Covering University of Colorado sports, mostly basketball, since 2010

Monday, November 29, 2010

Monday Grab Bag: Breaking News! Buffs to hire Long-thought-to-be-dead Vince Lombardi at 3pm News Conference!

Over the Thanksgiving Break the Buffs went on the road and got horse-whipped by a team wearing red; the primary culprit was a piss-poor defense, however turnovers also helped lead to the crushing loss.  I'm not talking about the football team, I'm of course talking about the basketball team's shit-tacular effort in Boston yesterday morning.  That story, and more, as I dive into this week's grab bag....

Nebraska Loss - As the song goes "there is no place like Nebraska."  Thank God, cause I don't know if I could stand another joint like that one.  I have some pictures from my final trip to Lincoln (oooo, travel pictures!), but suffice to say any good times to be had were squashed by the team's let-down performance Friday Afternoon.  The Buffs wound up losing by 28 points, which can easily be attributed to 3 costly turnovers and a questionable onside kick which led directly to Husker scores.  All-in-all, CU never got going, and the Husker offense just pounded the Buff D into the ground.  When your offense only has the ball for 9 minutes in the first half, there's eventually going to be some defensive issues, and, while the unit played admirably, they looked tired and over matched all game long.  This loss kills any Cabral-for-coach plans, and ends the Buffs season and Big XII career on a low note.

Quickly on my trip: it wasn't all that bad.  The Husker fans were actually kind of nice this time.  Everywhere I went people would shout "Fuck the Big XII" and "Fuck Texas."  No animosity was thrown my way, and I even got some free beverages out of the thing.  Sure, Husker ugliness is usually reserved for when they lose, but the friends we met up with actually directed us to a pretty decent time.  Now if only it wasn't in Lincoln....

Pictures! - I admittedly suck at taking pictures, but it is what it is.  I've selected 5 pictures from the 5 I took during the trip; enjoy!

This is the view from my hotel room.  Awww, but I paid for ocean view!

A happy pregame tailgate moment

The precipitous drop from my seats. It was a full 4 or 5 stories straight down.  I'm surprised no one has died during a windy game before. 

The sun was in my eyes for most of the game, so this is the best crowd shot I could take prior to halftime.  THAS A LOTTA RED!

After the sun went down, Cody started throwing tipped interceptions, and all was lost.

The stadium had some lame fireworks display post game for the end of the Big XII era, or some such crap, but it wasn't worth my time to capture.  You may be asking yourself "Where's the picture of the traditional border crossing bathroom break?"  Well, for one, it was reaaaallllly cold when we crossed, and two, do you really want a picture of me pissing on a sign?  Other than that, when we got back to the hotel the others went swimming and I went to sleep because I'm old and lame; and so thus ends the pictography.

Coaching Rumblings - If you are following the search as closely as I am, you may have been slightly concerned when the inter-tubes lit up with the bogus news that Ole Miss Coach Houston Nutt was going to be announced as the new Buffs head coach at a 3pm news conference today.  The rumor was started by some random website who couldn't even get Coach Mac's name right.  A whole bunch of people freaked out, assuming the worst.  It was bullshit, and all is back to normal.  It's not going to move that fast; we'll know when the guy is selected, and it won't be some random SEC blog breaking the news to us.  Hell, half the viable candidates haven't even been interviewed yet.  If it aint from a Colorado based source, I'm not putting to much stock in the information.

On that front, Bohn took the opportunity the Vikings/Redskins game provided to interview two of the leading "family" candidates.  Eric Bienemy and John Embree both got looks over the weekend, and certainly Bienemy is on the short list.  I've also heard Air Force Coach Troy Calhoun's name a lot, although I haven't talked to many fans who would want him as their top choice.

Basketball team loses to the smaht kids from Hahvahd - Sigh.... for the first time ever the Harvard Crimson have defeated a Big XII basketball team, and of course it was the CU Buffaloes.  The Buffs continued to stumble out of the gate, losing their 3rd road game in as many tries.  I listened to exactly 3 minutes of the first half before realizing what was going to happen and falling back asleep.  The same poor team defense that was present last season continues to plague the team this year, the difference is that the stellar offensive efficiency seen under the Bzdelik Hyper-Princeton offense is missing.  CU shot only 34.5% from the floor and had only 5 assists on 19 made baskets.  CU even managed to be out-rebounded by the small conference Harvard team.  Alec Burks was non existent in the first half, and the team struggled all second half to remain within 20 of the Ivy League Crimson.  In all reality any hopes of the NCAA Tournament have been flushed, and the team can only hope to make the NIT now.  The season's been a massive disappointment so far, and it's become clear that the dramatic change from Princeton-style to traditional offense is having a profound affect on this team.

TCU joining Big East - About that MWC move Boise St... it's not looking so good.  TCU has just announced planes to jump to the Big East of all places for the 2012 football season.  The move will be for all sports.  As of then the "new" Mountain West will be Boise St plus the left overs of the old MWC and the WAC; all the marquee names have jumped ship.  Imagine if the Utahs, TCU, and BSU had joined forces with Nevada, Fresno St, Hawaii, and Air Force.  That'd be a hell of an 8 team conference, probably even worthy of a BCS bid.  Instead, the powers all went their separate ways, leaving Boise holding the bag of shit at the end.  Let's all give Boise St the ole' sad trombone for effort!

Peyton Hillis - On the brighter side of life, I'd like to take a moment to trumpet the accomplishments of my man Peyton Hillis.  The bruising runningback we're apparently calling "the dumptruck," was plucked off the Josh McDaniels scrap heap (one man's trash is another's treasure) and is now diamonds in the hands of the Cleveland Browns (and my fantasy team).  Dude had another 3 touchdowns Sunday, and is reminding everyone of Mike Alstott.  Best fantasy pick-up ever!
(Your running back is now DIAMONDS!)

Josh McDaniels - Speaking of Josh McDaniels; it's probably not the best time to be giving your owner a convenient excuse to shit-can your ass.  As the Broncos continue to be consistently inconsistent, the revelation comes out that a member of McD's staff went and taped a 49ers practice in London.  After 15 loses in 20 games, you can't let something like that happen.  While I'll buy that Josh had nothing to do with it, and that his apologies were genuine, it's not a good time to be giving your detractors ammunition.  With Hawk gone, the Colorado sports constituency needs fresh blood, and it looks like J-Mac's going to give it to them.

Happy Monday!

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