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By Stuart
[h=3]CU Above the Rim[/h]Air Force brings 5-0 record to Boulder for Sunday night matchup
The No. 23 Colorado Buffaloes will take on the Air Force Academy Falcons at 6:00 MT Sunday night (Pac-12 Networks).
Air Force is 5-0 to date, which should be enough in and of itself to get the attention of the young Buffs. If not,*then the fact that it took overtime for Colorado to take down the Falcons last season should serve as a reminder that this will not be an easy game.
“They scare the heck out of me,” said CU head coach Tad Boyle. “[Air Force has] five seniors and they are executing. They are averaging 84 points a game, giving up 63, shooting 52 percent as a team from the field and 41 percent from three. It is like, ‘Holy cow!’”
Buff fans are familiar with how the Air Force football team uses a precision wishbone offense to counteract much larger opponents. The same holds true for the Air Force basketball team, which is 12th in the nation in assists per game, and 9th in the nation in field goal percentage.
“The thing that is scary about playing Air Force with freshmen, Askia and Spencer went through it last year, is they don’t understand how good they are,” Boyle said. “They don’t understand how well they execute, and there’s no way as a coach you can prepare them. You can talk about it, talk about, talk about, but it doesn’t matter until they experience it and are like, ‘Dang, these guys are good. I do have to guard the back cut, I do have to get a hand up on a three.’
“The thing about Air Force, when you make mistakes, you pay.”
That being said, Air Force has rung up its 5-0 record against some weak competition. Other than playing rival Army (a 76-65 victory), the Falcons have beat up on two small in-state schools (Western State, 102-68; Regis 83-63), another military school (The Citadel, 77-70), with their latest* victory coming over Montana State on Tuesday night, 86-72.
Last season, with much the same lineup, Air Force went 13-16, with a 3-11 record in the Mountain West.
In the series … Colorado leads the all-time series against Air Force, 18-3, including an 8-1 record at home. The lone loss, though, came the last time the Falcons ventured north to Boulder. That was in 2006, when the Falcons, led by future CU head coach Jeff Bzdelik, thumped the Buffs, 84-46.
Buffs in the Polls
Colorado comes into Air Force game ranked 23rd in the nation in the Associated Press poll, the first time the Buffs have been ranked since earning*the No. 25 slot at the end of the 2005-06 season (coaches’ poll), and the first time in the AP poll since being ranked No. 24 in the final poll of the 1996-97 campaign. (The Buffs remain just outside the rankings this week in the coaches’ poll, coming in at No. 27)
The ranking in November marks the first time Colorado has been ranked before the start of conference play … in 43 years. The last time the Buffs held a national ranking this early was in December, 1969, when the Buffs were ranked 20th.
In case you were wondering … the highest ranking ever for a CU basketball team? No. 6, on December 18, 1963.
Booker Pac-12 Player-of-the-Week
Sophomore guard Askia Booker was named the Pac-12 Conference Player-of-the-Week for his efforts last week in leading the Buffs to the Charleston Classic (Booker was also named the MVP of the tournament). Booker averaged 19.3 points, 3.0 assists, 2.7 steals, and 2.3 rebounds per game in taking down Dayton, No. 16 Baylor, and Murray State.
Booker is the second Buff to be honored by the Pac-12 in CU’s two seasons in the league. Last year, senior Carlon Brown earned the honor for his efforts in early January (the week of Jan. 2nd -8th).
Fast Start
Colorado is off to a 4-0 start to the 2012-13 season. The last time the Buffs opened with a 4-0 record was the 1998-99 season, with all four of those games being played at home. The last time the Buffs started 4-0 with at least one road game was back in 1994-95.
Overall, Colorado is 6-0 at home in games played in the month of November under third year head coach Tad Boyle.
“Who’s Your Taddy?”
While Jon Embree has set the record for the worst opening two seasons for a football coach in CU history (4-21), basketball head coach Tad Boyle has set the record for the best opening two seasons for a basketball coach in CU history.
Colorado had never won as many as 24 games in a season before Tad Boyle came to Boulder, but Boyle won 24 games in his first season (going 24-14), repeating the feat last season (24-12). So it is not a surprise, then, that the 48 games Colorado has won the last two seasons are the best back-to-back seasons in school history.
Under Boyle, Colorado is 10-3 in post-season games (6-1 conference; 3-1 NIT; 1-1 NCAA). Boyle’s*ten tournament wins are already a school record, exceeding the previous record of six set by Boyle’s predecessor, Richardo Patton (who went 6-12).
With the season-opening victory over Wofford, Boyle became the first CU basketball coach to win his season opener in his first three seasons.
Including the Buffs’ 4-0 start to the 2012-13 campaign, Boyle is 52-26 overall (.667), and the Buffs are 33-4 at home (.892).
Note on banner heading … Thank you to all who submitted entries for the new CU at the Game men’s basketball coverage headline. Between the comments section and emails, I received dozens of possible titles. When I ran a poll of finalists, the plurality winner (36%) was “CU*on the Court”. I do like that phrasing, as it does play into the CU at the Game theme, and is recognizable in terms of content for a new reader. My concern, though, was this … while CU student-athletes have done well the past few seasons staying out of legal trouble (knock on wood), it is all but inevitable that in the future a player or two will find themselves in harm’s way. If that happens, “CU on the Court” will be easy prey for those who want to play off of “CU in Court” or “CU at the Court(house)”, and I just didn’t want to go there.
So, the winner is “CU Above the Rim” … at least for now. Congratulations to CU at the Gamer Derrick Miller, who has won a CU at the Game hat and mousepad for his submission.
Originally posted by CU At the Game
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[h=3]CU Above the Rim[/h]Air Force brings 5-0 record to Boulder for Sunday night matchup
The No. 23 Colorado Buffaloes will take on the Air Force Academy Falcons at 6:00 MT Sunday night (Pac-12 Networks).
Air Force is 5-0 to date, which should be enough in and of itself to get the attention of the young Buffs. If not,*then the fact that it took overtime for Colorado to take down the Falcons last season should serve as a reminder that this will not be an easy game.
“They scare the heck out of me,” said CU head coach Tad Boyle. “[Air Force has] five seniors and they are executing. They are averaging 84 points a game, giving up 63, shooting 52 percent as a team from the field and 41 percent from three. It is like, ‘Holy cow!’”
Buff fans are familiar with how the Air Force football team uses a precision wishbone offense to counteract much larger opponents. The same holds true for the Air Force basketball team, which is 12th in the nation in assists per game, and 9th in the nation in field goal percentage.
“The thing that is scary about playing Air Force with freshmen, Askia and Spencer went through it last year, is they don’t understand how good they are,” Boyle said. “They don’t understand how well they execute, and there’s no way as a coach you can prepare them. You can talk about it, talk about, talk about, but it doesn’t matter until they experience it and are like, ‘Dang, these guys are good. I do have to guard the back cut, I do have to get a hand up on a three.’
“The thing about Air Force, when you make mistakes, you pay.”
That being said, Air Force has rung up its 5-0 record against some weak competition. Other than playing rival Army (a 76-65 victory), the Falcons have beat up on two small in-state schools (Western State, 102-68; Regis 83-63), another military school (The Citadel, 77-70), with their latest* victory coming over Montana State on Tuesday night, 86-72.
Last season, with much the same lineup, Air Force went 13-16, with a 3-11 record in the Mountain West.
In the series … Colorado leads the all-time series against Air Force, 18-3, including an 8-1 record at home. The lone loss, though, came the last time the Falcons ventured north to Boulder. That was in 2006, when the Falcons, led by future CU head coach Jeff Bzdelik, thumped the Buffs, 84-46.
Buffs in the Polls
Colorado comes into Air Force game ranked 23rd in the nation in the Associated Press poll, the first time the Buffs have been ranked since earning*the No. 25 slot at the end of the 2005-06 season (coaches’ poll), and the first time in the AP poll since being ranked No. 24 in the final poll of the 1996-97 campaign. (The Buffs remain just outside the rankings this week in the coaches’ poll, coming in at No. 27)
The ranking in November marks the first time Colorado has been ranked before the start of conference play … in 43 years. The last time the Buffs held a national ranking this early was in December, 1969, when the Buffs were ranked 20th.
In case you were wondering … the highest ranking ever for a CU basketball team? No. 6, on December 18, 1963.
Booker Pac-12 Player-of-the-Week
Sophomore guard Askia Booker was named the Pac-12 Conference Player-of-the-Week for his efforts last week in leading the Buffs to the Charleston Classic (Booker was also named the MVP of the tournament). Booker averaged 19.3 points, 3.0 assists, 2.7 steals, and 2.3 rebounds per game in taking down Dayton, No. 16 Baylor, and Murray State.
Booker is the second Buff to be honored by the Pac-12 in CU’s two seasons in the league. Last year, senior Carlon Brown earned the honor for his efforts in early January (the week of Jan. 2nd -8th).
Fast Start
Colorado is off to a 4-0 start to the 2012-13 season. The last time the Buffs opened with a 4-0 record was the 1998-99 season, with all four of those games being played at home. The last time the Buffs started 4-0 with at least one road game was back in 1994-95.
Overall, Colorado is 6-0 at home in games played in the month of November under third year head coach Tad Boyle.
“Who’s Your Taddy?”
While Jon Embree has set the record for the worst opening two seasons for a football coach in CU history (4-21), basketball head coach Tad Boyle has set the record for the best opening two seasons for a basketball coach in CU history.
Colorado had never won as many as 24 games in a season before Tad Boyle came to Boulder, but Boyle won 24 games in his first season (going 24-14), repeating the feat last season (24-12). So it is not a surprise, then, that the 48 games Colorado has won the last two seasons are the best back-to-back seasons in school history.
Under Boyle, Colorado is 10-3 in post-season games (6-1 conference; 3-1 NIT; 1-1 NCAA). Boyle’s*ten tournament wins are already a school record, exceeding the previous record of six set by Boyle’s predecessor, Richardo Patton (who went 6-12).
With the season-opening victory over Wofford, Boyle became the first CU basketball coach to win his season opener in his first three seasons.
Including the Buffs’ 4-0 start to the 2012-13 campaign, Boyle is 52-26 overall (.667), and the Buffs are 33-4 at home (.892).
Note on banner heading … Thank you to all who submitted entries for the new CU at the Game men’s basketball coverage headline. Between the comments section and emails, I received dozens of possible titles. When I ran a poll of finalists, the plurality winner (36%) was “CU*on the Court”. I do like that phrasing, as it does play into the CU at the Game theme, and is recognizable in terms of content for a new reader. My concern, though, was this … while CU student-athletes have done well the past few seasons staying out of legal trouble (knock on wood), it is all but inevitable that in the future a player or two will find themselves in harm’s way. If that happens, “CU on the Court” will be easy prey for those who want to play off of “CU in Court” or “CU at the Court(house)”, and I just didn’t want to go there.
So, the winner is “CU Above the Rim” … at least for now. Congratulations to CU at the Gamer Derrick Miller, who has won a CU at the Game hat and mousepad for his submission.
Originally posted by CU At the Game
Click here to vie