Colorado University Athletics
MBB Hosts Regis, Saturday Night in Final Exhibition Tune up
BOULDER ? The University of Colorado men’s basketball team closes the exhibition portion of their season Saturday, Nov. 12 at 7 p.m. against Regis University at the Coors Events Center. The Buffaloes are 4-0 this exhibition season with all four wins coming over Canadian colleges. On Nov. 6, the Buffs defeated the University of Victoria, 75-51.
The Buffaloes open the regular season against UNC Wilmington next Friday, Nov. 18 (8:30 p.m.) at the Events Center. The Seahawks return three starters from their 19-10 team that won the Colonial Athletic Association regular season title only to fall in the conference semifinals.
LAST GAME: Richard Roby led three other players in double figures with 15 points for a 75-51 CU win over Victoria. Chris Copeland (14 pts., four assists), Andy Osborn (11 pts.) and Dominique Coleman (10 pts.). CU broke open a 31-29 halftime lead outscoring the visitors by a 44-22 margin in the second half. Marcus King-Stockton led all players with 12 rebounds.
ABOUT THE RANGERS: Regis plays their second and final exhibition game tonight. Back on Nov. 7, Regis lost at Colorado State, 87-51. The Rams used a 33-12, first-half run to take a 20-point lead. Junior forward Brandon Butler and senior forward Slade Bigelow tied for team-high honors in points for the Rangers, with 12 apiece.
Projected starting lineup: Junior-transfer Dominique Coleman (6-3, 170) will run the point, followed by sophomore Richard Roby (6-6, 195) and senior Jayson Obazuaye (6-2, 205) on the wings. Seniors Andy Osborn (6-9, 225) and Chris Copeland (6-8, 225).
THE BUFFALOES: CU possesses 10 seniors this season, the most of any school nationally ... Eight seniors are scholarship student-athletes ... The CU men resemble what a box of Total cereal looks like, they return 100% of their scoring, 100% rebounding, 100% blocked shots, 100% of everything from a year ago ... The men look to break their 2004-05 school record of 223 3-pointers ... Richard Roby scored 480 points during his freshman season, the most of any frosh since Chauncey Billups (465) ... Julius Ashby is ineligible for the fall 2005 semester, he could return Dec. 31 or Jan. 3 ... Seniors Chris Copeland, Glean Eddy, Antoine McGee, and Jayson Obazuaye close out their final year in 2005-06. It’s also the first senior class under Head Coach Ricardo Patton that four players will have played their freshman, sophomore, junior and senior years at CU ... Eddy ranks 50th all-time on the CU rebounding list (329) ... McGee (172) and Marcus Hall (171) are 26th and 28th, respectively on the school’s assists list ... Four-year walk-on Billy Boidock (a mechanical engineering major with an influence in alternative energy and energy management) is taking 19 credit hours during the fall semester ... Patton enters his 10th season with the Buffaloes and ranks second all-time on the school’s all-time victories list with 157. He is joined this year by third-year assistant coach Paul Graham (North Texas State ’74) and first year coaches, John Anderson (Stillman College ’80) and Mike Frink (Colorado ’67) ... Frink, who played basketball at CU from 1963-65, is the only former player to be named as an assistant coach in the school’s 104-year history ... Director of Basketball Operations Will Smith is in his second year with the Buffs, was Patton’s first-ever recruit (1996-2000) ... Smith and former CU Buffs player Bob Bauers (1965-67) are tied at No. 52 on the school’s all-time scoring list with 721 points. What makes this ironic, Bauers was Smith’s scholarship donor when Smith played.
BUFFS IN EXHIBITION: The Buffaloes are riding a 13-game winning streak in the exhibition season since No. 5, 1999. Overall, they are 18-1 under Coach Patton with their lone setback occurring No. 8, 1998 to the California All-Stars, 91-89. In its history, CU is 38-6 (.864) during the exhibition season.
Most Points in an Exhibition Game: 133, vs. Fort Sill (105), Nov. 18, 1991; Most Points Allowed in an Exhibition Game: 107, by Spartak Moska, Nov. 18, 1993; Most Points By Two Teams in an Exhibition Game: 238, Colorado (133) vs. Fort Sill (105), Nov. 18, 1991; Largest Margin of Victory in an Exhibition Game: 48 (114-66), vs. Basketball Travelers, Nov. 2, 2001; Largest Margin of Defeat in an Exhibition Game: 23 (73-96), vs. Athletes in Action, Dec. 5, 1978; Narrowest Margin of Victory in an Exhibition Game: 3 (62-59), vs. Yugoslavia, Nov. 29, 1973; Narrowest Margin of Defeat in an Exhibition Game: 1 (90-89, ot), vs. Marathon, Nov. 20, 1995; Longest Exhibition Game Winning Streak: 13 games (1999-present); Longest Exhibition Game Losing Streak: 2 games (1978-79 and 1988-89); Earliest Date of Exhibition Game: Nov. 2 (vs. Basketball Travelers in 2001); Latest Date of Exhibition Game: Jan. 10 (vs. Athletes-in-Action in 1970).
BUFFS PICKED 9TH: The Big 12 coaches are predicting the Buffs will be a ninth place team in 2005-06. Last season the conference coaches predicted a 10th place finish and were almost correct as CU finished 11th. In its conference history, CU has finished in second place (once), fourth (twice), fifth (once), seventh (three times), ninth (once) and tenth (once). Below is the history of the Big 12 coaches’ predictions and the Buffs actual finish:
1996-97: No Poll done this season (CU finished 2nd)
1997-98: 9th (CU finished 9th)
1998-99: 10th (CU finished 8th)
1999-00: 8th (CU finished 7th)
2000-01: 7th (CU finished 9th)
2001-02: 7th (CU finished 9th)
2002-03: 9th (CU finished 6th)
2004-05: 10th (CU was 11th)
2005-06: 9th (CU ??)
2005-06 Big 12 Coaches Predictions
1. Texas (10) 120
2. Oklahoma (2) 112
3. Kansas 89
4. Oklahoma State 84
5. Texas Tech 80
6. Iowa State 70
7. Texas A&M 68
8. Missouri 48
9. Colorado 43
10. Nebraska 40
11. Kansas State 25
12. Baylor 13
tough non-conference? Do you think CU has an easy non-conference schedule this year, or perhaps it’s difficult? In fact, CU ranks smack dab in the middle based on their opponents record last season. Remember, Baylor is not playing a non-conference schedule this season due to NCAA infractions. Texas A&M has the easiest, followed by Nebraska and so on ...
Big 12 Conference non-conference schedule
1) Texas A&M 0.417
2) Nebraska 0.433
3) Kansas State 0.456
4) Texas Tech 0.504
5) Texas 0.514
6) Colorado 0.523
7) Iowa State 0.534
8) Oklahoma 0.566
9) Kansas 0.574
10) Oklahoma State 0.581
11) Missouri 0.599
BUFFS ON TV: CU’s on the tube 16 times this season with seven of those games in Boulder. The first two games of the season will be broadcast on Fox Sports Rocky Mountain, Monday, Nov. 21 at Colorado State (8 p.m.), and at Pepsi Center versus Saint Mary’s in the second game of the Colorado Classic featuring Denver and Colorado State.