The Town Crier

[PointGuard]

NCAA Round 1:
Arizona-74, Brown-40 (PG Kelvin Smith-21 pts)
Rice-82, Stanford-72 (PG Mike Hall-23 pts, C Gordon Dupree-12 pts, 14 reb)
California-78, Maine-62 (SG Mario Burleston-23 pts)
Oregon-69, Holy Cross-55 (SG John Barnes-24 pts, PF Matt Reeves-11 pts, 10 reb)
Wake Forest-76, Washington-58 (SG Pat Massiah-17 pts)
Seton Hall-74, Utah-56 (PF Justin Sneed-19 pts)
USC-77, South Carolina-68 (SG Ryan Kincade-27 pts, PG Kyle Hinton-23 pts)
UCLA-76, Tulane-56 (C Jamal Magloire-24 pts)

NCAA Round 2:
Arizona-85, California-52 (Arizona: PG Kelvin Smith-26 pts, C John Sanders-14 pts, 11 reb; California: SG Mario Burleston-12 pts, F Adam Morrison-12 pts)
Oregon-94, UNC Greensboro-80 (SG John Barnes-27 pts)
USC-69, LSU-60 (PG Kyle Hinton-18 pts, C Courtney Sanders-13 reb)
UCLA-71, Syracuse-69 (C Jamal Magloire-22 pts, PF George Mahorn-15 pts, 10 reb)

NCAA Round 3:
Arizona-65, Gonzaga-53 (PG Kelvin Smith-16 pts, SF Jamaal Iacona-11 pts, 10 reb)
Maryland-82, Oregon-71 (PF Matt Reeves-18 pts)
USC-76, Rhode Island-57 (PG Kyle Hinton-17 pts)
UCLA-83, Bucknell-66 (PF George Mahorn-17 pts)

NCAA Round 4:
Indiana-90, Arizona-83 (SG Darrell Walker-17 pts, PF James Whitworth-10 pts, 11 reb)
Florida-70, USC-44 (SF Darrell Ward-12 pts, C Courtney Sanders-14 reb)
Miami (FL)-65, UCLA-53 (PF George Mahorn-15 pts)

Tournament Championships:
CIT: UAB-73, Vanderbilt-71
CBI: St. Francis (NY)-77, Coastal Carolina-63
NIT: Miami (OH)-82, Western Kentucky-79
NCAA: Maryland-65, Florida-55

End of Season Awards:
Not surprisingly, no awards were given to any Colorado players.

[Ddevore65]

Looking forward to seeing the new look Buffs. Maybe Steve Porter can work for the Buffzone.com and get some other sort of gig in Denver

[PointGuard]

RECRUITING SUMMARY

Incoming Recruits:

SF Rick Coffey, 6-7 HS Sr, 980 SAT, Mt. Vernon, SD; 18.6 ppg, 5.1 apg, 5.2 rpg, 2.8 spg, 1.8 bpg; Excellent shooter and scorer from both inside and outside, very good passing skills, very athletic, top 5 at Houston Classic Camp, hard worker, not a leader but doesn’t cause problems, rarely misses practice, primarily a jump shooter, comfortable stepping out to shoot a 3, avoids post; ranked as #57 recruit nationally, B overall rating.

SF Kenton Dunn, 6-6 HS Sr, 1050 SAT, Cheyenne, WY; 17.1 ppg, 3.5 apg, 5.2 rpg, 2.0 spg, 1.8 bpg; Excellent shooter and scorer from both inside and outside, strong defender, athletic, top 25 at Indy Elite Camp, avoids post, not a leader but doesn’t cause problems, tremendous work ethic, stand-still player rather than slasher, knows 2-2-1 zone defense, rarely puts up a jumper; ranked as #73 recruit nationally, B overall rating.

PF Shawn Owes, 6-8 HS Sr, 1050 SAT, Arvada, CO; 18.8 ppg, 2.8 apg, 4.2 rpg, 2.2 spg, 2.1 bpg; Excellent inside shot, strong scorer, hard worker, some attitude and discipline problems, knows 1-2-2 zone attack offense, tries to drive to basketball occasionally, knows half-court trap, avoids post, knows 5-out offense; ranked as #135 recruit nationally, C overall rating.

Those 3 players along with the 5 transfer players who will become eligible will be an upgrade over the 2 scholarship players and 2 walkons who graduated this year and should make our team much stronger this coming season.

When the recruit class ratings came out, we had the 30th best recruiting class in Division 1. Pretty good, but seven Pac 12 teams are rated as having better recruiting classes: Arizona (2), UCLA (6), California (11), Utah (13), Washington (19), USC (22), and Oregon (24). So that means they will continue to be extremely tough competition for us this season.

[Wayne23]

Pretty good class but that's a tough conference!

[PointGuard]

Miscellaneous Summer and Fall Notes:

Meeting with the AD:

Jake Meacolm, Colorado’s Athletic Director, expressed his concerned since I failed to meet any of his goals (which were ridiculous given the roster that was left when the last coach was fired). So my job security is down. Such is life. I will keep the same staff that I set up at the beginning of this season. They did the best they could with the players we had.
Meacolm set my goals for next season, growling “We’ve had 4 crappy seasons in a row and our prestige has dropped each of those years. It’s time to turn things around here.” Rather than respond that he was in charge all four of those years, I just let him lay out what he wants. The goals are the same as they were for this past season: Finish above .500, Finish in top half of conference, Qualify for NIT Tournament, Improve school prestige. This time I think they MAY be possible to accomplish, at least some of them. While we’ll not be at a point to compete with the top 3 or 4 teams in the Pac 12, I think we may be able to finish somewhere in the middle of the conference standings. If so that would give us a good chance of accomplishing the other 3 goals.

On the marriage front:

A few days after meeting with Meacolm, Jacky and I spend a week in Hawaii. While I can’t say I never thought about the team at all, we kept busy so that kept me from obsessing about it. Jacky and I actually got along quite well and enjoyed our stay in the tropics. But still no commitment from her regarding a move to Colorado, so it looks like we will continue a long-distance relationship for the foreseeable future.

Recruiting:

We have no seniors on the team this coming season we did no formal recruiting. Instead Ivoree Snoddy, my 3rd assistant coach and recruiting coordinator, spent time scouting younger high school talent and making contacts with high school and JC coaches.

Roster:

Last season we had a very short bench with very little depth. This season we have a lot of competition for every position. It’s going to make it difficult to settle on a starting lineup, but since there are at least 2 players of pretty equal talent at each position, we’ll be able to keep fresh legs on the court.

PG—There is a pretty tight competition between Chris Smith, who is returning after a strong season for us, and transfer sophomore Matt Conley. While those 2 are our only true PG’s, SG’s Steve Jackson and Camah Griffin can also fill in at the point.
SG—Not only do we have transfers Steve Jackson and Camah Griffin fighting for time, but freshman Kenton Dunn who is a SF also has played well at SG and could win the starting position.
SF—Charles Maors, another transfer player, looks to have the inside edge to start, but Kenton Dunn and Rick Coffey, another freshman, look good at SF.
PF—Vefa Kurtbek returns after starting last season and probably will start again this season, but Mat Hunter, Primoz Pohek and Jacob Anderson, who all got extensive playing time last season, have shown improvement. Freshman Shawn Owes will also get a chance to prove himself, although he may need some maturing before he is able to contribute consistently.
C—Ryan Erickson, another transfer player, has mainly played PF in the past, but we’ll likely move him over to C as our starter. Nathan Hampton and R.J. Reis, both of whom are junior walk-ons, will back up at C. Vefa Kurtbek might also see time at C in some games.

Practices:

Pre-season practice was, shall I say, contentious? I think that’s because the entire starting lineup was up for grabs. At most of the positions the talent of 2 or more players is pretty close to being equal. So guys were scrapping to become starters and gain on-court minutes. Rather than tamp things down, I let it all play out. But I’ve let the entire team know that when the season starts there needs to be teamwork and support for each other and that if I see elsewise there will be hell to pay.

Scheduling:

I let Jack Meacolm, our AD, work out our schedule with little to no input from me. So here’s our pre-conference schedule:

@ Tulane
AUSTIN PEAY
SOUTH CAROLINA ST.
Palmetto Shootout (1st game against LSU)
GEORGE MASON
SOUTHERN MISS.
ST. MARY’S
TEXAS A&M
CAL-RIVERSIDE

Playing all those home games not only gives us a home-court advantage, but if we’re successful will build our fan base and attendance. I look at our game on a neutral court against LSU as a real test of where we are this season.

[PointGuard]

2024-2025 Season Begins

Game #1: Colorado Buffaloes (0-0) at Tulane Green Wave (0-0)

Here’s our starting lineup for our season opener:

PG-Matt Conley, 6-2 Sophomore from Belcourt, NC; Transfer from Oklahoma, averaged 2.3 ppg in 4.3 mpg as a freshman at Oklahoma. (It’s really a toss-up between Conley and last year’s starter Chris Smith. Both will get pretty equal playing time and we’ll see who works out best.)
SG-Kenton Dunn, 6-6 Freshman from Cheyenne, WY.
SF-Charles Maors, 6-8 Sophomore from Dexter, NM; Transfer from Washington, averaged 7.4 ppg in 16.0 mpg as a freshman at Washington.
PF-Vefa Kurtbek, 6-6 Junior from Turkey; averaged 6.5 ppg in 25.8 mpg as a sophomore.
C-Ryan Erickson, 6-7 Junior from Canada; Transfer from Colgate, averaged 8.7 ppg in 17.0 mpg as a sophomore at Colgate.

I don’t think we have one stand-out player and therefore anticipate that different players will lead out team each game. But we do have a much deeper and more talented team this season. We aren’t likely to challenge for the upper reaches of the Pac-12 conference but If they play up to their potential, we will be in the mix for the next rung and could pull of an upset here and there.

Game Results:

There were 10 lead changes and 7 ties in the initial 10 minutes of the first half, but we then hit a cold spell and Tulane pulled ahead by 9 points. We closed the gap a little toward the end of the half but still trailed 38-33 at the break. We were outshot 48% to 36%. PG Kenton Dunn scored 9 to lead us offensively. Tulane’s SG Erick Young scored 12 and C Kerry Schwab tossed in 10 points.

We fell behind by 10 early in the 2nd half and my mid flashed back to last season, but then the guys fought back to narrow the Green Wave’s lead to 64-61 with 6:07 remaining. Then with 3-1/2 minutes to go, Kenton Dunn picked off a pass and hit Matt Conley streaking down court. Conley laid it in and was fouled. He sunk the free throw to put us ahead 68-67. After a Tulane shot-clock violation, SG Steve “Stonefall” Jackson dropped in a long 3 that put us up by 4 points with 2-1/2 minutes left. The Green Way threw the ball away on their next possession. Kenton Dunn was fouled and he hit both shots to give us a 73-67 lead with 2:02 on the clock. Tulane then dropped in a pair of free throws. After a miss by us, Tulane missed a 3 but were fouled on the putback attempt. They made one free throw to narrow our lead to 73-70. PF Primoz “Primetime” Pohek scored on an 8 foot jumper giving us a 5 point cushion with 59 seconds to go. Tulane worked the ball inside and scored making it 75-72. We missed a shot and Tulane rebounded. We fouled on a drive into the key and Tulane hit both free throws to cut our lead to a single point with 27 seconds remaining. The Green Wave intentionally fouled. PG Chris “Smitty” Smith dropped in both shots and we led 77-74 with 21 seconds to play. Tulane’s 3 point attempt rimmed out and we rebounded. They fouled with 4 seconds on the clock. Smith iced the game by hitting the 2 free throws. We came away with a 79-74 victory on the road. We were outshot 46% to 40% and out-rebounded 37-29, but the big difference for us was a 16-7 turnover advantage.

SG Kenton Dunn scored 21 and dished out 5 assists. PG Matt Conley hit for 16 points plus had 6 assists. C Ryan Erickson scored 8 and had 9 rebounds. For Tulane, SG Eric Young dropped in 20 points.

I didn’t want to jinx our team so I didn’t mention before the game…but we were favored to win this game. I believe that’s the first time we’ve been favored to win ANY game since I got here.

[PointGuard]

Game #2: Austin-Peay Governors (1-0) at Colorado Buffaloes (1-0)

We held the Governors scoreless for the first 6-1/2 minutes of the game. With 6:18 remaining in the first half we led 20-5 primarily due to Austin-Peay turning the ball over 12 times at that point. We were hitting less that 30% of our shots or the point differential would even have been greater. When the half ended we were on top 39-18. We held a 13-2 turnover advantage. PF Vee Kurtbek and SG Kenton Dunn led our scoring with 8 points apiece.

We kept the Governors from making a serious run in the 2nd half and cruised to a 75-53 beatdown of Austin-Peay. We led in all team stats and our made just 5 turnovers to 20 by the Governors.

SF Rick Coffey had a great game scoring 14 points in his 18 minutes of court time coming in off the bench. SG Kenton Dunn scored 13 and PF Vee Kurtbek dropped in 10. PG’s Matt Conley and Chris Smith combined to hand out 11 assists.

I’m concerned that we’ve only hit 40% and 41% of our FG attempts in the firdst 2 games. But I think we are better scorers than that and hope to see that jump up in our upcoming games.

Reserve PF Shawn Owes came down with soreness in his calf. We’ll keep him out of practice the next few days but he should be ready should we need him in our next game.

[PointGuard]

Game #3: South Carolina State Bulldogs (1-1) at Colorado Buffaloes (2-0)

The Bulldogs’ PG Matt Smith is averaging 24.5 ppg and 6.5 rpg. Either we throttle him or let him do what he will and keep the rest of the lineup in check.

We started Rick Coffey at SF to reward his outstanding effort in the last game. He didn’t disappoint, scoring 7 points in the first 5 minutes of play. We pulled away to a 25-13 lead after 9 minutes of play. After complaining about our team not shooting well in our first two contests, I was ecstatic to see them hit 51% of their FG attempts and 56% of their 3’s enroute to a comfortable 45-25 lead at the break. PG Matt Conley dropped in 10 points and dished out 4 assists.

Rick Coffey scored our first 8 points in the 2nd half, but South Carolina State scored 14 to cut our lead to 53-39. We recover and pound the Bulldogs to the tune of 89-65. We outshot South Carolina State 51% to 36% and held a 14-5 turnover advantage.

SF Rick Coffey hit 9 of 13 shots to score 19, PG Chris Smith chipped in 16, SG Kenton Dunn scored 14, PG Matt Conley added 10, and C Ryan Erickson scored 8 plus pulled down 14 rebounds.

[Wayne23]

Looks like season two will feature a big turn around!

[PointGuard]

Game #4: #7 seed Colorado Buffaloes (3-0) vs #2 seed LSU Tigers (2-0) in round 1 of the Palmetto Shootout

LSU presents a challenge similar to what we will incur when we start Pac-12 Conference play. The Tigers are heavily favored to beat us. They’re led by C Kelvin Dixon (20.5 ppg and 10.0 rpg) and PG Seth Waltman (14.5 ppg and 5.5 apg) with PF Jeremy Deeter averaging 13.0 ppg and 10.5 rpg.

We score the first 7 points in the game. 5-1/2 minutes into the game, though, LSU came back and grabbed a small lead. The lead then shifted back-and-forth until the last 4 minutes of the half when our shooting went ice-cold and LSU spurted out to a 37-27 halftime lead. We were outshot 41% to 29%. C Ryan Erickson scored 7 points for us, while LSU was led by PG Seth Waltman’s 11 points.

Within the first 5 minutes of the 2nd half, we’d fought back to trail by only a 39-38 score. After both teams hit a basket, LSU went on a 12-0 run that put them ahead by 13 with 9:18 remaining. While we never fell further behind, we were unable to recover and lost 68-58.

C Ryan Erickson and SF Rick Coffey both scored 10 points and Erickson also had 12 rebounds. LSU’s PG Seth Waltman finished with 23 points.

Looks like we have some more work to do to be ready for prime time. Tonight we played well for portions of the game, but had extended periods in both halves during which we were impotent. Those torpedoed our effort to win this game.