The Buffs won't be champs but there's still more to play for

The Buffs are good, I promise.

It’s getting harder and harder to explain to local media members, who’ve only watched the Buffs with half an eye and only when Colorado was ranked in the top 20, that Colorado is good.

It’s true though.

They have one of the three best point guards in the Pac-12. They have one of the three best forwards in the Pac-12. They have some of the best role players in the Pac-12. They have an elite Pac-12 coach.

But the Colorado Buffaloes lose too many games. There’s no dancing around it at this point.

They’ve lossed to good teams. They’ve lost to bad teams. They’ve lost at home. They’ve lost on the road.  They’ve blown leads. They’ve been blown out.

Each loss has a reason — an inability to make shots, an inability to rebound, a propensity for turnovers, the refs, being on the road — but at this point, the excuses don’t really matter. We’re past the point where we can hope for change. There are too many holes and the ship has sunk.

This team is what it is, and that’s inconsistent. It likely needed 13 wins to take the regular-season conference crown. If it wins out, it’ll be capped at 12.

That’s too bad because this is the most talented team to come through Boulder in… ever? There’s a case to be made. Thursday night, they didn’t look like it though. They looked lost and, more concerningly, like they didn’t care. It felt like one team was playing a conference matchup in the second-to-last weekend of the season, and the other was playing a meaningless exhibition game.

And it’s not the first time the Buffs have played sleepy.

Each one of these losses has been brutal. Flip a few results and Colorado could be grinding up against the top 10. Instead, it’ll likely be outside the top 25 and without a path back in until after the conference tournament.

Disappointing, but deserved.

This team’s legacy still hasn’t been set in stone, but at least one part of it has: There will be no regular-season title. The conference title is still on the table, as is the Sweet 16, the Elite 8, the Final Four and even a national title. None of these are likely, but they’re all still on the table. That’s where the sights are now set.

Don’t forget: The regular season isn’t a zero-sum game. We’ve framed the 2019-20 campaign as “Pac-12 Title or Bust” but the truth is that there’s a big difference between fourth place and fifth place. Right now, the Buffs sit in fifth and therefore will play a game in the first round of the conference tournament. With a couple of wins, Colorado could get a bye through to the second round.

Shifting the mindset from “let’s be champs” to “at least fourth place” is as brutal as a Pac-12 Network basketball broadcast, but that’s just where we find ourselves.

Playing for a title is fun.

Playing for a bye is scary.

Luckily, the Buffs have played better in the scary games than the fun ones so far this season.