Covering University of Colorado sports, mostly basketball, since 2010

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Ahhhh, that's good victory

The day always starts brighter after a Colorado victory. It's certainly been a while since the day started this bright after a Big XII road game. Prior to last night's 81-68 shellacking of the hated Corn in Lincoln, the last CU road Big XII victory was in January of 2006. That's like, four years ago, dude.

To be honest, I had completely forgotten that the game was last night. I'm so used to the Saturday/Wednesday rhythm of the Big XII regular season, that I assumed the game was tonight. I jumped into the game halfway through the 1st. And, lo and behold, CU was hitting every 3 pointer they took. Nebraska flailed around like a dieing chicken for the rest of the game, causing some rough stretches of ball, but in reality they had no chance once CU and Casey Crawford started their 3 point barrage.

(Casey has been huge the last two games. From: the BDC)

Obviously, shooting over 60% from the field will help you cause. And, yes, Nebraska is an awful team coached by an angry elf. But, as always, a win is a win is a win.

(You're right, Doc. That was a cheap shot. You're still the basketball equivalent of Bill Callahan.)

The road to the NIT is still clear. CU needs a win Saturday over Texas Tech and a win in the conference tournament to make it a very strong possibility. I've postulated that, should CU make the NIT, that they will be in a strong position to make a deep run in the tournament. Typically, a team's ability to succeed in the NIT is a direct correlation to it's interest in being there. Should CU make it, they will certainly be one of the teams happy and interested in being at the "Not In Tournament, Tournament." CU might even get to host a game!

(Let them play, let them play!)

Before I get ahead of the pace of time itself, I should mention that the rebounding woes continued. Nebraska collected 38 boards, 18 of them offensive, compared to CU's 18 total rebounds. Opponents 2nd chances will continue to hurt the Buff's chances, but there is little that can be done at this point. With a 5-out or 4 and 1 offense, CU will always struggle on the glass, which compounds the lack of athleticism amongst the few big men CU has to throw at the court. It's not necessarily a lack of rebounding effort that leads to stat lines like last night.

Regardless, the plan is still intact, and CU is in position to meet their preseason goal.

2 comments:

Rico said...

Yeah, I'm really glad we got that monkey off our back. I know the corn sucks, but at least we have an idea of what we need to do to win on the road (plus rebounding, good god)

RumblinBuff said...

It's getting to the point where I'm betting they just say "The hell with it, we can't rebound, just let em have it and hit your 3s.