Colorado earned a major opportunity but didn't take advantage

BOULDER — There weren’t as many people at The Keg on Sunday as there were a few days prior.

Can you blame them?

This wasn’t a primetime matchup between the preseason No. 1 and No. 2 in the Pac-12 being broadcast nationally by ESPN.

Payton Pritchard, the Pac-12 Tourney’s Most Outstanding Player and leader of a Sweet 16 run, wasn’t going shot-for-shot with McKinley Wright.

The fourth-ranked Oregon Ducks weren’t in the house.

And neither were Mel Tucker or Phillip Lindsay. Andre Roberson was nowhere to be seen. Bill Walton headed south to call Arizona-Arizona State.

All told, one-third of the crowd disappeared.

Who knows when any of them will be back now.

The Colorado Buffaloes blew it. After notching an incredible win over one of the nation’s elite programs, the Buffs backed it up by botching a home contest to a middle-of-the-Pac Oregon State squad. Colorado led by 11 with under eight minutes to play, then closed out the game on the wrong side of a 24-5 run.

“We beat ourselves,” Buffs forward Evan Battey said.

All of the work Colorado did on Thursday was erased.

After the win over the Ducks, it wouldn’t have been a surprise to see the Buffs jump in Monday morning’s Top 25 rankings from the first team out into the top 20.

After the loss to the Beavers, Colorado may not get a shiny number next to its name at all.

The difference between No. 20 and No. 25 matters, competitively. When the selection committee builds the March Madness bracket two months from now, they will hand their 20th-best team a five seed and their 25th-best team a seven seed.

But, maybe more importantly, Sunday’s loss matters along the Front Range.

The Buffs had a chance to dominate the airwaves. They’d taken down the goliath of Pac-12 basketball and now controlled their own destiny. They were in the driver’s seat to win a regular-season championship.

Sure, it was the first game of the Pac-12 season, so Colorado wasn’t in a kneel out the clock scenario, but the statement they made would be heard loud and clear.

Loud, clear statements are what it takes to break through the noise created by the Nuggets looking like they’re a piece away from contention three weeks from the trade deadline, the Avalanche competing for the top spot in the Western Conference, the NFL playoffs, the College Football Playoffs, the Broncos existing and whatever else is going on in January.

That opportunity is gone now, and it’s going to take at least a few weekends of wins to get it back. Maybe more.

Colorado earned free advertising for as long as they could hold a winning streak and blew it on Day 1.

“You eat what you kill, that’s the challenge is to get them to understand that,” head coach Tad Boyle said.