between games.
"What makes the NCAA Tournament different from conference tournaments is it's not back-to-back-to-back," Boyle said. "You always have at least one day of prep in between, one day of rest in between. For our team, when we're playing some guys some pretty heavy minutes, it is critical."
The Buffs have been hounded by injuries all season. Freshman Cody Williams has missed 13 games and junior guard Julian Hammond III has missed nine, including the last seven. Williams did return for last week's Pac-12 tournament and will be available this week but Boyle said Hammond still might not be ready to go.
Meanwhile, some of Colorado's starters have been logging ironman-type minutes.
KJ Simpson has played at least 39 minutes in seven straight games. J'Vonne Hadley has averaged more than 36 minutes per game over the last seven and Tristan da Silva has averaged the same in that stretch.
The Buffs don't have an overwhelming amount of NCAA Tournament experience. Seniors da Silva and Luke O'Brien were on the 2021 team that made CU's last NCAA appearance while big man Eddie Lampkin Jr. was on TCU's tourney team last year.
"You'd rather have experience than not, there's no doubt about it," Boyle said. "There's no teacher in life like experience … I'm not saying that's a huge advantage. It's not something you can't overcome. But when your players know what's coming and they've been there before it helps."
There's no doubt the Buffaloes were hoping for a little higher seed — or at least not a berth in the First Four.
But they are in the tournament and now have a chance to prove themselves.
"I think our guys have a little bit of a chip on their shoulder," Boyle said. "We see some teams there that were seeded higher than us, that don't have as good of metrics as we do. But that's the beauty of this tournament. Now we get a chance to go out and prove that we belong and earn respect nationally."
FAMILIAR FOES: Boyle is well-acquainted with Boise State. He and BSU coach Leon Rice are good friends — Rice was an assistant for Boyle on last summer's USA Basketball U19 squad — and the two families know each other well.
"He's a good friend and you hate playing friends in this business because you don't have a lot of them," Boyle said. "When I saw (the pairing), I can't lie. I was a little bit disappointed because I have such respect for him. He and I are close, our wives are close, our kids are close. We've got a really good kind of coaching fraternity that I'm a part of that is pretty special."
Rice and current CU assistant Bill Grier worked together as assistants at Gonzaga before Rice took the BSU job in 2010 — the same year Boyle was named head coach at Colorado.
Wednesday's matchup won't be the first for Boyle and Rice. The two met last year in the Myrtle Beach Invitational with the Broncos taking a 68-55 win.
This year's BSU team finished third in the Mountain West before losing to eventual tourney champ New Mexico in the quarterfinals of the conference tournament.
Rice's son, Max Rice, is one of BSU's leading players, averaging 12.5 points and 3.8 rebounds.
"Leon and I talked yesterday after the selection show," Boyle said. "The good news is one of us is moving on. The bad news is one of us has to go home."
ON THE AIR: As always, all of Colorado's games will be carried on the radio by the KOA Network with Voice of the Buffs Mark Johnson and Scott Wilke. Wednesday's game will also be televised by truTV with Spero Dedes, Jim Spanarkel and Jon Rothstein on the call. If the Buffs advance to Friday's game, it will be televised by TBS with Kevin Harlan, Dan Bonner, Stan Van Gundy and Andy Katz.
