Boyle's Buffs Turn Attention To Thursday Visit From Utes
February 19, 2017 | Men's Basketball, Neill Woelk
BOULDER — With a 16-12 overall record and a 6-9 Pac-12 mark, the Colorado Buffaloes are in no position to ponder their long-term future.
Postseason opportunities, no matter the initials of the tournament involved, will play themselves out based on what the Buffs do from this point on, and worrying about variables beyond their control is an exercise in futility.
The Buffs' only plan of attack can be to win, win again and again — and keep winning, then let the chips fall where they may. The only way they can guarantee themselves of picking up an NCAA Tournament bid is by running the table four nights in a row at the Pac-12 tournament.
But that's not something head coach Tad Boyle wants his team thinking about this week. Rather, Boyle and his staff will be making sure the Buffs concentrate solely on Thursday's 9 p.m. home matchup with Utah.
"We have to turn our attention to Utah and whatever it's going to take to win that game next Thursday night," Boyle said after Saturday's 101-73 loss at Oregon. "That's what we're going to focus on as a staff and what I want our players to focus on."
The Buffs do have a favorable home stretch of their conference schedule. After the Utah game, their only game this week, they face Stanford at home on March 2 and Cal at home in the March 4 regular season finale.
They will then open play in the Pac-12 tournament March 8.
Some home-stretch tidbits:
— In terms of program goals, the Buffs still have a chance to finish with a .500 conference record, something only 10 CU teams in the previous 40 years have accomplished. Of course, such an accomplishment has become commonplace under Boyle. Of the 10 Colorado teams that have played at least .500 ball in conference play in the last four decades, five of them have been Boyle teams. In fact, the only Boyle team that hasn't hit at least .500 in league play were the 2014-15 Buffs, who finished 7-11 in the Pac-12.
— Utah, the Buffs' next opponent, dropped a 68-67 decision at Oregon State on Sunday, giving the Beavers their first Pac-12 win and ending their 14-game losing streak. The Utes, 17-10 overall and 8-7 in the Pac-12, have lost four in a row on the road.
— Currently tied for seventh in the conference standings with Arizona State, Colorado could still ostensibly move up a notch or two, but that's not a likely scenario. Utah and USC, the two teams directly ahead of the Buffs, hold a two-game edge on CU in the win column with just three left to play. Even a Colorado win over the Utes on Thursday would still require the Utes to lose at least one more and for Colorado to win out (and then win a tiebreaker).
— If the Pac-12 tourney started today, Colorado would lose the tiebreaker to ASU and be the No. 8 seed. That would pit the Buffs against No. 9 Stanford in the first round, with the winner advancing to face top seed Arizona in the quarterfinals.
— If you're looking for one statistic that has defined the Buffs in Pac-12 play, it may be 3-point shooting defense. The Buffs have allowed opponents to hit 141 3-point tries in conference play this year, the most of any team in the league. In terms of 3-point percentage defense, the Buffs are 11th in the conference, allowing opponent to connect 40.2 percent of the time.
— As the season heads down the stretch, it's difficult to forget the four games Colorado led in the last minute of regulation or overtime but ended up losing. Had the Buffs come up with wins in even two of those games, they'd be sitting at 8-7 in conference play and 18-10 overall, with a good chance of finishing the regular season with 11 conference wins and a likely No. 5 seed in the Pac-12 tourney. (Figuring where they would be if they had won all four will give you an ulcer.)
— The Buffs have won at least one game every year in the Pac-12 tournament. Their best showing, of course, was the four-game run to the title in 2012. They've gone 1-1 three times and 2-1 once.
— CU's last three regular season games are against teams currently in the top 80 RPI: Utah (80), Stanford (68) and Cal (39). The Buffs finished the weekend at 104 in the CBSSports RPI.
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu