Tuesday morning, colleague/friend/great hoops mind, Drew of RTC’s Pac-12 microsite dropped
a piece on your Buffs. The title of this piece was “Is It Time for Colorado Fans to Panic?” He
goes in on the Buffs’ less than aesthetically pleasing 1-1 start. His primary points of focus are on
defense, size, and Askia – three areas in which there could be cause for concern.
You can read it
for yourself.
Now I’m a sucker for
snap judgments and I love being irrationally all over the place particularly
early in the season. Hyperbole is a blogger’s friend. And mind you, this is how I operate, maybe
not necessarily Drew and I’m not going to go in on his article because it has its own merits.
But what it brought to mind for me was what Tad Boyle said right out of the gates about his
team:
We have got four returning starters coming back from last year's team. I think there's a little bit
of a misnomer in that we have an experienced team coming back…Last year we had experience
in seniors coming off the bench. This year we have six freshmen. 10 of our 13 players are
freshmen or sophomores. So we got a lot of youth. That's not going to be an excuse, but it's a
fact that we're dealing with in practice every day.
That, aside from the defense and the rebounding and the successes of Askia Booker, is what
Colorado is dealing with. And let’s also be honest with ourselves, Colorado basketball is
not the sexiest brand of hoop. Tad wants to and will grind the hell out of a basketball game
simply to ensure that his team can notch one in the left column. If your brand is already a little
bit mechanical and formulaic, then it most certainly is going to take time for roster of 77%
underclassmen to realize their potential. Hey, nerves happen and can often cause things like 7-of-
33 three point shooting.
As Boyle said, this will not be an excuse but I believe that it should be considered a point of
emphasis when evaluating this team. Where do you see small successes? What projects to
improve?
As previously discussed, these are new rotations and Tad Boyle is working with an allotment of
athletes new to him. Everyone is going to have a learning curve right now. Speaking of which,
I was reminded about how glowingly Boyle spoke of last season’s Europe trip. That jet setting
didn’t occur this year. Sure there was the new practice rules but there’s a certain je no sei quoi
about Europe (actually just got a LinkedIn request from a girl I met in Paris and kissed at the
Eiffel Tower. Sup.). Bonding, the road, logistics, the non-comforts of travel and the security
you find in the guy you know next to you, these are elements this team is learning on the fly
without the experience of an Andre Roberson or Sabatino Chen. Hell, even a Shane Harris-Tunks
because having been there and done that says something.
And if the majority of your roster hasn’t spent a lot of time playing Baylor an hour-and-a-half
from their campus? Well then sure there’s going to be some jitters and learning in equal parts
offensive schemes, defensive schemes, and exactly what-the-hell-is-going-on-oh-my-god-Isaiah-
Austin-is-huge.
It might not click perfectly tonight against Wyoming or Saturday against Jackson State. The
Gauchos could make a game of things on 11/21. But with each contest that these Buffs take the
floor, they’ll gain a greater familiarity with what they’re doing, who they are, and just how good
they can be.
