This Week In BasketBuffs - 1/3/12

[Goose]

LAST WEEK

MEN

Wednesday, December 28th, 2011

92

University of New Orleans Privateers

34

Saturday, December 31st, 2011

73

33

WOMEN

Saturday, December 31st, 2011

58

52

Well, that was fun.

The Buffs went in to last week as the #156 team in the nation according to KenPom.com's rankings. Thanks to the healing power of a warm-up game against New Orleans (who, like YungCoach said, would probably lose to Ft. Lewis by double digits) and the PAC-12's basketball punching bag, the team is feeling better, the fans are feeling better and we are now ranked 127th in the nation. And that's despite the fact that the UNO game doesn't count in the KenPom rankings. I think the thing I'm most excited about after the last week was the defensive effort. I know that Utah and New Orleans both couldn't hit the broad side of a barn with no one guarding them, but the effort was there from the Buffs. This is something that Boyle & Co. have been preaching for a while, so it's nice to see the players rewarded.

The second thing I'm thrilled about from the past week? The atmosphere. The crowd was amazing - especially the student section. I know we have quite a few students on here, and it's been mentioned in the other thread, but you guys did an amazing job during the Utah game. I'm also going to throw the band in here too as they were great. Heard some of the old chants that I hadn't heard much this season, which was nice. I'm hoping that this continues through conference play, but am a little scared that it's only because we had the "Alumni Band" for Utah (and BTW, that was some nice spinning out there from both Rumblin' and Golden Buff during the Supa Dupa Tuba Cheer. Everyone rep them).

I'm trying to temper expectations because we just played two of the worst teams in the nation, and we did what we were supposed to, but it was nice to see things start to click. That said, my Dinwiddie crush has reached full on infatuation levels. The Mayor is the Man. I actually thought during the Utah game that we may not get a full four years from him as he may be headed to the NBA. Everyone's talking about Dre being our next NBA player, but The Mayor might beat him to the punch.

As for the women, they continue to impress as they went on a 14-0 run to close the game out at Utah and improve their record to 12-0. Seabrook lead the way with 17 & 7. I wasn't able to watch the game, but Buffgal pointed out in the game thread that Jeffry had a rough game, but picked it up when she needed to at the end. All you need to know is that the Buffs, who were picked twelfth in the pre-season poll of the PAC-12, went in to Salt Lake City and beat the team that was picked 6th. They're now getting votes in the top 25 poll and with a good week could find themselves ranked very soon.

THIS WEEK

Men: Thursday, January 5th 7:00 PM ROOT Rocky Mountain Coors Event Center Boulder, CO

Women: Thursday, January 5th 8:00 PM No TV Hec Edmundson Pavilion Seattle, WA

Men: Saturday, January 7th 2:00 PM Fox Sports Net Coors Event Center Boulder, CO

Women: Saturday, January 7th 2:00 PM No TV Beasley Coliseum Pullman, WA

The next two weeks should tell us everything we need to know about both the men's & women's teams. The men's team will get Washington at home on Thursday night and PAC-12 player of the week Tony Wroten, Jr. will be leading the Huskies. Wroten is fifth in the nation for percentage of possessions used, so the ball will be in his hands a lot. He gets to the line quite a bit and is leading the team with 16.8 ppg while dishing out 3.4 apg. That said, his assist to turnover ratio is 0.8, so hopefully the Buffs can pressure him and we can get him rattled early. CJ Wilcox is another player to keep your eyes on for the Huskies. He's averaging 15.3 ppg, doesn't turn the ball over a lot and is pretty efficient on offense (73rd in the nation). Just ask our Canadian Duck friend about Wilcox who went 6-of-8 from 3 against the Ducks in their last game. The Huskies are a good shooting team who can rebound well. It's going to take one hell of an effort for the Buffs to pull off the victory.

As for Wazzou, they're a tough team to read. They're a middle of the pack team to be brutally honest. They've only played 3 away games (not counting the 3 "neutral court" games they played for the 76 Classic in which they went 0-3), and they're 2-1 with all of the games going as expected (beating Idaho & Portland and losing to Gonzaga). They did beat Oregon State this weekend, but it's hard to accurately judge that one considering no one really knows how good Oregon State is either. Faisal Aden, their senior guard, is the player to watch. He has the ball, a lot, and when he does have it there's a good chance he's shooting it. Want proof? He's a volume scorer, so it'll be interesting to see how the Buffs handle him. Do they let him shoot and focus on making sure no one else does anything or do they try to stop him?

As for the women's team, they go on the road this week. Washington State is only 8-6, but they're ranked 42nd in RPI. The Huskies are 8-4 and 122nd in RPI. The Buffs are ranked 90th, so I don't think a split is unreasonable. Winning both games would be huge though. You have to imagine that a 14-0 Buffs team would be ranked heading into their biggest week of the season -- hosting Cal (#53 RPI) and Stanford (#4 in the polls and RPI).

	Colorado Offense	Colorado Defense	Washington Offense	Washington Defense	D1 Average
eFG%	51.4%	47.1%	53.0%	47.1%	48.7%
Turnover %	21.0%	18.4%	19.3%	19.1%	21.0%
Off. Reb %	33.8%	29.6%	37.2%	31.8%	32.6%
FTA/FGA	47.5	30.8	33.5	37.9	36.6

	Colorado Offense	Colorado Defense	Wash St. Offense	Wash St. Defense	D1 Average
eFG%	51.4%	47.1%	54.5%	47.5%	48.7%
Turnover %	21.0%	18.4%	21.6%	20.4%	21.0%
Off. Reb %	33.8%	29.6%	32.1%	31.7%	32.6%
FTA/FGA	47.5	30.8	42.8	33.9	36.6

SEASON NUMBERS TO FOLLOW

	Offensive Efficiency	Defensive Efficiency	Pace
Colorado	103.5	99.0	66.0
D1 Average	100.1	100.1	67.2

[jgisland]

This is a big week for CU, Washington is one of the "premier" bball teams in the P12 (whatever that means) and WSU is ranked ahead of the Buffs in kenpom.com ratings (88th and 127th for CU).

A couple of things I will be watching for this week:

How does CU match up against UW? They are big and very athletic and they basically start two PG's now that Wroten (6-5) has been inserted into the starting lineup for Wilcox. Gaddy is the other and he stands 6-3. I don't think CU has played a minute of zone all season, if we are going to see a zone D out of Tad this is going to be the game.

Will we continue to see teams play almost exclusive zone against CU? Did the Mayor and Ski's solid shooting last game make anybody reevaluate playing zone against the buffs?

How does CU fare in their first real week of P12 ball, how to they come out against WSU win or lose?

The keg, it has been pretty full the last couple of games, with P12 ball fully underway it should be near capacity Thursday night.

[Goose]

JG - what do you predict for this week? 1-1?

[jgisland]

JG - what do you predict for this week? 1-1?

Yes, 1-1. Not sure if CU has the bodies and the chemistry to beat UW right now. UW has been struggling with FT shooting, with any luck if this game is close that struggle will continue and they can squeak out a W.

What I am concerned about is WSU, if CU loses to UW, do they come out flat and unmotivated? WSU appears to be decent (in the CSU/Wyoming range) and this will most likely be a good game, no time for a let down.

[RumblinBuff]

1-1 for me as well.

If Coach Romar doesn't break out the zone for some stretches, he just doesn't respect us enough to put effort into coaching.

It'll be interesting to see what our "Go Time" minute distribution will look like. How often will players like Simba and Chen see the court? How do we balance Dinwiddie's minutes to keep him fresh, and acknowledge the fact that he's our only reliable offensive weapon? Whither Nate Tomlinson?

Coach Boyle avoids running a zone out there like the plague. He's said more than a few time that If we run zone, it's because we're desperate, and the coaching barrel is empty. If we see zone against UW, I'd put money on a loss. Sure did work again UT last year, tho...

--

On a side note, should have double the alumni presence in the band Thursday night; I've made it the focal point of "alum week." Also, for Goose, I've called in some drumming reinforcements.

[tante]

2-0 for the week

[Goose]

On a side note, should have double the alumni presence in the band Thursday night; I've made it the focal point of "alum week." Also, for Goose, I've called in some drumming reinforcements.

I wanted to shake the drummer's hand on Saturday. God that was nice after the non-conference adventures.

[CVilleBuff]

1-1

We've got a chance against UW and I wouldn't be overly shocked with a win. Chemistry is an issue for both teams - who is going to have it figured out? Unfortunately UW's first two Pac-12 games show that they *may* finally be getting close to figuring it out and hitting their stride.

Wazzu at home is a must for any hopes of going .500 or better in the Pac this year. The Cougs aren't going to be in the cellar of the Pac, but they aren't going to be in the top half of the conference, either. Gotta take care of business against bottom half teams at home.

[BehindEnemyLines]

jg - the 2nd teamers, et.al., were in a zone in the late stages of the NOLA and Yoots games. That's the only time I saw the Buffs in that defense, tho.

[jgisland]

CU/UW line was just released, UW 2.5pt fav, kenpom.com has this as a 75-72 UW win.

[buffgal]

Appears that line on the men's side was wrong. Hope they can keep it up.

[Buffnik]

Tough road loss for WBB at Washington tonight. 67-75 final. Got outplayed in the 2nd half. Looks like we got pounded on the boards and weren't aggressive enough to get to the free throw line.

Need to get a win at Wazzu to get the split out of this roadie.

[Goose]

Last night gave us another huge jump in KenPom. We were ranked 156 heading into the New Orleans game and 127th heading in to last night. We're now 107th. The loss dropped Washington from 53 to 62. Our defensive efficiency is slowly improving as well. Now 124th in the nation at 97.6.

[buffgal]

Tough road loss for WBB at Washington tonight. 67-75 final. Got outplayed in the 2nd half. Looks like we got pounded on the boards and weren't aggressive enough to get to the free throw line.

From listening to the game, they were outplayed in the 2nd half. They had too many fouls in the first half that hampered them in guarding the inside in the 2nd half. A freshmen scored 21 points against us in the 2nd half alone. Need better defense in the post, which is why we got outrebounded.

Hopefully, the team can bounce back and beat Washington State on Saturday.

On a positive note, Jeffrey scored her 900th point as a Buff.

[Goose]

Gotta bounce back on Saturday. 1-1 is crucial before we head in to the Cal/Stanford week.