Tuesday Grab Bag: Runnin' Wild

It was a weird weekend for the Pac-12.  As a whole, the league went 10-2, which is pretty good, but a number of the games went off in kooky fashion, and the South, especially, is starting to lose a little of its luster.  The biggest culprit was Arizona State, who struggled with FCS minnow Cal Poly for three and a half quarters before pulling away late in a 35-21 final (*smug smirk*).  While still a successful weekend, not the easy non-conference blitz those on the Left Coast were expecting.

To top it all off, the news broke on Saturday that the ongoing talks with AT&T/DirecTV over a Pac-12 Networks carriage deal fell through.  AT&T was trying to squeeze the conference, not without reason, and had put together what was deemed a 'very bad deal' for the league.  Just how bad?  Well, reportedly, it would've forced the league to:

1. Overhaul its business model.
2. Rewrite the terms of agreements with current partners.
3. Potentially subject itself to litigation.
4. Compromise the entire endeavor and the integrity of the universities (*cough* a bit overwrought here).

Certainly, there's some spin in that assessment, but, none-the-less, that sounds horrible, and the league soundly rejected it - not a single vote in favor.  *woof*

Now, this is not the end-all on the matter, but, as we're already two weeks into the lucrative football season, time is quickly ticking through the window.  Pac-12 Networks has gone on far too long without getting their channel on the satellite leader, and the hand-wringing by the fans and press is taking over El Jefe's legacy. Something is going to give, and my guess is that it will end up being the Conference of Champions.

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Today in the bag, I'm talking the win over UMass, some updates on upcoming opponents, and some recruiting news from the men's basketball program.

Click below for the bag...

Quick Post: Wofford teaser

Longtime followers of the blog will recall that I don't run out the full preview treatment for every non-conference game.  I'll take some time for the biggies (CSU, Kansas, Charleston Classic), but I'll just do quick teasers for most of the early schedule (Do you really want 2,000 words on NAU and Hartford?).

It's finally here, opening night!  GODDAMN OPENING NIGHT!  It's like Christmas morning, only better... and with basketball!  2012-13 has arrived, and none too soon.  After slogging through a summer and football season that offered little relief,  BuffNation will finally have a few moments of honest joy to savor.  Tonight is going to be electric.

This game has been a near-as-makes-no-difference sellout for weeks.  Imagine that, a November non-conference game against a small school from 1,500 miles away is the hottest ticket of the fall.  No one is coming this evening to see the opponent, it's all about the Buffs.  As well it should be.  Tonight is an opportunity to revel in the return of basketball, to celebrate the championship season of last year, and kick off the new season with a bang.

I'm sure when Wofford coach Mike Young signed up for this game, he wasn't expecting the CEC to be jammed packed with 11,000 hoops-mad Buff fans, but that roiling cauldron is what he's going to get this evening.  The underdogs from Wofford are no pushover, however.  They're more than some scrub D-2 team, or some bottom feeding RPI 300+ candidate.  After claiming back-to-back SoCon championships to start the decade, they are a program with some swagger.  Take them lightly at your peril.

Despite fielding 13 underclassmen after years of graduating exodus, they should still be able to compete for the SoCon title once again this season.  The key player for the Terriers is 6-1 sophomore guard Karl Cochran.  Fresh off the SoCon freshmen of the year award, he's meant to be the lead dog this year.  He put up 27% of the team's shots when he was on the court last season, and I expect him to take even more than that tonight.  Fellow sophomore Lee Skinner is an interesting forward who grabs a lot of offensive rebounds (13.2%).  I'll doubt he'll have much luck in that area tonight, however.  They also have a dude on their team named Indiana Faithful.  That's awesome.

They favor a very deliberate half-court set, coming in at 324th nationally in adjusted tempo last year, and taking about 62 possessions per game.  This is a team who will try to control the pace of the game, and wear the young Buffs into mental mistakes.  With an impatient capacity crowd hungry for blood, it'll be up to Coach Boyle and staff to keep the energy controlled, and the team pointed in the right direction.

Even with all the excitement of opening night and a championship banner unveiling, I'm not too concerned about the Buffs running into a wall.  Wofford is a team that CU should be able to cruise past at home, and in the process finally bring some joy back to Mudville.  A 10-15 point win would be acceptable, more would help salve the wounds left lingering from football season.

Tip is set for a little after 5pm, but show up early to see the championship banner unfurled.  Those of you out-of-towners can catch the action on the Pac-12 Network.

C'mon Buffs! Kick some ass, and start the weekend and season off with a bang! The fanbase needs this...


GO BUFFS!  BEAT WOFFORD!

Monday Grab Bag: "Let's come back and sing that song"

What a difference a week makes.  The Buffs returned to Boulder Saturday night winners in their first conference game, leaving them tied atop the Pac-12 South standings.  It took an incredible fourth quarter comeback, but the win eased blood pressures across the state, and obviously lifted a huge weight from the shoulders of the coaching staff.  The Fresno St game isn't entirely forgotten, but it's at least a secondary memory now.

Today in the bag, I'll be looking back on the win, noting improvement across the board, and taking a run around the nation of football.

Click below for the bag...

Quick Post: Defensive backfield on the road to recovery

If I had the ability to travel through time and magically fix one thing about the 2011 Colorado Buffaloes, I'd immediately change the federal disaster area that was the defensive backfield.  Of all the things wrong with the team that barely escaped the Pac-12 basement, that one factor, more than any other, became the team's Achilles heel.  Through injuries, suspensions, and last minute position switches, the Buffs took the field against some of the best passing offenses in the nation with what amounted to a Division-2 defensive backfield.

Mercifully, that painful situation has been addressed.

Injuries have healed, suspensions have been lifted, and, most importantly, reinforcements have arrived.  One of the primary recruiting efforts last season was finding immediate contributors on the edge, and that effort has proven successful.  Coach Embree and staff hauled in a total of five DB's, with the expectation that many of them would see plentiful, and immediate, playing time.

Enter the quartet of Kenneth Crawley, Yuri Wright, Jeffrey Hall, and Marques Mosley.  They bring with them an infusion of skill and athleticism that was sorely lacking last fall.  What's more, they arrived in Boulder with a predisposition to play the position at a high level:

"There are different ways you are going to play man, different ways you are going to play cover two, different zone pressures - these guys all get it. I hate using coach clichés but they get it. From the jump, it all makes sense to them. It’s all natural for them. [...] For Coach Brown, that’s great because he can focus on technique and that says a lot." -link

It's both a combination of skill and need that these freshmen will be thrown into the fire so quickly.  Expect Crawley and/or Wright to start opening day, they're that impressive.  Hell, expect all four to play big minutes throughout the season.  If not for an injury, a fifth signee, John Walker, would also see plenty of the field. 

Combined with returning veterans Ray Polk, Parker Orms and Greg Henderson, the defensive backfield suddenly looks to be a strength.  While youthful mistakes will surely be abundant, having multiple scholarhsip athletes healthy and eligible at a position of need is a massive step in the right direction.  I expect exciting plays, both positive and negative, from this crew.

Five reasons to be optimistic about the upcoming football season

The stated goal this year is to do what no CU football team has done since 2007: get to a bowl game.  I may not be sold on that, but I can at least can see a potential path to that end. Below the jump, I'll give five legitimate reasons why the Buffs might actually sneak into that bowl game.  No hyperbole or leaps of faith here, just honest-to-goodness truths that will allow any Buff fan to believe.

Click below for the list...

Monday Grab Bag: Dancing with Buffaloes

On a whim, and encouraged by rock bottom airfare prices, I traveled to Southern California last week to take in the inaugural Pac-12 basketball tournament. I certainly didn't expect much from my beloved Buffs, who struggled mightily down the stretch in conference play, and the most I expected was a solid win over pseudo-rival Utah.

I figured I'd watch some hoops, get a win out of my trip, and spend most of my time reconnecting with my friends in the area.

Then, the weirdest thing happened: the Buffs flat refused to stop winning.

What's this net-cutting thing you speak of?  From: the BDC

This game continues to find way to surprise me, and the Buffs run to a God-be-damned conference title last week almost left me more stunned then overjoyed... almost.  It took four wins in four days, but the Buffs, on the verge of exhaustion, got it done.  Dreams do come true, and the University of Colorado will Dance on Thursday for the first time in nine years.

Today in the bag, I'll be recapping the championship run, and looking ahead to THE BIG DANCE.

Click below for the bag...

Quick Post: On "Mediocre"

In the wake of the Stanford game, a blow-out loss to cap a rough swing through NorCal, I'm not surprised that Coach Boyle dropped the term "mediocre" when describing his team.  Boyle had just sat through a 10-minute stretch of basketball as rough as any I've seen over the past decade, as the Cardinal used a 32-5 second-half run to bash the Buffs into submission, and it's hard to think happy thoughts minutes after your defense implodes in front of you.

But I think it's unfair to fret too much over this past weekend's trip to the Bay Area.  Outside of that 32-5 stretch of play in Saturday's second half, the Buffs actually played Stanford and Cal even (109-109).  70 of the 80 minutes played over the weekend were fine.  Additionally, I don't expect many teams to stroll through San Fran and grab a split.  Most of the conference will do exactly what the Buff did this weekend: take the 0-fer. 

Essentially, I'm going to lose a lot more sleep if CU drops a game this weekend than I did over last weekend's results. Stanford and Cal are the toughest trip in the conference, and the number of teams that play well on the road with any consistency is quite small.  The Buffs lost to two good teams on the road; that's not exactly a surprise.

Sure, you want to set higher standards, but my overall opinion of this basketball team is essentially unchanged from where it was Thursday morning.  CU is still going to be dominant at home, struggle to beat a few of the Pac-12 dregs on the road (mostly through sheer will), and maybe come close to stealing a win they shouldn't.  Even without a win out of the last road trip, the squad is still in great position to reach postseason play, and they're probably going to finish the season in the top-half of the table. 

That's a win for a squad that continues to exist in a state of transition as Coach Boyle and staff look for answers and consistency in life after Burks and Higgins.  It may not be pretty, but this team is one of the "better" teams in the conference.  Down as the Pac-12 may be, that doesn't make the Buffs "mediocre" in my eyes.  Glass half-full, or some such nonsense.

Breathe easy Buff Nation, there's still plenty of basketball yet to be played.