“I’m not having fun either”: Tad Boyle vents frustrations with struggling Buffs

BOULDER — Colorado Buffaloes head basketball coach Tad Boyle didn’t mince words in his first media availability since returning from his team’s 0-2 road trip to the Bay Area.

“Our attitude is not what it needs to be, our effort is not what it needs to be, certainly our execution is not what it needs to be, our toughness, our discipline, all of the things that go into winning games this time of year,” Boyle said.

He called out his team’s flaws and he named names.

“There’s some guys that are coming off the bench who could easily supplant some guys that are starting, but the problem is they’re not,” Boyle said. “(Shooting guard) Shane Gatling is ready to be taken out of the starting lineup, the way he’s played. But nobody is making an argument to make that happen.”

Boyle named Daylen Kountz and Eli Parquet as potential replacements but said that neither has taken advantage of the opportunity. The problem is that neither of them, like virtually every other player in the Buffs’ rotation, has played the type of defense that Boyle is looking for, recently.

“The guys that are playing, they’ve all had an opportunity to step up and say, ‘I’m gonna take the bull by the horns,'” Boyle said. “Somebody’s got to do that.”

The losses to Cal and Stanford over the weekend left the Buffs with a three-game losing streak. Over the last four games, Boyle noted, Colorado had allowed its opponent to shoot over 50% from the field in five of eight halves.

Instead of holding a regular practice on Tuesday, Boyle held a film session. His team watched each of the 20 layups it gave up to Stanford and all 43 points allowed at the rim.

“We watched every one of those clips,” Boyle said. “It was a sobering film session. It was not a fun one for the players.”

For a coach who has watched his team implode over the final weeks of the Pac-12 season, not having fun has become the norm.

“If they’re having fun losing, something is wrong,” Boyle said. “Guess what, I’m not having fun either.”

Colorado is in a frustrating place and tensions have risen. The Buffs have played their worst basketball of the season since celebrating a win over USC that allowed Colorado to retain first place in the Pac-12 just two weeks ago.

The problem, Boyle says, is effort. That starts on the defensive end.

“They need to understand we are where we are because of our lack of pride defensively,” Boyle said. “Unless we plan on stopping anybody, we better be really shooting the ball extremely well on not turning it over 16 times.”

Even with 16 turnovers and 43 points allowed at the rim, Colorado still had a chance to make a late move against Stanford. As Boyle noted, it was a one-score game with 3 minutes and 26 seconds to play.

“There’s just so many things in that Stanford game that were just literally atrocious,” Boyle said. “We had no business being in that game… It was mind-boggling to me how that happened.”

Colorado being so close despite playing so poorly almost makes the loss even more frustrating.

“If we would just take a little bit of pride, we win that game going away,” Boyle said. “But we didn’t and we don’t.”

The Buffs had two of their worst practices of the year in the lead-up to their Bay Area road trip. Boyle hopes that his squad will realize that the lack of execution on the practice court is leading to problems on game day.

But every problem has a solution, and Boyle says that the Colorado Buffaloes’ problems are no different.

“I’m confident that this group will get it turned around but time is of the essence. We’ve got one regular-season game left,” Boyle said. “I’m not going to hit the panic button. I believe in this team. I believe in our players. I believe in Shane Gatling. I believe in Daylen Kountz. I believe in Eli Parquet. I believe in every single one of them.”