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This Week In BasketBuffs - 12/5/11

Goose

Hoops Moderator
Club Member
Junta Member
LAST WEEK

Monday, November 28th, 2011
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70
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68

Wednesday, November 30th, 2011
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65
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64

It's been beaten to death, but free throws are going to kill this team. It almost cost us the game against Georgia (does anyone else remember that we had a double digit lead late in the 2nd half or is that just my imagination?), and it did cost us the game against the Rams. There is no excuse for the team to be shooting 61% from the line (and both Austin & Dre need to be called out as they're two important keys to the team and are shooting 52% and 53% from the line respectively). None. The thing that concerns me is that we know it's mental. So will the team be able to get over it, or will the pressure and constant harping about the missed free throws just lead to more missed shots? That's going to decide how we do in PAC-12 play.

While I was disappointed in a few aspects of the Georgia game, the simple fact is that we beat an SEC team at home. The way the PAC-12 has played so far this season, that puts us in an elite class in the conference. We shot less than 30% from behind the arc and 60% from the line and still got the victory. I know Georgia's not a good offensive team, but the defensive effort was there most of the night and I was proud of the Buffs. That was a huge victory.

Unfortunately, they decided to follow it up by laying a complete egg. Missed free throws, missed layups, horrible entry passes... our offense single handedly put the game of basketball back 30 years. Thank God we were able to out-rebound the Rams and the D was solid because otherwise CSU would have blown us out. The only good thing to come out of this game was the news from the locker room that the team was "devestated" by the result. Hopefully it will be the wake up call that they need.

Our Australian duo did not have the best week. SHT looks lost out there at times and probably played the worst game of his career against CSU on Wednesday. I'm still hoping it's rust, but Cain may be getting more minutes than we all expected if this continues. As for Nate, I'm one of his biggest defenders (and by that, I mean I'm one of the few people on this board who doesn't want to light him on fire), but him jogging the ball up the court at the end of the CSU game is inexcusable. You can point out that CSU played great D on the pick & roll -- and they did -- but had Nate hurried up there, he might have had enough time to avoid having to shoot the long 3.

On the positive side, this is the Spencer Dinwiddie I expected to see this season. He averaged 16 points and 7.5 rebounds a game this week and looked damn good while doing it. It looks like Boyle's talk that he had with The Mayor paid off. From the first few seconds of the Georgia game, you could just see him looking more confident and comfortable. He's going to be a star. Honestly, I wouldn't mind seeing the offense run more through The Mayor than through Nate for a while. I think he might finally be ready to try running the team. Ski also had a solid week averaging 10 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2 assists a game. The future is bright, no one can deny that.

THIS WEEK
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Wednesday, December 7th
7:00 PM
No TV
Coors Event Center
Boulder, CO


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Friday, December 9th
7:00 PM
ROOT Rocky Mountain
Coors Event Center
Boulder, CO


Time to see how the team will rebound after the CSU debacle. With almost a full week off in between games, that gives the team some time to work on the little things that they need to address (entry passes into the post comes to mind IMMEDIATELY). To be honest, Fresno State is pretty bad. About the only thing that they do well is get to the free throw line. The problem is that they send the other team to the line even more often. Now, as we've seen, that's actually a good method to beat CU this season, but I'm hoping this trend reverses now. As for Wyoming, their numbers look impressive -- really impressive -- until you look at their opponents. The best team they've faced all season is Northern Colorado. That said, they are 8-1, so they're doing what they have to. In what has to be good news for the Buffs, both teams play a lot of man to man defense, so hopefully we'll be able to avoid the zone disaster that we encountered for brief periods of time against both Georgia and CSU.

Anything other than going 2-0 this week is not an option. Period.

Colorado
Offense

Colorado
Defense

Fresno St
Offense

Fresno St
Defense

D1
Average

eFG%
50.8%
51.2%
48.4%
50.6%
48.4%
Turnover %
18.6%
16.4%
20.5%
22.6%
21.3%
Off. Reb %
33.4%
28.8%
29.3%
33.0%
32.6%
FTA/FGA
45.6
32.6
41.2
52.9
37.3

Colorado
Offense

Colorado
Defense

Wyoming
Offense

Wyoming
Defense

D1
Average

eFG%
50.8%
51.2%
52.8%
40.0%
48.4%
Turnover %
18.6%
16.4%
17.3%
24.7%
21.3%
Off. Reb %
33.4%
28.8%
26.9%
28.0%
32.6%
FTA/FGA
45.6
32.6
44.3
36.9
37.3

SEASON NUMBERS TO FOLLOW
Offensive
Efficiency

Defensive
Efficiency

Pace
Colorado
106.7
102.1
67.3
D1 Average
99.9
99.9
67.4
 
These are huge games for the Buffs.

Last season, we went 11-4 in the non-conference schedule. We can still get it to 9-3 this year, which would be a solid result in a rebuilding year.
 
These are huge games for the Buffs.

Last season, we went 11-4 in the non-conference schedule. We can still get it to 9-3 this year, which would be a solid result in a rebuilding year.

9-3 gives us a decent shot at finishing the season 15-15 before the PAC-12 tourney. I think a 16-16 record, provided we aren't embarassed in the PAC-12 tourney, could get us an NIT bid. Definitely something to shoot for.

BTW, I forgot to mention this, but Fresno State absolutely opened a can of whoop-ass on Utah on Saturday, beating them 82-52. Looking over the numbers, I think it's more a case of Utah being bad than Fresno being good, but I'm a little less comfortable about that game now.
 
BTW, I forgot to mention this, but Fresno State absolutely opened a can of whoop-ass on Utah on Saturday, beating them 82-52. Looking over the numbers, I think it's more a case of Utah being bad than Fresno being good, but I'm a little less comfortable about that game now.

Fresno can't be overlooked, I watched the Stanford/Fresno game a couple of weeks ago and it was close throughout and Stanford only opened it up the last couple of minutes. Fresno has a guard in Kevin Olekaibe that is avg 21ppg, good thing is he is only shooting 38% from the field and 36% from 3, he is a high usage player using over 31% of the possessions when he is on the floor and hucking up 17 shots a game.

My keys to the game:
Rebound - Fresno isn't a great rebounding team and they don't have much size (not playing anybody over 6-8 for considerable minutes)
Take care of the ball - Frenso avg's 7 steals a game, can't be careless with the ball
If CU does the first 2 things well Free Throw shooting shouldn't matter, but somehow it will. So CU obviously needs to improve, I am looking for 75% from the line against Fresno
 
Random thoughts:

My seat-partner Scarffe keeps asking "when should we put SHT in?" and I keep answering "He's too soft for this game." This is not a good sign. He's playing like a scared lion cub right now. He needs to get mean in a hurry if he's going to make much of a difference.

Our free throw shooting is to the point that I openly wonder why teams don't play Hack-a-Buff on every second half possession. The profanity will continue until the free throws improve.

Austin and Nate need to shoot take more 3's when faced with zone. The extra passes are nice and all, but open looks need to be taken when afforded by the defense.
 
Random thoughts:

My seat-partner Scarffe keeps asking "when should we put SHT in?" and I keep answering "He's too soft for this game." This is not a good sign. He's playing like a scared lion cub right now. He needs to get mean in a hurry if he's going to make much of a difference.

Our free throw shooting is to the point that I openly wonder why teams don't play Hack-a-Buff on every second half possession. The profanity will continue until the free throws improve.

Austin and Nate need to shoot take more 3's when faced with zone. The extra passes are nice and all, but open looks need to be taken when afforded by the defense.

It is done. From now on, SHT will be known as "Simba"
 
Austin and Nate need to shoot take more 3's when faced with zone. The extra passes are nice and all, but open looks need to be taken when afforded by the defense.

I think I am wrong because the google has failed me when I try to search for this, but I swear I read Austin has some sort of school or n dakota record for 3 pt shooting, can anybody verify if I dreamed this up or if this is fact?

And the Simba nickname rules.
 
I think I am wrong because the google has failed me when I try to search for this, but I swear I read Austin has some sort of school or n dakota record for 3 pt shooting, can anybody verify if I dreamed this up or if this is fact?

And the Simba nickname rules.

You may rep me now.
 
Interesting tidbit from new article today...

Boyle said Cain's addition will bring about a subtraction in some players' court time: "There'll be some guys' minutes that will go down a little bit. I think we'll be 10 deep then and have the opportunity to press a little more and extend our defense. One thing it does is give you options, and if guys are playing hard it gives you options. It puts the guys on the court on point a little bit more."
 
Fresno can't be overlooked, I watched the Stanford/Fresno game a couple of weeks ago and it was close throughout and Stanford only opened it up the last couple of minutes. Fresno has a guard in Kevin Olekaibe that is avg 21ppg, good thing is he is only shooting 38% from the field and 36% from 3, he is a high usage player using over 31% of the possessions when he is on the floor and hucking up 17 shots a game.

My keys to the game:
Rebound - Fresno isn't a great rebounding team and they don't have much size (not playing anybody over 6-8 for considerable minutes)
Take care of the ball - Frenso avg's 7 steals a game, can't be careless with the ball
If CU does the first 2 things well Free Throw shooting shouldn't matter, but somehow it will. So CU obviously needs to improve, I am looking for 75% from the line against Fresno

We can't overlook anyone, but Fresno does have losses to the likes of North Dakota State, Manhattan, and UTSA..
 
Buffs open as a 5 pt fav over Wyoming. Ken Pomeroy has the game projected as 67-64 buffs.
 
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