The unanswerable question that’s puzzling Colorado Basketball

COLORADO SPRINGS – They’re 9-3. They’ve beaten two ranked opponents. They’ve won two true road games. And yet they are not nearly the team they were billed to be. In fact, they are beyond befuddled.

That’s the story of the Colorado Buffaloes Men’s Basketball team as they enter their final game of the non-conference slate.

While still somewhat early, it might be time to push the panic button on the Buffs and the reason is clear. The team, which features four fifth-year seniors and a fourth-year junior plays with little passion, charisma and sometimes effort is in a very precarious position. Which has lead to many questions internally.

Don’t believe a scribe? Hear it from the coach.

“This coaching staff has been here for seven years now, and this team has two things going for it right now. First, they own the most disappointing loss in that seven-year span, versus Colorado State a few weeks ago and now they can add to that the most disappointing win which is today’s win against Fort Hays State. I need to apologize to the fans of this team for the effort in the second half because it was terrible… I’m really disappointed with our team.”

That’s how seventh-year head coach Tad Boyle lamented following a lackluster home court performance against a Division-II school.

“Right now, the way our team is playing right now, we’re a below average Pac-12 team. At least by the standards that I feel Colorado Basketball has risen to over the past few years,” Boyle said as he continued to rip into his team following Saturday’s game. “We’ve got the capability to be as good as we want to be and we are able to beat anyone in the league. We don’t have the mental toughness to put anybody away. If we don’t figure it out, it’s going to be an up-and-down year.”

While a loss at home to state rival Colorado State should’ve been eye-opening enough, it took a ‘just about as close as you can get to losing to a DII team’ game to open some eyes.

You think the coach has his words ladened with hyperbole? Hear it from the leaders of the locker room.

“I don’t know how to put it,” King said about the game against the Tigers. “It was an eye-opener for us, for sure.”

Therein lies the issue. For whatever reason, this team—held together by a bevy of upperclassman—just decides it doesn’t have to show up some nights. Maybe it’s out of disrespect for the opponent or a too-cocky attitude, but no matter the reason, the result is complacency. What’s the answer to the question of why this is happening and keeps happening?

“That’s the question Coach Boyle asked us after our last game (Saturday) and we couldn’t answer it,” said a confounded King in crowded Clune Arena hallway. “I sat and thought about it after he asked that question to us and I still can’t answer it. Because if we could (answer the question) it wouldn’t happen. But I don’t know. It’s a great question, it’s a great, it’s the question of the team right now. Just why? We don’t know, it just happens. But going forward we just have to be aggressive.”

How do they go about answering the question?

“We didn’t hit the nail on the head; it’s still the question we don’t know the answer to yet,” King described as he attempted to put words to his frustration. “Shapiro, I don’t know, I don’t know. I’m still trying to think, maybe if we come out in the second half and we think just because we did this in the first half that it’ll be easy in the second and we’ll get it again. But we got to realize the opposing team wants to win too and they’re going to come out aggressive. I think we’re sometimes lackadaisical in the second half because what we did in the first.”

Wes Gordon was faced with the same line of questioning on Monday in his hometown of Colorado Springs. Could he explain what is happening?

“Nah, I can’t.”

Is there a solution?

“Hopefully.”

In four words Gordon said it all, the players that lead this team are absolutely astounded, bewildered, confused and dumbfounded as to why they are struggling.

“This team right now, it’s late December, not mid-December, we haven’t played to our capabilities yet, part of that is encouraging part of that is like what the hell are we waiting for,” Boyle said with a smile on his lips but with disgust in his eyes. “You can look at it two ways I guess. All I do as a coach is try to get these guys to play hard, play smart and play together, sometimes playing together and playing hard we’re doing but the playing smart tonight (Monday) didn’t happen. We did not play smart tonight, down the stretch and in the first half, we have to play better.”

Do you still think it’s too early to push the panic button? It doesn’t matter what you think. It’s obvious, this team has pushed it. The Buffs, deceptively old or not, have all the experience needed to get the job done. Will it happen? It’s hard to say, not even the most boisterous of Buffaloes could keep a straight face right now and say they will put it together.