Contact CU Independent Men’s Basketball Beat Writer Alissa Noe at alissa.noe@colorado.edu
After a monstrous 24-point victory over the Washington State on Wednesday night, the University of Colorado Buffaloes are set to face No. 15 Arizona, the fourth seed in the tournament, at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday.
If I were Sean Miller watching that Colorado performance on Wednesday over Washington State, I’d be sweating big time, especially considering the fact that the Buffs handed him his sixth loss of the season just a couple weeks ago in Boulder, 75-72.
To put Wednesday’s victory into perspective, the Buffs shot 45.5 percent from the field (30-of-66) and a lethal 10-of-25 (40 percent) from the three-point range, and out-rebounded the Cougars 43 to 32. They also held them to 35 percent shooting on the night.
And that was without much of an offensive effort from senior star forward Josh Scott, who only managed six points on the night but did dish out five assists.
Granted, Arizona is a pretty dang good team, and they’re top 15 in the country for a reason, but why shouldn’t history be able to repeat itself? Isn’t that what we’ve all been taught since grade school?
Sophomore guard George King had 21 points against Wazzu, and junior guard Josh Fortune added an extra 13. Imagine what could happen if those two plus Scott and, say, junior forward Wes Gordon all went off on Thursday. Arizona wouldn’t stand a chance.
That is, if they don’t make the mistake of choosing not to enact some sort of zone, because we all know that head coach Tad Boyle’s teams have struggled with that in years past, and this season has been no different.
As long as the Buffaloes don’t let Kaleb Tarczewski have a game or let Ryan Anderson (15.8 points per game), Gabe York (15 ppg) or Allonzo Trier (14.6 ppg) get too hot on offense the, Buffaloes may just send the Wildcats packing on their first day competing in the tournament.
Who knows. Crazier things have happened.
