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AllBuffs | Unofficial fan site for the University of Colorado at Boulder Athletics programs

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Why do the Buffs Always suck?

CU has not made a commitment to Basketball. And there may be good reason to not do so. The last time CU made a big commitment to BB was in the Mid 70s. They committed to building the Event Center and hired a hot shot coach - Bill Blair. CU and Denver made a big push and won hosting the NCAA regional in 85 and 89 - hosting the final four in 1990 (most that ground work was done in the 70s). Basketball was getting big in Denver - the Nuggets had moved from the ABA to the NBA in 1976 and had a championship caliber team. But CU never seemed to break through.

CU faces a headwind to establish a basketball tradition. As stated previously - lack of local recruiting base, marginal facilities, lack of historical success, so-so fan support, etc. You would need to get a coach in here that can both recruit and win, an athletic department commitment to the program, the facilities and the fan experience.

Right now I think CU needs to get the football program re-established and generating extra cash flow and then start focusing on basketball.
 
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BlackNGold said:
Could be but if you were in charge where would you put your focus? I would put a higher focus on football, better chance of success and more revenue upside.
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Not really. CO high school football can't be counted on to recruit much either, so CU has to go out of state. Hell so does CSU. Sure football puts out more revenue which is why I mostly agree with you here, but basketball is also much smaller and cheaper, and shouldn't be this hard to have success in. The University just doesn't support it. Its sad because the Keg is every bit as fun to be at when its packed as Folsom is imo.
 
I don't buy the lack of in-state talent as an excuse here-The basketball talent level in Colorado has been the same for years folks. There's always been a huge discrepancy between the haves and have-nots on the girls side, but the good teams (Regis for example) can play with anybody in the country, and they'll always have a couple players who can play at the high D1 level. Not that way on the boys side-there's a lot more parity, but there's far less talent. Look at Grandview as an example-played in the Tarkanian classic in Vegas this past December and went 1-3. They're ranked #3 in 5A. Chaparral is ranked #1 in Colorado right now, but #70 nationally (got both those numbers from Maxpreps). We're not recruiting that well outside of Colorado. Period. That's what this comes back to.
 
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Scotch said:
Not really. CO high school football can't be counted on to recruit much either, so CU has to go out of state. Hell so does CSU. Sure football puts out more revenue which is why I mostly agree with you here, but basketball is also much smaller and cheaper, and shouldn't be this hard to have success in. The University just doesn't support it. Its sad because the Keg is every bit as fun to be at when its packed as Folsom is imo.
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There lies the problem, neither one of them is packed. IMO, football success is lower hanging fruit. The program has some history of success and has recently invested a $150 million into the football facilities which should help recruiting. Basketball recruiting is not very easy at CU for the reasons stated before - some of those reasons do not apply to football.
 
ahoelsken said:
I don't buy the lack of in-state talent as an excuse here-The basketball talent level in Colorado has been the same for years folks. There's always been a huge discrepancy between the haves and have-nots on the girls side, but the good teams (Regis for example) can play with anybody in the country, and they'll always have a couple players who can play at the high D1 level. Not that way on the boys side-there's a lot more parity, but there's far less talent. Look at Grandview as an example-played in the Tarkanian classic in Vegas this past December and went 1-3. They're ranked #3 in 5A. Chaparral is ranked #1 in Colorado right now, but #70 nationally (got both those numbers from Maxpreps). We're not recruiting that well. Period. That's what this comes back to.
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You don't see the connection here? Really?
 
BlackNGold said:
There lies the problem, neither one of them is packed. IMO, football success is lower hanging fruit. The program has some history of success and has recently invested a $150 million into the football facilities which should help recruiting. Basketball recruiting is not very easy at CU for the reasons stated before - some of those reasons do not apply to football.
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Neither is football recruiting though, and you have to have vastly more resources for it. The recruiting budgets certainly aren't close to equal for the two sports. As revenue sports go basketball is the low hanging fruit here just based on the cost to both programs alone.
 
Scotch said:
Neither is football recruiting though, and you have to have vastly more resources for it. The recruiting budgets certainly aren't close to equal for the two sports. As revenue sports go basketball is the low hanging fruit here just based on the cost to both programs alone.
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We will agree to disagree. In 2014 when CU Basketball was doing well - ticket revenues were about $1.5 million and BB donations were about $275 K. From a ticket standpoint there is little room to sell more tickets so the only way to get significant revenue is to raise prices which I think would be tough for CU BB. AT the same time CU football was in the dumps - less than 38,000 average attendance, season ticket sales in tank, donations down and CU football had over $10 Million in ticket revenue. Football made a $10.7 excess revenue and MBB lost about $372 K. All I am saying, is from a business standpoint, it makes more sense to try to make football much stronger - it has a higher ceiling and capital has already been sunk into it. If you could get football attendance back up to 50 K per home game and 24k season ticket sales (with the attached donations) you have a much higher ceiling for revenue increases. The good news is that BB made about $2.8 million last year due to increased donations and better conference payout. Football made about $21 million. This is my opinion and I am just laying out how I form that opinion. I also believe to improve CU basketball you need to improve the event center which will be a major investment. It is 40 years old and overdue.
 
Increased donations last year are likely going to mean lower donations in the next 2 years since season ticket holders were prepaying a few years worth of the seat "donation" that would be 80% tax deductible through 12/31/17. Starting 1/1/18 no tax deduction will be allowed.
 
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