The Town Crier

[PointGuard]

Impressions after the first week of play:

We’re 1-1 but both games were on our home court, so nothing to crow about. We’re averaging 63.5 ppg but have given up 69.0 ppg to our opponents. Turnovers are a problem…we’ve averaged 19.0 topg while our opponents have made 14.5 topg.

Our guards have been most productive offensively. I expected PG Chris Smith to be our ‘star’…and he has lived up to that so far. He’s averaging 16 ppg, 4.5 apg, and 5 rpg and has his 42% of his FG’s, 70% of his 3’s, and 83% of his FT’s. SG Stacey Walker is averaging 11.5 ppg while hitting 69% of his FG’s, 100% of his 3’s, and 80% of his FT’s, but has just 0.5 apg while making 2.5 topg and is only averaging 2 rpg. Our only other guard is J.B. Parker who has been productive, averaging 5.5 ppg and has hit 60% of his FG’s, 50% of his 3’s and 67% of his FT’s. But while he’s listed as a PG, he has yet to dish out an assist and is averaging 1.5 topg so he’s performed better at SG than PG. I wish we had another guard on our bench.

George Seamon is our only SF. He’s yet to truly impress, averaging 5.5 ppg while shooting poorly and averaging 3.5 rpg. I’ve tried several of our interior guys to backup George, but no one has really been able to step up at the position. So we need to keep experimenting.

Vefa Kurtbek has played strongly at PF. He’s averaging 9.0 ppg while hitting 50% of his FG attempts and is averaging 4.5 rpg and 2.5 apg. Primoz Pohek has done well coming in off the bench at PF particularly since he is just a freshman, averaging 4.5 ppg, 2.5 rpg, and 1.5 apg. Jacob Anderson and Mat Hunter have been less productive at PF as reserves.

R.J. Reis has been less that stellar at C, averaging 3.5 ppg, 3.5 rpg, and 2.0 apg. Backing him up has been 7’1” Ryan Blackshear who has done better offensively (6.0 ppg) but only is averaging 1.0 rpg and 1.0 apg.

[Wayne23]

Rebuilding takes time.

[PointGuard]

Game #3, Seattle Redhawks (0-3) at Colorado Buffaloes (1-1)

Seattle has only scored between 42 and 47 points in their first 3 games while giving up 66-72 points each game. I started Ryan Blackshear in place of R.J. Reis at C for this game since Blackshear has been a better scorer in our first two games. PG Chris Smith and PF Vefa Kurtbek combine to score 16 of our first 18 points with Smith connecting on four 3’s and we lead by 7 after 11 minutes of play. Seattle out-shoots us 56% to 44% and out-rebounds us 15-9, but we have found a team that turns the ball over more than we do. The Redhawks have 14 turnovers in the half. For the first time, we control the ball well and only have 3 turnovers. Turnovers plus our hitting 6 of 9 from beyond the arc produce a 36-21 halftime advantage for us. Chris Smith finishes the half hitting 5 of 7 of is 3PA to garner 15 points.

Noticing that Stacey Walker seems very adept at finding and feeding the ball to guys who can score, I begin the 2nd half by flip-flopping him and Smith at the two guard positions to see how he’ll do at the point and take better advantage of Smith’s hot shooting. Seattle’s ineptitude at controlling the ball continues and their massive turnover numbers increase, allowing us to pull ahead by a 50-30 score with 8:39 to play. Seattle finishes the game hitting 51% of their shots compared to 48% by us and controlling the boards 28-17, but when a team turns the ball over 27 times compared to our 6 times, it’s tough to win. And we take advantage of their lack of ball control to drub them 76-49 and keep their scoring to under 50 points thus far this season. The Redhawks PG Dan Smith committed 12 turnovers on his own. C Horatio Torrez scored 14 and grabbed 8 rebounds for Seattle.

Chris Smith scored 19, J.B. Parker (who I keep at SG rather than PG) scored 11 coming off the bench, and PF Vefa Kurtbek finished with 10 points. Stacey Walker dished out 8 assists confirming to me that he will be better at PG and thus allowing me to play Chris Smith at SG. After a scoreless first half, SF George Seamon scored 8 in the 2nd half so that he and Primoz Pohek combined to score 15. Pohek’s performance gives me confidence in having him be the principal sub for Seamon at SF for the foreseeable future.


Game #4, Colorado Buffaloes (2-1) at Cornell Big Red (0-4)

We start off well but midway through the first half we go cold while Cornell goes hot. By the end of the half we trail 38-26 primarily due to our allowing Cornell to hit 57% of their shots while we could only manage to knock down 32% of our shots. SG Chris Smith popped in 10 points for us, but SG Mike Chambers scored 12 for Cornell.

My halftime pep talk falls flat as well let the Big Red score the first 9 points of the second half and we trail by 21. We never get close enough to worry Cornell but a late run cuts the final margin of our loss to 74-64. We only hit 39% of our field goals while Cornell canned 53% of theirs. We held an 18-13 turnover advantage but lost the battle of the boards 31-22.

SG Chris Smith again tops our scoring with 19 points with PG Stacey Walker hitting for 13 and C Ryan Blackshear adding 10. Freshman Primoz Pohek had another solid game at SF, scoring 8 points in 20 minutes of play. For Cornell C Curtis Wall scored 24 and hauled in 7 boards.

Losing to a team like Cornell like we did tonight means the road will likely be a miserable place for us this season.

[PointGuard]

Game #5: North Texas Mean Green (2-2) at Colorado Buffaloes (2-2)

This is the 2nd game in a row we’re playing a team with a color as their nickname. I hope we do better against Green than we did against Red. SG Gavin Woodley is North Texas’s go-to guy and he’s produced as such, averaging 18.3 ppg and hitting 58% of his FGA and 53% of his 3PA. The rest of their team hasn’t shot very well thus far. We’ve either got to stop Woodley or hold the rest of their team down.

Neither offense could ignite in the early-going so that after 8 minutes of play we led 6-5. At that point we began to hit some shots but our defense remained stout and we finished the half up 31-14. North Texas only hit 20% of their shots and turned the ball over 14 times. SG Chris Smith led us offensively with 11 points. We held Gavin Woodley’s scoring to 6 points as he hit just 22% of his shots.

We continued to dominate in the 2nd half going ahead by as much as 26 points and stomping the Mean Green by a score of 76-52. We hit 49% of our shots compared to 32% by North Texas and we held a 20-11 turnover advantage. We scored 34 points in the paint, a big improvement over our previous games.

SG/PF Chris Smith again shot well as he scored 26 points. Smith also had 5 assists, 3 rebounds, and blocked 3 shots. SF George Seamon has his best game, scoring 15 while grabbing 5 rebounds. SF Primoz Pohek again supplied some punch coming off the bench as he scored 9 points (the guys have given him the nickname “Primetime”). PF Vefa Kurtbek (called “Vee” by the players ) led our rebounding effort with 8 boards and he also had 5 assists. For North Texas SG Gavin Woodley scored 15 but was 5 of 16 from the field.

We finish the month of November with a 3-2 record but needed to play 4 of our 5 games at home to achieve that. Chris Smith leads our scoring with 19.2 ppg (best in the Pac 12). “Smitty” is also our assist leader with 4.0 apg. “Vee” Kurtbek’s 5.0 rpg makes him our top rebounder. Our team’s averaging 68.2 ppg while giving up 62.6 ppg.

Youngstown State, my old team, is 2-2 with C Will O’Neil averaging 14.5 ppg and 7.3 rpg.


Game #6: California State Bakersfield Roadrunners (5-2) at Colorado Buffaloes (3-2)

After running off 5 straight victories (including wins over Bowling Green and Western Michigan) to begin the season, the Roadrunners enter the game against us with a two game loss streak. Three of their players are averaging in double figures and 3 others are close to scoring in double figures.

We came out playing raggedly and PG Chris Smith was charged with 2 fouls after less than 3 minutes of play. But after trailing by 5 points, the team pulled it together. With 10:19 left in the half we were ahead 20-11. But the Roadrunners went on a run and scored 10 unanswered points to retake the lead. We didn’t fold though, and came back to take a 38-34 halftime advantage. Our leading scorers were PG Stacey Walker and SF/SG George Seamon with 10 points apiece.

Midway through the 2nd half we trailed 57-43 as our offense had gone dead. Due to CSU Bakersfield outshooting us 54% to 39% and our lackluster effort, we were beaten in this game 71-61. SF/SG George Seamon scored 13 and pulled down 7 rebounds and PG/SG Stacey Walker hit for 12.

Reserve PF Jacob Anderson strained his calf and likely will be unavailable for 7-10 days.

[PointGuard]

1st Round of Golden State Classic Tournament

Game #7: #5 seed Colorado Buffaloes (3-3) vs #4 seed UAB Blazers (2-4)

Two of the Blazers’ losses were against Georgia Tech and #25 ranked Gonzaga, so even though they have a losing record, they are heavily favored in this game.

Turnovers plagued us early in the game causing us to fall 5 points behind the Blazers. But we shot well and tied the game at 13-13 when J.B. Parker hit a 3 with 10-1/2 minutes left in the first half. But we were unable to score for the next 8 minutes which allowed UAB to take a 10 point lead. The half ended with us on the short end of a 27-20 score. Reserve SG/PF J.B. Parker hit for 8 points. I chewed out the team at the half due their 9 turnovers.

We kept the game close but late in the half the refs sent the Blazers repeatedly to the foul line and we fell behind by as much as 19 points before narrowing the gap in the last few minutes. The gap had been too much though and we lost 68-57. UAB didn’t play all that well, making our lack of talent even more apparent. So, a quick exit from the tournament.

We had 4 player score in double figures: SG/PG J.B. Parker-12, PG/SG Stacey Walker-11, PF Vee Kurtbek-10, and SF George Seamon-10. Unfortunately Chris Smith was simply a non-factor throughout the game.

Bucknell, the #6 seed, won the tournament after defeating #3 seed Iowa State, #2 seed Georgia and then #1 seed Georgia Tech in the championship game.


Game #8: Penn State Nittany Lions (1-4) at Colorado Buffaloes (3-4)

We started out well and built a 17 point lead, but with Chris Smith and George Seamon benched due to foul trouble, Penn State closed the gap late In the half. Our lead shrunk to 40-32 at the break. PF Vee Kurtbek led our scoring with 8 points while SG Ronnie Lockwood dropped in 10 points for the Nittany Lions.

Penn State tied the game at 43-43 just 3 minutes into the 2nd half. We gradually carved back a lead as we paraded to the foul line. We came away with an 83-74 victory.

SF George Seamon dropped in 18 points, PF Vee Vertbek hit for 13 plus grabbed 8 rebounds, PG Stacey Walker scored 12, and SG J.B. Parker added 10. Penn State’s SG Ronnie Lockwood scored 25 points.

SG/PG Chris Smith strained his hamstring in the 2nd half. We’ll have to evaluate his progress daily to determine if he will be ready to play in our next game.

[PointGuard]

Game #9: Valparaiso Crusaders (0-8) at Colorado Buffaloes (4-4)

This was our last tune up prior to beginning Pac-12 play. We’re starting Chris Smith, but will limit his time on the court to not overtax his hamstring. Both teams fought it out in the first half during which there were 10 lead changes and 5 ties. In the latter stages of the half we opened a 9 point lead only to allow Valparaiso to creep within 3 at the buzzer as they cut our lead to 40-37. PF Mat Hunter came in off the bench for us to score 9 points.

We trailed by a small margin for much of the 2nd half, but pulled ahead late in the half. With 2-1/2 minutes to go, we led 73-70. Chris Smith then drove to the baseline and turned to put up a 12 footer that fell through the net giving us a 5 point lead. Following a missed 3 pointer by the Crusaders, George Seamon dropped in a baseline jumper to make it 77-70 with 1:52 remaining. Valparaiso missed another 3 but grabbed an offensive rebound. But Seamon picked off a pass and the Crusaders were forced to foul. Smith sunk both free throws making it 79-70. Valparaiso again failed to make a 3. We rebounded and were immediately fouled, but Seamon missed the first of a 1-and-1. Our continued tenacious defense kept the Crusaders from scoring and we came away with an 82-70 victory. We hit 60% of our FG attempts and 50% of our 3 point shots.

SF George Seamon scored 17, PF Mat Hunter knocked down 16 points, and PG/SG Chris Smith finished with 11 points while our 2 centers, Ryan Blackshear and R.J. Reis, combined for 16 points and 9 rebounds.

And what’s happening with my old team Youngstown State? At the conclusion of their pre-conference schedule, they have a dismal 4-5 record with an RPI of 258. C Will O’Neil has been injured for the last few games so didn’t start 2 games and played limited minutes in 2 other games. He’s now averaging just 8.6 ppg and 5.3 rpg. That’s very disappointing since it’s really jeopardizing his chances to get drafted by the NBA after conclusion of his collegiate career this season. PF Donnie Williams who played well as a freshman starter last season has not started at all this year and is only averaging just 12.2 minutes of play per game. Freshman SG Doylan Anderson is the leading scorer for the Penguins, averaging 15.1 ppg.


End of pre-conference play

So we move on to conference play with a 5-4 record that looks pretty good, but our pre-conference schedule was so weak that our RPI is 344th best in the nation. The prognosis is that we’re in for a very rough time of it when we play Pac-12 opponents. Arizona is #3 in the polls, Oregon is #11, Stanford is #12, and California is #18. Just two Pac-12 teams are under .500 with Washington State having a 4-5 record and Oregon State possessing a 1-8 record, but even Oregon State has a better RPI than ours.

Leading our scoring was PG/SG Chris Smith who is averaging 13.9 ppg. SF George Seamon is averaging 12.1 ppg and SG/PG Stacey Walker has scored at a 10.2 ppg average. Seamon and Vee Kurtbek are our top rebounders with both averaging 4.8 rpg. Leading in assists are Smith with 3.2 apg, Walker with 3.1 apg, and Kurtbek with 2.8 apg.

We got the bad news this week that freshman Primoz Pohek finished the term with a 1.8 GPA so will be ineligible the rest of the season. I''m pissed since I've been very successful at keeping players' GPA's well above 2.0. While not an academic all-star, Primoz seemed to be safely above 2.0, but then he simply tubed his finals, badly enough that his GPA for his first term here at Colorado . He’d been playing well for us, averaging 5.9 ppg and 2.3 rpg while playing 17.1 mpg coming off the bench. Beyond losing a key sub, this cuts our available reserves to four players. We now have just 6 scholarship players and 3 walkons who can play and then 5 ineligible transfer players and Pohek, who is ineligible academically. Argghhh!

[Wayne23]

Sounds like it may be a rough conference season. I play some very weak pre-conf. schedules but #444? Wow!

[PointGuard]

Sounds like it may be a rough conference season. I play some very weak pre-conf. schedules but #444? Wow!

LOL...#344 was bad enough! BUT...#444 would put us in Division II.

[Wayne23]

That MIGHT have been a typo!

[PointGuard]

You know, there's a yin and yang to coming to a team that has 8 unfilled scholarships and the few players you have are mediocre at best. On one hand the upcoming year is going to suck, but on the other, you can give your team a huge shot in the arm for the following season if the transfers/recruits come through for you then.

But for a Pac-12 team to have an RPI of 344 (and the RPI to be pretty accurate) is an abomination.