Tuesday Grab Bag: the Devil's in the Details

I hope you were afforded the opportunity to take President's Day off.  For whatever reason, my company has randomly picked to observe Washington's birthday over other federal holidays such as MLK Day, Columbus Day and Veterans Day.  Weird, but I'll take it.  So for me it's a back-to-work Tuesday.

Today in the bag, I'm recapping the stumble against ASU, shaking my head at the referring disaster that got Josh Scott injured, and praising the women for sweeping the Arizonas.

Click below for the bag...


A Deal With the Devil Gone Bad - 

The Buffs couldn't find a way to capitalize on the emotional high resulting from the win over Arizona, and fell into a trap game with the ASU Sun Devils on Saturday night.  In a game more akin to an MMA fight than a basketball, the Sun Devils pushed the frustrated Buffs to overtime, before hitting a game winning layup as the extra period expired.  The 63-62 final halts a six of seven run that had Buff Nation dreaming of a top-two seed in Las Vegas.

Yep, that about sums it up.  From: the BDC

I feared a let down, and that's what I got.  Both the team and the crowd came out flat, allowing ASU to  shove around the Buffs for much of the first frame.  If not for some truly atrocious officiating lighting the powder keg, the whole thing was probably doomed for a meek fizzle down the stretch.  A vicious Jordan Bachynski elbow to the head of Josh Scott put an end to that, knocking the freshman out of the game with a concussion. Incensed at the sight of Bachynski clocking the talismanic forward without as much as a second glance from the officials, all of BuffNation hit boiling point, and a red mist descended over Saturday's end-game.

Cue the music.  From: the BDC

Back-and-forth the teams went, lodging hammer blows both on the scoreboard, and with their elbows, knees, and fists.  ASU seemed to have the upper hand heading into the final minute of regulation with a six point lead.  The Buffs closed the gap, however, capping the run with a beautiful dish-off dunk by Xavier Johnson to force overtime.  With only seven seconds to go, Spencer Dinwiddie put the Buffs up one with a clutch dribble-drive layup.  Normally, that would mean game over, as Coach Boyle's defense has almost always come through with the game on the line.  Unfortunately, there's always an exception to the rule, and ASU's Evan Gordon was able to slip past a rotating pair of defenders to hit the game winning bucket as time expired.

Lost in all of the in-game chaos was the spectacular effort of Dinwiddie.  Despite getting hammered every time he even thought about going towards the basket, he continued to dive in and get to the line.  There he made the Sun Devils pay, hitting all 14 of his free throw attempts to keep the Buffs in the game (he finished with 24 points).  Had his potential winner stood the final seven seconds, it would've been very fitting.

Dinwiddie didn't let the body blows phase him.  From: the BDC

Beyond Dinwiddie, freshman Xavier Johnson had another big game, logging a 10/14 performance.  Askia Booker also had a nice night, chipping in 17 on 7-13 shooting.  With the loss, it marks the first time all season that Ski has been over 40% from the floor in defeat.

Let me try to be positive and say that this is not a bad loss.  Yes, the RPI got a little bruised, but as currently constituted, the resume is still more than solid enough to earn a Tournament spot.  You never want to lose at home, but Arizona State is a good team (... as long as you only look at their record).  The only thing losing to them does is drop the Buffs down a line or two in the bracket.  CU is still comfortably in as of today, and nothing short of a major collapse down the stretch (think 2-3 over the final five, with a first round exit in Vegas) will change that.  No harm done, other than to Josh Scott.


On Josh Scott and Officiating - 

Speaking of Josh, his concussion is the direct result of a horrible officiating crew.  More than just having a bad night, the three refs saddled with Saturday's game were the worst kind of incompetent - they were purposefully negligent.

You could tell watching the game that the crew had made the decision to let a lot of physical play go.  Despite how outright violent the game got, they left the whistles tucked away in their overnight bags.  The grabs, the holds, the excessive wrangling, the moving screens - all uncalled, on both sides - not only made for unattractive basketball, but also served to endanger the players through un-tempered reactions, like we saw with the Bachynski/Scott play.

Check the replay.  Josh and Lurch are battling for position.  Josh shoves the hulking simpleton aside, an act I would've called for a foul.  It in fact goes uncalled, despite Bachynski's best sell job.  Frustrated, and probably without any institutional restraint from his aloof coach nee hobbit, Bachynski performs a takeout move, clocking Scott in the head with his elbow on the way down, knocking the freshman out cold.

Note the elbow in Josh's face, knocking him out.  From: CUBuffs.com

The refs created the situation by not calling the game closer, letting the uncalled fouls, like the one Josh actually committed, pile up, fueling flared tempers.  If they had called Josh's original foul when it happened (or really anything in the first half), rather that playing to some macho bullshit code of "letting the players decide," Bachynski doesn't respond, and an 18-year old doesn't suffer a black-out concussion.  Bill Laimbeer would be proud. 

Of course, nothing exists in a vacuum.  Both leading up to and after the Bachynski take-down, that crew had established itself as one of the worst I've ever seen.  Carries, double-dribbles, out-of bounds were all horrendously missed in addition to normal and abnormal foul controversies.  I'd say they were trying to throw the game but for two things: 1) both teams suffered from the howlers, and 2) if you're going to throw a game, you'd be far more subtle.  I can only conclude that they were just far out of their depth, like me taking my softball umpiring talents to the major leagues during a pennant chase.  Hopefully the Pac-12 recognizes this, and assigns them only to games featuring the dregs of the conference going forward.

Woof.  Tad was pissed.  Not without reason, either.  From: the BDC

To that end, Coach Boyle talked with Ed Rush, the Pac-12 head of officiating, about the slug-fest allowed under his zebras' watch.  I wouldn't expect a drastic public pronouncement, however, as Rush tumbled through enough mental gymnastics to support the wave-off of Sabatino Chen's shot in early January.  Poor officiating seems to be par for the course out West, and no one has the balls to do anything about it.

For the record, your officials Saturday were Greg Nixon, Michael Eggers, and Daryl Gelinas. Gelinas worked the previous CU/ASU game, and Nixon worked the CU/Oregon game (... both far from beautiful exhibitions of the sport).   If we see either of them calling a CU game the rest of the way, we'll know that the Pac-12 is sending a message about how they want a Colorado game officiated.  Hopefully, the Buffs respond by borrowing some helmets from Dal Ward.


Women Continue to Roll - 

While the men were storming the court and getting into fights over the weekend, the women were quietly taking care of business on the road.  A pair of solid wins in Arizona pushed the win streak to five, and kept the Buffs only one game behind UCLA for 4th place in the conference.  Sophomore forward Jen Reese had by far the best trip, notching 37/14 over the two games on 14-23 shooting, including a career high 22 points Sunday.

Reese had a huge trip.  From: CUBuffs.com

The wins also helped the team back up to #20 in the AP poll.  Congrats!

This week, the ladies return home for a pair of games against the Washingtons.  With a trip to Seattle and the Pac-12 tournament looming only two weeks away, this will be your last chance to see the team before the NCAA Tournament kicks off.  If you can make it up to Boulder this weekend, the women really deserve a proper sendoff.

Happy Tuesday!