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BOULDER — Fielding four seniors and three juniors in his primary rotation, Tad Boyle has made no secret that this isn’t just any other season for his Colorado Buffaloes. With experience come expectations, a reality he’s more than in tune with.
Reading the final score from the Buffs’ 90-53 opening night win over Sacramento State might suggest that this team is closing in on its goals, the style of basketball that Boyle and his staff expect from such a veteran group.
Listening to the head coach speak about the performance, however, paints a much different picture if you know the man. Boyle was reluctant to overly criticize his group, which is to be commended on a night where several prominent programs across the country failed to live up to their end of early season bye-games. But he didn’t hesitate to voice his concerns.
Sure, the offensive side of things looked impressive. Derrick White, in his first performance donning a Colorado uniform, dazzled the crowd as he diced towards the hook and slyly set up teammates for easy looks, all after netting his first jumper of the night. Dominique Collier flashed a new confidence shooting the rock—true freshmen Deleon Brown and Lucas Siewert looked less than shy, as well. As a group, the team picked up where they left off a year ago, hitting 13-of-21 from beyond the arc. All in all, offensively at least, it was the kind of performance you hope for in an opening game, one where your team shares the ball and receives balanced contributions from both the starting five and bench.
“The strength of our team is our balance,” Boyle said. “And our balance comes from depth.”
But that’s where much of the praise that might be due to this team ends.
Here’s a few quick notes on the final box that might be, and certainly should be, alarming.
Colorado gave up 17 offensive rebounds against the undersized Hornets, while only grabbing ten of their own. Now, when Sac State is throwing up bricks, going 2-for-22 from deep, there are going to be plenty of live balls available—Buffs defenders just didn’t grab enough of them, especially considering the criticisms Boyle has voiced in the media leading up to the season. For a team without a dominant big man nor explosive guards that jump off the paper at you, Sac State scored 26 points in the paint, with 16 second-chance points overall.
Redshirt senior Xavier Johnson said that while he felt like the team’s overall intensity was present on the defensive end, there are obvious strides that must be made.
“To beat top ten teams, we need to be way better, “ said Johnson, noting the difference between the Hornets and, say, the Xavier Musketeers, who come to town in just under four weeks.
“There were parts of the game where we prolly could have picked up more,” added White.
Concern number one in the postgame was, unsurprisingly, the team’s rebounding.
“Our rebounding on the defense end has to get better,” said Boyle. “That was disappointing.”
Four players finished with five or more defensive rebounds on the night, a list that includes Siewert, Johnson, George King, and Wesley Gordon. But with Sac State missing 48 shots from the field, including 28 from within the three-point arc, the resulting effort just wasn’t good enough—not for a Buffs’ staff that schemes to send all five defenders to the glass.
“That’s where 17 offensive rebounds make me concerned,” Boyle said. “I don’t think we dominated them on the glass like we could have and should have. That’s where we’re not where we need to be.
“We don’t have that edge.”
Ultimately, finding that edge, or not, will likely determine what kind of team we look back on this one as being. As mentioned earlier, this group has four seniors, all on their fifth season in the college ranks. Whatever a season can throw at a group, these guys have seen it.
But for as long as the college basketball season lasts, from early October practices to early April titles, things can disappear in an instant. White, who spent three seasons playing Division-II ball at UCCS, spoke in the postgame presser about not taking games for granted and attacking every day like it could be your last.
Essentially, he’s talking about having a sense of urgency, something his head coach wasn’t sure his team would bring.
“That was my concern coming in,” Boyle said. “I believe in our guys and I trust our guys. Overall, I was pleased.”
The pair of Johnson and Gordon, having been in the program the longest, have seen every type of postgame locker room speech Boyle can give. There have been heartbreaks, program defining wins, and everything in between.
Friday night’s opener, while full of flaws that could come back to derail this team’s journey towards its goals, avoided what any major conference team fears most: a buy-game loss. It happens, earning a spot on SportsCenter for the worst of reasons.
Thus, fans left smiling, less than 24 hours before their football program continues its march towards the College Football Playoff.
“A win is a win,” Johnson said. “So (Boyle) was happy about that.”
All is well that ends well in Boulder, it appears.
