Posts tagged Mississippi River
CU men going to The Big Dance
Mar 17th
By B.G. Brooks, CUBuffs.com Contributing Editor
BOULDER – History was made Sunday at 4:02 p.m. MDT, and it was made faster than you could blurt March Madness.
Two minutes into CBS’ Selection Sunday telecast, the University of Colorado men’s basketball team was announced as an at-large entry in the 2014 NCAA Tournament, marking an historic third consecutive time the Buffaloes have qualified for the Big Dance. Two other CU men’s teams had reached the tournament in consecutive seasons (1954-55, 1962-63).
But Tad Boyle’s fourth CU team made it three NCAAs in a row – and these Buffs did it the hard way, overcoming the loss of point guard and team leader Spencer Dinwiddie in mid-January.
On Sunday afternoon at Boyle’s spacious Boulder home, there was no prolonged suspense, no gut-wrenching wait, to see who the Buffs would be playing and where. Mere seconds after top-ranked Florida was announced as the tournament’s No. 1 seed and would stay in the South Region, “Colorado” popped up on the flat screen in Boyle’s den and his players whooped, whistled and breathed collective sighs of relief not issued into well into previous selection shows.
Seeded No. 8 in the South, CU plays No. 9 Pittsburgh on Thursday (time TBD) in Orlando, Fla. The CU-Pitt winner catches Florida in the next round in what is tantamount to a home game for the talented Gators.
“Since I’ve been here it’s always been drawn out a little bit, whether it be 30 minutes or 40 minutes, whatever the case,” junior guard Askia Booker said of CU’s NCAA destiny being determined so quickly. “It’s kind of a relief to hear your name called in the first 60 seconds almost . . . you’re playing a great team to begin with and if you’re fortunate enough to win you’re playing the No. 1 team in the country. Yeah, it’s a relief but then you get back on your toes and prepare.”
“You never know,” Boyle said of Sunday’s sudden selection. “What we’ve been through the last couple of years . . . you go back three years ago – we never saw that one coming (with CU’s exclusion). Then the next year we know we’re in (after winning the Pac-12 tournament), then last year was a little stressful. I think we were in the fourth segment of the show – and there were four segments. It got a little stressful last year. But to have it pop up right away . . . yeah, it was a relief.”
“Last year it was a long process,” added sophomore forward Xavier Johnson. “We were here for a while and got tired. But I was glad to see it went quickly and that we got what we deserved – an eight seed, which is pretty good.”
And pretty surprising to some; some bracketologists figured CU (23-11) for a ninth or tenth seed. The eighth seed is a tip of the hat by the NCAA Selection Committee, but it also positions a team in one of the tournament’s more challenging first-round games. And CU’s position is just that – challenging.
“Traditionally, the eight-nine (seed) games are always really hard ones because there’s so much parity in the tournament and you’re matched up against somebody much like yourself,” Boyle said. “Then if you are fortunate enough to advance, you get a one seed to look forward to. But in tournament basketball you don’t look ahead, you look at the task at hand.”
Boyle’s long-term objective is to make the suspense of Selection Sundays whether the Buffs will be awarded a top five seed – not whether they will get in the tournament. “Eventually want to get to a point in the program where we’re fighting for those one, two and three seeds . . . we’re not quite there yet, but we will be,” he said. “Right now, especially with what this group has been through this year, to get into the tournament is a good thing. I know the young men who are still playing and competed in Vegas believe they can compete with anybody on any given night. But we’ve got to play well.”
Many first- or second-time NCAA entries suffer from the “just-glad-to-be-there” mindset and are sent packing after the first round. Many in the national hoops community – even some in the local community – counted CU among the dead teams walking when Dinwiddie went down. Instead, after an adjustment period, the Buffs rallied and went 9-9 (counting the Washington game in which he was injured).
Boyle said merely reaching a third-consecutive NCAA Tournament after that coping with adversity would not put the Buffs among the “just-glad-to-be-there” crowd. “I’m not worried about that at all because I know how competitive our guys are,” he said. “Also, they’re smart guys and they know the next loss we have is the end of our season . . . it’s not going to be one of these deals where we’re just happy to be there and (go) one-and-out. If we’re one-and-out we’ll be disappointed. It’s not going to sit well with me or anybody. The next step for this program is to not only get in the tournament but to advance in the tournament.”
Going to the NCAA’s far reaches (for a Rocky Mountain school, at least) to play is fine with the Buffaloes. Boyle wanted to avoid Buffalo, N.Y., simply because he preferred the prospect of warmer weather. “Nothing against Buffalo (but) the sun’s coming out here in Colorado, spring is in the air,” he said. “Our guys are getting ready – as a lot of schools are – for spring break. You wanted to go someplace where it was nice and warm. But at the end of the day, if we went to Buffalo, I’d be just as happy. So Orlando is as good as any.”
And obviously better than some – even if Gator fans can get there on half a tank of gas and turn the Amway Center into Chomp City. For Booker, staying west of the Mississippi River for a first-round game was never a real wish or a consideration.
“It doesn’t really matter to me,” he said. “I mean, you put me on the floor with the basketball and two rims and that’s all that matters to me, man. You just have to prepare, and if you’re prepared you can go anywhere and play.”
On Sunday afternoon, the Buffs weren’t as well-versed on the Panthers as they will be come Thursday. Booker had some knowledge of Pitt’s guards – “They’re very, very talented – similar to us” – and the Panthers’ overall physicality. And Boyle cited Jamie Dixon as “a heck of a coach . . . their defensive principles are a lot like ours. They were in the Big East and kind of a smash-mouth team. But I don’t know much about personnel and what they do offensively – but we’ll find out a lot in a short period of time.”
A short course on Pitt: Joining the Atlantic Coast Conference this season, the Panthers finished 11-7 in the league and 25-9 overall. They were the fifth seed – same as CU in the Pac-12 Tournament – in the ACC Tournament and reached the semifinals, where they were eliminated by eventual champ and No. 1 seed Virginia, 51-48. Pitt beat No. 15 North Carolina 80-75 in the ACC quarterfinals. The Panthers have been in the NCAA Tournament for 12 of the past 13 seasons, and Dixon has been Pitts’ coach for 11 seasons (15 in the program). His overall record: 287-95. The Panthers’ top scorer is 6-5 senior forward Lamar Patterson (17.6 ppg), the leading rebounder is 6-9 senior center Talib Zanna (8.3 rpg).
After his team was eliminated from the ACC Tournament by Virginia, which received one of Sunday’s four top seeds (Florida, Wichita State and Arizona were the other three), Dixon said he was “proud of how our guys played. We got better this week. We’re healthy and playing our best basketball.”
Boyle had a similar view of the Buffs after the Pac-12 Tournament, which saw them advance to the semifinals with wins over USC and Cal before being eliminated by Arizona. “This team over the last couple or three weeks has really turned the corner defensively with our commitment and energy level,” he said.
“But in the NCAA Tournament, you’re going to have to make some shots, you’re going to have to play with some efficiency on offense and that’s what we’re going to have to do to advance in this thing. Whether it’s against Pittsburgh or whoever we would play next if we were fortunate enough to do that. Then, you’ve got to get a little lucky.
“There’s going to be a lot of close games . . . that’s why they call it March Madness. On those first two days especially a lot of things can happen; there’s so many games and everybody is thinking the same thing – just survive and advance and live to see another day. Pittsburgh is thinking the same thing we are. So is Florida.”
On Sunday afternoon, shortly after Florida was awarded the overall No. 1 seed, Booker reacted to that news by crowing “Colorado” in a long-distance answer to one of the CBS commentators’ remarks of who might be in line to play the Gators. Maybe ‘Ski’ could see the future.
“I don’t care who we play,” Booker said. “If you heard me right when the show started, I wanted to play Florida . . . regardless, I want to play the No. 1 team – the best of the best. That’s how you really test who you are; when everything hits the fan that shows who nuts up and who’s willing to play and who’s willing to compete. I think Pittsburgh is a great team and we can’t overlook them because they’re a very talented team and it’s going to be a rough game.”
March Madness’ first rule is to overlook no one, regardless of who might be next. So the Buffaloes are Dancing for a third straight year – an historic accomplishment. But as Boyle said Sunday and undoubtedly will again, while making the field is good, staying awhile is infinitely better.
A new study names Boulder, Colo., home to the happiest people in the United States.
Nov 22nd
By Susan Page, USA TODAY
Feeling down? You might consider a move to Boulder, Colo.
A massive new study of Americans’ attitudes concludes that the city at the foot of the Rocky Mountains is home to the happiest, healthiest people in the United States. At the bottom of 162 large and medium-sized cities: Huntington, W.Va.
The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, based on interviews with more than 353,000 Americans during 2009, asked individuals to assess their jobs, finances, physical health, emotional state of mind and communities.
CHECK THE INDEX: How does your city rank?
STATES: See how yours rates
POLITICS: See how your state leans
“Most of our highest-scoring cities are found out West and most of our lowest-scoring cities are in the South,” says research director Dan Witters. Wealthier communities typically score higher.
Residents of large cities — those with a population of 1 million or more — generally report higher levels of well-being and more optimism about the future than those in small or medium-sized cities. In small cities, at 250,000 or less, people are more likely to feel safe walking alone at night and have enough money for housing.
The study provides a city-by-city portrait of the nation’s mood and a potential tool for policymakers.
Nine of the 10 cities that fare best on “life evaluation,” assessments of life now and expectations in five years, boast a major university, a big military installation or a state Capitol — institutions that presumably provide some insulation from recession.
Overall, the top 10 cities include four in California, two in Utah and one each in Colorado and Hawaii. Of them, only the Holland, Mich., and Washington, D.C., metro areas are located in the Eastern or Central time zones.
Many of the bottom 10 are in economically embattled regions. Three are in the Alleghenies and three in the Rust Belt. Only Shreveport, La., and Modesto, Calif., are west of the Mississippi.
Boulder’s setting, including a greenbelt of public lands around the city, may help explain its top ranking, Mayor Susan Osborne says. “We tend to have lots of opportunities for being outside,” she says. The jobless rate is 5.7%, below the nation’s 9.7%.
In his annual “state of the city” address Saturday, Huntington Mayor Kim Wolfe said budget cuts and layoffs were needed for his city to deal with the economic downturn. The city’s jobless rate is 7.8%.
There are some places where people seem naturally upbeat. Baton Rouge is 44th overall, but in “life evaluation,” the Mississippi River city is first.
How does your city rank in well-being?
A city-by-city look at how Americans feel about their jobs, their health, their lives and their futures.
Source: Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, which included more than 353,000 landline and cellphone interviews in 2009. Margins of error range from 5 percentage points in the smallest cities to less than 1 point in the largest cities.
What each of the six indexes mean:
Life Evaluation: Personal assessments of one’s present life and life in five years, on a scale of 0 to 10.
Emotional Health: Measures a composite of respondents’ daily experiences, including laughter, happiness, worry, anger and stress.
Work Environment: Measures job satisfaction, ability to use one’s strengths at work, trust and openness in the workplace and whether one’s supervisor treats him or her more like a boss or a partner.
Physical Health: Measures chronic diseases, sick days, physical pain, daily energy and other aspects of physical health.
Healthy Behaviors: Measures smoking, consumption of fruit and vegetables and exercise.
Basic Access: Measures basic needs optimal for a healthy life, such as access to food and medicine, having health insurance and feeling safe while walking at night.
READERS: Were you surprised by your city’s rank/result