So I was just winning my Monday morning. Made a really good pot of coffee for the office, took down a
healthy and filling breakfast, even woke up feeling refreshed. Monday was a really good morning and it
all fit so routinely and nicely into all that I know. This is my life, pretty standard for a nine-to-five gig. It’s
predictable and not always boring. I know what’s going to happen.
So when the AP poll dropped and the Colorado Buffaloes were ranked ahead of Duke, North Carolina,
and UCLA’s combined 20 national titles, you might imagine my routinized little morning was shaken up.
TWENTY COMBINED TITLES. That’s some
CU Buffs skiing right there.
Welcome to 2014, I suppose. This is the world we live in. Your Colorado Buffaloes are the 15th
team in the nation. Their highest ranking since the 1996 Buffs and every bit of it has been earned.
We’ve talked so much about the different facets of what this program is doing. From
cultural shifts to
exercising demons, 2013 wrapped pretty fantastically for Tad Boyle and company.
But conference play now begins.
This is that time of the season when basically all scouting reports can get tossed out and the sleeves
get rolled up because it’s all business now. There’s a reason non-conference schedules are also called
the “pre-season.” It alludes to the fact that the season hasn’t even begun. We’re only through the
perfunctory shoe tying before actually getting into the game. The kind of games where you can draw up
a play that turns into a game winning dunk. The other way. (#Utah)
And this doesn’t change any of our dialogue. Not in the least. What Colorado has done this season is
taken care of business and it’s getting greater and greater recognition. One thing to note, recognition
is not why these games are played. Whether or not a pundit loves the Buffs is irrelevant. They will if
the W-column grows. It’s growing and projects to get plumper with three of the next four against >100
KenPom teams. And then Arizona.
That AP poll looks pretty shaken up; certainly within the context of our routines and expectations. But
like I said, it looks the way it does because the Buffaloes have made routine business out of beating
teams they should. A staple of in-conference success. A season ago, we watched as Colorado would play
to its opponent: Beat Oregon! Lose to Oregon State. What they’ve done to date suggests otherwise.
They’re playing good basketball and executing in the manner that will make them most successful.
Maybe that’s a little predictable, a touch boring to deliberately execute a coach’s orders.
But when the routine becomes winning, I ain’t complaining.
