BOULDER — From on top of the scorer’s table, Evan Battey told a packed CU Events Center what was on the way.
“My dream is to be the head coach here and I’m gonna achieve that dream someday,” he said. “I don’t know when, but I’m gonna do it.”
The plan was never for Evan Battey to give his senior night speech from on top of the scorer’s table. He was supposed to give the speech from the court like the generations of Buffaloes who came before him. But the surprise win over #2 Arizona gave the student section reason to charge the court at the final buzzer and there was no way to clear them off quickly.
So Battey climbed up onto the scorer’s table and addressed the sold-out arena from there.
The speech capped off the most memorable senior night in the history of the Colorado Buffaloes.
Ask a dozen fans what the best moment was and you’ll hear a dozen different answers.
Some would say it was the speech.
Or the court storm.
Or when Battey stayed on the defensive end of the floor for the final possession, wagging his finger at the student section begging them to join him on the floor.
Or when Battey held onto a ball past the whistle after the ref called a held ball, refusing to let his opponent walk away with it. Meanwhile a pair of Wildcats climbed on his back
What was he thinking during the sequence? “My ball,” he said after the game.
There was a fadeaway turnaround jumper from the baseline.
A three-pointer to bring his season-percentage back to 50%.
A rock-the-baby jam in the layup lines.
His final introduction into the starting lineup.
And, of course, the pregame Senior Day ceremonies.
The crowd poured its heart out for each of these moments, but it still couldn’t match Battey’s energy. It never has.
https://twitter.com/DNVR_Buffs/status/1497776223984005122?s=20&t=TlSvQlfM8j8tB_jNrgbe-g
Legend. pic.twitter.com/O8mzwaOeOQ
— DNVR Buffs (@DNVR_Buffs) February 27, 2022
Wrapping your mind around what happened in Boulder on Saturday isn’t easy to do. In some ways, it feels like divine intervention is the only explanation for what happened. Colorado had only beaten one team ranked in the top 100 by the NCAA’s computers. That was No. 58 Oregon, a team that built a reputation for beating teams they shouldn’t and blowing games they shouldn’t in equal parts.
Who could’ve guessed that the Buffs would topple the No. 2 team in the country—and on Evan Battey’s senior night, no less. They’d lost by 16 to a far, far inferior Arizona State team just 48 hours earlier.
But that’s the thing about Evan Battey. It’d be unfair to call somebody who suffered a stroke at age 19 lucky, but there’s an energy about him that has helped him to catch plenty of lucky breaks ever since.
And that energy was what propelled Saturday’s events.
Battey’s teammates wanted to win that game for him. They didn’t take a possession off. It was full energy from start to finish.
Battey’s coaches wanted to win that game for him. Tad Boyle made that abundantly clear an hour after the final buzzer when the chaos had died down and it was time to talk to reporters.
The crowd wanted to win that game for Battey. They screamed their asses off for 40 minutes. They even threw a water bottle on the court when they didn’t think he got a fair whistle.
Everybody in the arena wanted that win so badly because they loved Battey so much. And the spark that was provided was enough to pull off one of the greatest upsets in the history of Colorado Buffaloes basketball.
It wasn’t a coincidence. It wasn’t luck. It was sheer will power at every level.
It was the power of Evan Battey.
And everybody in that arena will be counting down the days until Evan Battey provides that power once again as the head coach of the Colorado Buffaloes.
