Monday Grab Bag: The pseudo-start of basketball season

My sporting weekend was over before Saturday even rolled around.  Through the football game Thursday evening, and BuffsMadness Friday night, I had more than my fill of sports by Saturday morning.  That left plenty of time to pursue other leisure activities like playing video games, drinking beer, and otherwise rarely leaving my house.

*sigh*

In retrospect, I probably should've taken advantage of the open weekend.  My bad.

Today in the bag I'm talking BuffsMadness, the loss against ASU, and my typical trip around the world of football.

Click below for the bag...


BuffsMadness - 

Friday night, just after an epic comeback win for the volleyball team, BuffsMadness tipped off, marking the unofficial start to basketball season.  The evening featured a few fan participation events (mostly involving the C-Unit), player introductions and interviews, a men vs women 3-point shooting competition (won by Lexy Kresl), and a pair of scrimmages.

Smiles all around.  From: the BDC

I thought it was a pretty good program, especially considering it was put together on relatively short notice.  There was no lull, as one set-piece quickly followed on the hells of its predecessor, and I got a kick out of hearing the player interaction segments.

The men's scrimmage went about as planned.  The team with both Andre Roberson and Spencer Dinwiddie on it won easily (pretty unfair to put those two on a team together), and little defense was on display.  Coach Boyle (who was mic'd throughout the scrimmage) made a few disparaging comments on that end, but the light on substance, heavy on style performance is what you expect at these types of things.  Having been paying attention the last few years, and having seen practice back in August, I know that this team will protect the rim much better when live ammunition begins flying.

Overall, I have to give the first BuffsMadness a passing grade.  None of the zaniness you can find at other events around the country, but a solid way of getting the fanbase back into a hoops mindset.

Straight forward and to the point, BuffsMadness hit all the points it needed to.  From: the BDC

If there was any negative Friday night, it was the disappointing attendance tally.  The announced total was 3,117, however, that was an all-inclusive number, and more than a few had left after the volleyball game, leaving the actual attendance for the basketball-centric portion of the evening around the 2,000 mark.

Still, with how lightly the athletic department promoted the event beyond the on-line diehards, it's a number I've convinced myself to be comfortable with for the first iteration.  In the future, with a little concrete promotion, inclusion on the season schedule, and an expectation from the fanbase, that number should go up.  Hell, that 3,000 number would've been acceptable for some games over the last few years... Baby steps, and all.  In five years time, we'll probably all look back on Friday night, and chuckle at the quaintness of it all.

The best news: we're only 25 days from the actual start of the season.  I see you, November 9th...


Oh, yeah, the football game -

Yeesh, that got bad.  So bad that I left early in the fourth quarter, long before ASU scored their final touchdowns.  The final tally totaled 51 points and 593 yards against, as the Sun Devils easily cruised to a 51-17 win.

For the Buffs, outside of a strong 2nd quarter, which saw CU score all 17 points of their points on 135 yards, and crawl back into the game against a sleepwalking opponent, the performance was mostly impotent.  For the rest of the game, they could only muster 120 yards total.  In 11 non-2nd quarter drives, CU punted eight times, turned it over twice, and held the ball as the game ended.  Typical of the trainwreck that is the Colorado offense.

There was joy in Mudville for a brief moment in the 2nd half.  From: the BDC

(BTW, that 2nd quarter was preceded by the basketball team receiving their championship rings.  I chalk all 17 of those points up to the inspiration posed by the hoops team.)

The lone positive to come out of Thursday night. From: Allbuffs

Anyone who tries to revel in the fact that the Buffs played it close in the first half is foolish.  The Sun Devils struck me as completely disinterested in playing hard, and looked as though they were hoping that a 50% effort would be enough to win.  When that proved not to be the case, they reluctantly put forth something resembling effort in the second half, which was more than enough to pound the Buffs into dust.

After only the first of the four game stretch-of-death, I'm already willing to call 200 points and 2,000 yards a lost cause, leaving this month of football essentially redeemless.  I can't wait until this season is over.


Around the nation of football - 

College Football

South Carolina @ LSU -

The marquee game of Saturday evening lived up to billing, as the result was in doubt up to the final whistle.  The other USC couldn't put together a game winning drive, however, and LSU staved off the comeback bid to win 23-21.  LSU freshman RB Jeremy Hill busted out for 124 yards and two scores.

Stanford @ Notre Dame -

The Cardinal got robbed.  All-world RB Stepfan Taylor scored what should've been a tying touchdown in overtime, but the refs were too eager to get out of the rain, and disallowed the score.  ND "wins" 20-13.

Why wasn't this a TD?

West Virginia @ Texas Tech -

If I told you one of these teams dropped a 35-point blowout on the other via a six TD performance from their QB, you'd expect it to be West Virginia, right?  In actuality, it was Tech who did the whuppin', riding Seth Doege's 499 yard, six touch down performance to a 49-14 win.  Shake it off, Geno.  Plenty of time left to secure that Heisman.


NFL

Dallas @ Baltimore -

Dallas seemed incapable of understanding end-of-game clock management, as QB Tony Romo presided over many lackadaisical huddles down the stretch.  This left kicker Dan Bailey with an overly difficult attempt at a game winner.  It sailed wide, giving the reeling Ravens an undeserved 31-29 win.

New England @ Seattle -

It's always nice to see the Brady-lead Patriot monster go down, and Sunday's 24-23 loss at Seattle was no exception.  The Seahawks managed to complete the comeback via a 14-point 4th quarter.  Russell Wilson is making a believer out of me.


Happy Monday!