Colorado basketball players Xavier Talton (3), Tory Miller (14), Josh Scott (40) and Xavier Johnson (2) walk away defeated after a game against Utah on Saturday Feb. 7, 2015. (Chanelle Tong/CU Independent)
It’s no secret that Buffs basketball has been struggling this year. Standing at 11-11, with a few ugly, double-digit losses under their belt, this team needs to change some part of their mantra so they can start racking up more wins next year. But where do the Buffs lack discipline the most? Basketball beat writers Tommy Wood and Alissa Noe break it down.
Tommy: The Buffs have been unbelievably stagnant on offense all season, apart from outbursts against Auburn and Washington State. Colorado is seventh in the Pac-12 in scoring, eighth in turnovers, 10th in assists and seventh in field goal percentage. Tad Boyle said that he had reworked the offense in the offseason, with more passing out of the post and an emphasis on running, but the results haven’t been there. Instead, the Buffs’ offense has devolved to one certainty: when Askia Booker gets hot, Colorado survives. When he doesn’t, well, we were at the Wyoming game. I’m not sure if the Buffs have fully recovered from it.
Watching Colorado play offense is like watching five guys playing one-on-one. Boyle didn’t invent the “pass around the wings for 25 seconds, then improvise” offense that plagues college basketball now, but his team has certainly embraced it.
Booker is a heat-check one-on-one player, and he’s the only Buff who can consistently create his own shot. Booker breaking an opponent down in isolation should be the floor for every Colorado possession, not the ceiling. But the Buffs don’t move well off the ball, they just don’t move the ball well, either. So, the ball invariably ends up in Booker’s hands as the shot clock ticks down (if he hasn’t shot already), and he tries to make something out of nothing.
Colorado’s offense has cratered with Booker off the court. That was on full, horrific display against Utah. Eight turnovers, five assists, and a 28-point hole on the scoreboard — that is a nightmarish harbinger of the Buffs’ offense next season after Booker graduates. Colorado won’t win playing one-on-one. Its offense needs to be completely rebuilt into a system that creates open looks through crisp passing, sharp off-ball movement and a fast, fast tempo.
Alissa: While I agree with you that offense and shooting inconsistency have been a problem this year, I feel that their defense may be even more vital to improving the outcome of many, winnable games. Take the Buffs’ recent home game against Washington. That game was riddled with some of the most abysmal shooting I’ve seen all year, and I’m not just talking about the Buffs. Washington finished the game shooting 36 percent from the field, which wasn’t much better than Colorado’s 31.7 percent. The two teams were tied going into the final minute, but poor defense and a good play on Andrew Andrews’ part did the Buffs in during the final seconds.
And it’s not necessarily in final plays that the Buffs lack defensive pressure. Throughout much of the Tad Boyle era, three-point defense has been one of the toughest aspects of the game for his squads to grasp. In a press conference earlier in the year, Boyle proclaimed that a big part of his defensive strategy surrounded his players pushing their opponents out to the perimeter and disallowing them to get the easy layup.
That’s a nice sentiment, but it doesn’t help the Buffs much when their opponent excel from the three-point range. Just look at CU’s home matchup against the Lipscomb Bison near the start of the season. In what should have been an easy game that probably weakened their non-conference schedule, the Buffs almost dropped their first home game of the season—almost. They managed to escape with an 84-75 victory, but not without Nathan Moran giving them a run for their money. Standing at just 5’9”, Moran was a nightmare from downtown as he set the pace for his team’s 13 threes with five of his own.
Tommy: You’re right — Colorado’s defense hasn’t been good the last two years. I’m not sure how much that can change, though. In 2012-13, the Buffs led the Pac-12 in scoring defense and finished second in field goal percentage allowed and third in three-point percentage allowed. That was Andre Roberson’s last season. When he took his tenacious rebounding and his ability to defend four positions to the NBA, he took the foundation of Colorado’s defense with him.
The Buffs don’t have an elite wing defender right now, and it’s hard to be an elite defense without one. Unless Jaron Hopkins or Xavier Johnson become that kind of player, there isn’t much schematically that Colorado can do. The Buffs can, however, utilize their offensive talents much more efficiently, because they have the tools to be a much better team on that end.
Colorado should run after every rebound, every turnover, every make. Boulder’s altitude is a factor, but not an overriding one—the Buffs should run because it fits their players and they might not have another way to score. Colorado’s transition attack could look like this next year — Hopkins bringing the ball up, Josh Fortune running to the corner, Johnson to the wing, Josh Scott making a beeline for the rim and Wes Gordon trailing for an open three, or to start a pick-and-roll.
Hopkins is at his best in the open court, Fortune and Johnson would have open shots or open driving lanes and Scott could get the ball in the paint before the defense collapsed on him. The Buffs aren’t utilizing their players’ offensive strengths the way they should be. A roster full of athletic players who are improving as three-point shooters should force transition at every opportunity.
Colorado will also have the personnel to run spread pick-and-roll in the halfcourt next year — Gordon or Scott setting a screen for Hopkins or Dom Collier (whomever is on the court; they shouldn’t play together), and surrounding it with shooters. Fortune will help immensely there, as Johnson already does, and Gordon is at least an average three-point shooter.
Of course, the Buffs’ spread pick-and-roll may look more like the Orlando Magic’s than the Atlanta Hawks’, but set hard screens, throw accurate passes and cut to open spots above the three-point line, and they’ll find that shots are more open, driving lanes are more clear and basketball is more fun.
Alissa: I agree completely. But you’re forgetting to note that while the Buffs will be losing a somewhat consistent shooter in Booker next year, they’ll more than likely be gaining a better one in Fortune. From what I’ve seen in practice and heard from the coaches this year, Fortune excels from the three-point range, which is undoubtedly one of Colorado’s biggest weaknesses in past seasons. He also seems to be a fairly solid shooter, and his presence on the court has the potential to calm the team down when things get frantic. I won’t say he could be the team’s next Spencer Dinwiddie, because he’s nowhere near that talented, but he has the potential to provide the wisdom and confidence that the team doesn’t necessarily have right now. He could be a great leader.
While great teams can manage to run their offenses efficiently, even greater teams run an iron-clad defense. Look at No. 1 Kentucky, who has yet to lose a game. They’re not necessarily the best offensive team, coming in at 51st nationally in points per game and 66th in field goal percentage. When their shooting fails them, they have the option to fall back on their defense. This year alone, they rank second overall in points allowed and second in blocks per game. Several years back during the NCAA Championship game, Louisville and Michigan squared off in the perfect matchup. The number one defensive team took on the number one offensive team and in the end, Louisville’s defense prevailed. Now, I know it’s a stretch to compare CU to some of the best college basketball teams in recent years, but the evidence still stands. Defense wins games when the offense isn’t there.
The Buffs will look to guys like Wes Gordon and Josh Scott for that kind of pressure, possibly even Dustin Thomas. We’ve seen Gordon’s ability to block shot and defend in the post this season, but Scott’s and Thomas’s abilities aren’t as obvious. Those two bring the obvious size that can intimidate shooters, and with a little tweaking and practice, they could develop into major defensive threats.
Contact CU Independent Basketball Writer Alissa Noe at alissa.noe@colorado.edu.
Contact CU Independent sportswriter Tommy Wood at thomas.c.wood@colorado.edu. Follow him on Twitter @woodstein72
