If that was the end, the basketball gods have mercy

It would almost be easy to brush off Colorado’s performance Wednesday night.

The Buffs entered their opening game in the Pac-12 Tournament under the strangest of circumstances. In the two-and-a-half hours before tipoff, the favorite for NBA Defensive Player of the Year tested positive for a pandemic disease, the disease forced the NBA to suspend all play, the president banned travel to Europe, and the team was told that fans would not be allowed in the gym for the rest of the tournament.

There was more chaos before that timeframe and there was more after. If the players’ minds were wandering you’d understand why. The “win-or-go-home” mentality could easily be replaced by a “win-or-go-home-or-maybe-win-and-still-go-home-and-by-the-way-does-any-of-this-really-matter-in-the-grand-scheme-of-things-anyway” mentality.

When the routine changes it’s hard to get your head screwed on straight.

But you can’t brush off what happened Wednesday night, though, because that performance was normal; for the last three weeks, the Buffaloes’ heads haven’t been screwed on straight.

Colorado’s six offensive rebounds allowed is on par with the 7.25 per game they’ve allowed during the losing streak.

Colorado’s 11 turnovers was on par with the 11.75 per game it’s allowed during the losing streak.

Colroado’s 19% shooting from deep was worse than during the losing streak, but not by all that much; the Buffs had only made 24% of their 3-point attempts in the previous four games. Prior to that, Colorado was the best 3-point shooting team in the Pac-12.

To be fair, Colorado’s four assists Wednesday night represented a significant dropoff.

The collapse has been epic.

With 17 minutes left Wednesday night, the Buffs were down 44-28, but the deficit didn’t feel like the biggest problem.

If you could have picked one of the following gifts from the basketball gods, which would you have chosen:

• Shutting down CJ Elleby and Isaac Bonton, who had already combined for 31 points, for the rest of the game
• Colorado’s shooters getting hot the rest of the way
• No more turnovers
• Erasing the deficit

If it were me, I would’ve ranked the options in the order above.

Colorado wasn’t out of the game. Things were certainly bleak but we’ve seen teams erase those same deficits against CU over-and-over this season.

The problem was that there was no reason to believe the Buffaloes would fix anything because they sauntered around the court the exact same way they have for most of the past five games. They felt like losers and they made their fans feel like losers too. Nobody in Buff Nation had any fun Wednesday night.

As of now, the plan is for the NCAA Tournament to be played but without fans in the arenas. But by the time Thursday rolls around there may not be any tournament to be played at all.

If Wednesday night was the end, the basketball gods have mercy.