Saturday happened but it doesn’t really matter because it’s in the past and Saturday is forthcoming. It’s the future and if we’re not moving forward then we’re staying in the same place. The place we’re in right now is not in the NCAA tournament. Which isn’t to say that the Buffs aren’t worthy of an invitation, but that we literally are not there yet. It’s still February and work is still to be done. To dwell on what was is to dismiss the importance of the process. Have we not discussed process all the season long?
And the process is such that we want to be better than we were yesterday. If I’m asking Tad Boyle – or you or me or anyone familiar with Saturday’s transgressions – then being better shouldn’t take much. According to Tad:
“Our fans and our seniors deserve better than they got tonight and for that, I’m truly sorry. It was a disappointing performance by our team and I have to look square in the mirror on that, as their coach; I didn’t do a very good job tonight. We’re going to get better from this, but we’re a better team than the way we played tonight.”
Sounds like a man who recognizes that he’s got some work to do. And, interestingly enough, what goes overlooked in this time of year is practice. The issue with me commenting on practice is that I don’t necessarily have insights into it. But it’s that safe haven, the place to learn, improve, and gain confidence. It’s the place where you can forget about what didn’t work because you’re at work. And work they must.
The Buffs are headed to Salt Lake for an early tip against a very good home team. The Utes are good but they’re a very good home team. The Buffs know something about being a home team and they know something about being a road team in Utah. They split the series a season ago with each of the home teams winning. This season the Utes are 17-2 inside the Huntsman Center and that’s exactly where they’ll host Colorado.
When last we spoke of the Utes, this was the ball game that I thought a halfcourt mentality would behoove the Buffs. It did that day and they won. In that win the Buffs slowed things down to just 17% of their offense in transition as opposed to their normal 27%. Josh Scott went for a double-double and Xavier Johnson affected the game like the slashing and defensive stalwart he’s capable of: 11 points, 10 boards, 2 steals, and a contributor to Jordan Loveridge’s 2-11 game. It was the necessary recipe to beat the Utes who, despite some gaudy total point numbers, are one of the slower teams in conference. It’s ultimately their pace (265th longest possessions) and propensity to score (25th in eFG%) that limits the Buffalo transition offense. Of course we can’t forget
Delon Wright. We’ve all been enamored with the kid but then I went deep diving and found out that, with all that late offense, Wright gets tons of shots at the rim – 119 is the most in conference – and gets half of those in non-transition situations. Furthermore, just 18.6% of those rim shots are assisted. So what does it all mean? It means it’s ok if Utah takes it’s possessions down to the wire to limit your ability to move and gain momentum because Delon Wright is remarkably good at getting easy shots at will. Tough.
There’s also, of course, the fact that this game is on the road where Utah is, as mentioned, very good and Colorado is average. Have we ever mentioned that winning on the road is tough? Because winning on the Pac-12 road is about as hard as it gets. Home teams in the Pac have the 4th highest winning percentage amongst all of the conferences.
But as the saying goes – and I know you’ve seen it on someone’s Instagram or other social bio – ‘if you want something you’ve never had, you have to do something you’ve never done.’ A little extreme within the context of a third straight NCAA tournament bid and winning on the road, but you catch my drift. This is the kind of game befitting the first of March.
