CU Men’s Basketball
Brooks: Cardinal overpowers punchless Buffaloes
Nov 4th
Release: 11/03/2012 Courtesy: B.G. Brooks, Contributing Editor
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BOULDER – From week to week in the Pac-12 Conference, if the method of extermination changes for the Colorado Buffaloes, the outcomes don’t. Oregon abused them with speed two games ago, Stanford took its turn with power on Saturday at Folsom Field. And for the record, it’s been a while since the Buffs have helped themselves offensively – try the fourth quarter of their Pac-12 opener at Washington State in late September. Saturday’s final: No. 15 Stanford 48, CU 0 – and that zero is significant. It marked the Buffs’ first home shutout since Nov. 15, 1986, when Oklahoma blanked CU 28-0. More dark news: It was the Buffs’ fifth consecutive loss, and in those five defeats they’ve been outscored 261-51. It also was CU’s 11th straight defeat by a ranked opponent. CU (1-8, 1-5) also remained winless at home this season, with two chances remaining – Nov. 17 vs. Washington, Nov. 23 vs. Utah – after next weekend’s final road trip to Arizona. “Stanford got after us with their defense and their offense made plays when they needed to,” CU coach Jon Embree said. “We just weren’t good all the way around . . . I don’t think something happened (as a turning point).” Embree had contemplated a quarterback change this week, replacing junior starter Jordan Webb with sophomore Nick Hirschman after the latter gave the Buffs’ offense some second-half life in the 70-14 loss at Oregon. A lukewarm week of practice by Hirschman kept Webb in the starting role Saturday. Hirschman replaced Webb for one first-half series, then opened the second half with the Buffs trailing 35-0 – 21 points better than last week’s score at intermission. Embree said Webb was “clearly the better guy” in practice, then deferred further comment until his weekly press conference on Tuesday. Through almost three quarters, neither Webb nor Hirschman was effective. So sophomore Connor Woodgot the call with 1:23 left in the third quarter — and CU trailing 45-0. Wood promptly connected with tight end Nick Kasa for a 14-yard completion – the Buffs’ longest play of the game to that point. He had fourth-quarter completions of 22 yards to Tony Jones and a 20-yarder to Kasa, which moved CU across midfield for the first time all afternoon. Immediately thereafter, Wood was sacked, fumbled and lost nearly all of that yardage. On the bright side, the Buffs recovered and avoided another 50-plus point loss. That’s the kind of homecoming afternoon it had been for CU. Webb finished with four of 10 passes completed for 19 yards (one interception). Hirschman went four of six for 12 yards, and Wood completed four of seven throws for 66 yards. Through three quarters, the Buffs had managed three first downs and 40 yards in total offense. They left Folsom Field with 76 yards in total offense on 44 plays – an average of 1.7 per play – and minus-21 yards rushing. The Cardinal has allowed minus-34 yards rushing in its past three games. Embree said his team’s offensive struggles resulted from a “perfect storm” brewed by one of the nation’s best defenses: “When we had people open we had protection issues and when we did have protection we couldn’t get people open. It was one of those things, but protection was a problem (seven sacks among his three QBs). “You know, there is a reason why they are No. 2 in the country against the run and why they are what they are as a defense. They are a very good defense and they showed it today.” Meanwhile, Stanford also juggled its quarterbacks, as expected using Josh Nunes first, then replacing him with Kevin Hogan. Nunes went three-of-five for 23 yards, while Hogan – touted as more of an option threat – was mildly surprising, completing 18-of-23 passes for 184 yards and two TDs. Hogan also ran seven times for 48 yards before he was replaced in the fourth quarter by Brent Nottingham, who eventually was spelled by Robbie Picazo. In what nearly has become a weekly occurrence for CU in Pac-12 play, this game had been decided by halftime. The Buffs trailed the Cardinal 35-0 at intermission, and their offensive stats showed why: 20 yards in total offense, one of eight third-down conversions and two first downs (one by penalty). Stanford, meanwhile, rolled up 13 first downs and 249 yards in first-half offense, 115 rushing and 134 through the air. The Cardinal finished 436 yards in total offense – 230 passing, 206 rushing. Both teams used two quarterbacks each before intermission, but the halftime stats offered a clear picture of which pair was most effective. Webb opened for CU and promptly went three-and-out – and that turned out to be a harmless series. On the Buffs’ next possession, facing third-and-six, he was intercepted by free safety Ed Reynolds, who ran untouched for 52 yards and Stanford’s first touchdown. Hirschman entered for CU’s next series, was the recipient of a first down on a fourth-down Cardinal holding penalty but couldn’t advance the Buffs in any other manner. Webb reentered on the Buffs’ next possession and played for the rest of the first half. CU’s defense was standing up to Stanford for almost the entire first quarter and might have provided a turning point. But freshman corner Yuri Wright dropped a sure interception on the Cardinal’s side of the field. The Buffs forced a punt on that series, but on the first play thereafter, Kasa bobbled a Webb pass and the ball was picked out of the air by inside linebacker A.J. Tarpley. Three plays later, Cardinal tailback Stepfan Taylor scored on a 26-yard run and the skids had been greased. Stanford’s other first-half TDs came courtesy of a 1-yard Remound Wright run, a 1-yard pass from Hogan to Zach Ertz and a 2-yard plunge by Taylor. Jordan Williamson kicked five PATs and the Cardinal had its 35 first-half points. At the end of three quarters, Stanford had opened its lead to 45-0 on a 31-yard field goal by Williamson and a 19-yard pass from Hogan to tight end Levine Toilolo. With 9:52 to play, Williamson added a 35-yard field goal to end the Cardinal’s stroll through Folsom at 48-0. BUFF BITS: Senior linebacker Jon Major suffered a hyperextended elbow in practice last week and did not play Saturday . . . . Junior nosetackle Nate Bonsu sprained an ankle in practice and wasn’t expected to play . . . . In what was termed a precautionary measure, freshman nosetackle Justin Solis was taken from the field on a gurney after suffering an apparent neck injury early in the second half. He was said to have movement in his extremities when he was carted off. Results of an MRI later were negative . . . . Saturday’s paid attendance was 44,138. [includeme src=”http://c1n.tv/boulder/media/bouldersponsors.html” frameborder=”0″ width=”670″ height=”300″] C |
CU Buff b-ballers go through “boot camp”
Oct 30th
Brooks: Buffs Get With (And Through) ‘The Program’Release: 10/25/2012 Courtesy: B.G. Brooks, Contributing Editor
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BOULDER – Next time you go swimming, wear a sweatshirt. Get about a dozen of your friends to do the same, then head for the pool’s deep end and begin treading water. When the sweatshirt is soaked, take it off, pass it to a friend and have him/her put it on.Oh, and imagine a guy with a stopwatch perched poolside to make sure all sweatshirts are off, then pulled back on by different participants, in a prescribed amount of time. Keep doing that – plus several other interesting exercises foreign to suburban pool parties – for the better part of three hours.Colorado men’s basketball went waterborne early Thursday morning – that’s 5 a.m. early. On Wednesday night from about 6 p.m. until 8:45, the Buffaloes took to the turf – and got wet there, too. In fact, the Buffs might have been drier Thursday in the YMCA pool in their sweatshirts than they were the previous night at Potts Field.
It was all done (and done vigorously) in the name of developing leadership, camaraderie and physical and mental toughness. Following through on a suggestion by hoops mentor and close friend Mark Turgeon, CU coach Tad Boyle enrolled his team in The Program/Judgment Day, a roughly eight-hour experience spread over two days and usually run by former military personnel. Turgeon, Boyle’s boss at Jacksonville State and Wichita State, recently put his Maryland team through The Program and afterward said “it was on the best things he’s ever done as a coach in terms of bringing outside influences in on his program,” according to Boyle. Boyle researched it, concluded it could benefit the Buffs and signed on. “I thought for where our team is this year, with the youth we have and only one senior, the leadership we lost last year, we’re trying to prepare these young guys to go into a season and they really don’t know what they’re going to be faced with,” he said. “So, it’s not like we’ve got five or six juniors and seniors that can show them in practice every day.” But the fact that The Program was endorsed by Turgeon might have made any further research unnecessary. Said Boyle: “He and I have the same core values when it comes to coaching and building a team and operating a basketball program. I’ve got a lot of confidence in Mark Turgeon. Quite frankly, if it (recommendation) had come from someone else, I might or might not have done it. But when he said you’ve got to really look at this, we did. And for where our team is and what it needs, I think this is perfect.” Boyle’s goal: “I’d like to come out of this with a sense of togetherness, a sense of bonding that we went through this together, survived it and are better and tougher because of it mentally and physically. And maybe we’ve got some guys who stepped forward in terms of leadership on this basketball team.” THAT’S PRECISELY WHAT THE PROGRAM advertises. It was founded by Eric Kapitulik, a former infantry and special ops officer in the United States Marine Corps, and is headquartered in Woburn, Mass. In 1999, Kapitulik’s platoon was in a helicopter crash that killed seven fellow Marines. Afterward, in their memory, he created the Force Reconnaissance Scholarship Fund and now has about a dozen staffers in The Program who are deployed on assignments such as the one at CU. Working with the Buffs were Coleman Ruiz, a 12-year Navy SEAL officer and former college wrestler and team captain at the US Naval Academy, and Sol Sollerer, a 22-year British Army commando veteran who had just joined The Program and was working his seventh event. Ruiz and Sollerer met with the coaching staff Wednesday afternoon and with the team shortly thereafter. “That’s a couple of intense and confident guys,” said Buffs assistant Jean Prioleau. “You can tell they’ve been through some (stuff).” Before Ruiz and Sollerer entered an upstairs meeting room at the Coors Events Center and introduced themselves, the Buffs were joking, talking about what they did and didn’t know about Navy SEALS (even uttering a few circus seal barks) and wondering what might be expected of them that night and the next morning. “I’ve just heard it is supposed to test us mentally and physically,” sophomore guard Askia Booker said. “I think it’s just seeing where we’re at, how far we can push each other and who can lead. It’s going to be a good experience for all of us. We’re going to be able to hold each other up; it’s going to be a team thing. You can’t do it individually.” The joking stopped and the room went hear-a-pin-drop quiet when Sollerer strolled in and snapped, “Feet on the floor, backs against the chairs, eyes straight ahead.” He offered a brief bio of himself, then introduced Ruiz, who outlined The Program’s ethos – “We are good team leaders and good teammates and we prepare ourselves every day to fill either role” – and its three core principles – “We are physically and mentally tough; we don’t make excuses and we don’t let others make excuses for us; we work hard . . . working hard means that we do ONE MORE!” The Buffs would hear “ONE MORE” more than once over the next 14 hours. “All the athletes we see at The Program are just like you. . . they have about the same skills you have,” Ruiz told them before the short trip to Potts Field. “The teams that do that much more, that do the things outside practice and are willing to make that kind of commitment (will succeed). You need to create the opportunities to win championships, then you can make it happen. “Everybody is looking for a way out. ‘Until we get it right’ – that mentality in basketball will take you to the next level. Make no mistake, every other team you play is going to have talent . . . talent is going to win tons of games, but every team – basketball, football, lacrosse, hockey, you name it – with talent is not going to win games. How The Program helps a team like this, even though you’ve won a championship, is to know that talent is not enough.” Ideally, Boyle said his team’s time in The Program would have been done in mid-September – about the same time Turgeon had the Terps go through it. But Boyle only found out about it after that, “Then the timing was difficult,” he said. He didn’t want to open practice earlier this month with it, but he figured since the Buffs already had 10 practices in advance of their summer European trip, “We have enough things in now basketball-wise. A critical piece for the success of this year’s team is going to be between our ears. This program hopefully will help us in that area . . . “This isn’t weight-room stuff, not basketball-specific stuff. They’re going to get out of their comfort zone, do things maybe they haven’t done before. That’s what’s good. We all have a comfort level, I don’t care if you’re a coach or a player or a fan or an administrator . . . we all have comfort levels we operate in. The way you grow is to maybe try something different, get out of your comfort level and take some risks. I feel like that’s what we’re doing. I’ve never done this as a coach; we’re trying something new. Maybe it’ll help us – I certainly hope it will. I think it will. It might not, but all we lose is two days.” He’s not likely to look back on them as two days lost. IF WEDNESDAY NIGHT WASN’T FIT for man nor beast, it might have been perfect for a former SEAL’s purposes . . . driving rain and temperatures in the low-40s to start, rain turning to snow and temps in the low-30s to finish. Said Sollerer: “Anyone can lead when it’s 70 degrees and sunny . . . it was uncomfortable for them; you could tell right away it was uncomfortable.” Ruiz wanted a “perfect 16 minutes” of pushups, leg kicks in the sodden grass, jumping jacks, etc. Perfect meant perfect: 16 players lined up in four arrow-straight rows and squared away front, back and to each side. Squiggly rows weren’t perfect. Start it all over. Do it right or do it all night. Before they left the CEC, Ruiz told the Buffs he wanted three things: “Stay focused on the mission, stay alert, stay responsive.” And, he added this isn’t about self: “Make every decision based on the guy to your left and right.” Several of the players came outfitted with hats and gloves, but Ruiz told them all would wear hats and gloves – or no one would. So no one did. Counting stops, starts and re-dos, finishing Ruiz’s first perfect 16 minutes required just over an hour. Then came a second perfect 16 minutes, followed by a perfect overtime, consisting of two-man relays with players lugging logs, sandbags and each other. The Buffs didn’t return to the CEC until nearly 8:45 p.m., then had wakeup calls for 4:30 on Thursday morning. One of Ruiz’s goals in honing mental toughness was “practicing being miserable and getting comfortable being uncomfortable . . . finding the physical edge and jumping off.” Freshman Xavier Johnson found it when Wednesday night’s rain turned to snow: “Most definitely . . . this was my first time seeing snow, being from California,” he said. “To experience it like that, I mean, what better way could you ask for it? “I enjoyed it a lot; it was a great experience for me. It was probably one of the most physical things I’ve ever done. But it made it easier to bear doing it as a team. This will be something to look back on during the season, during those tough times . . . we can say we’ve had it a lot tougher – in the snow doing pushups and all that other stuff. There won’t be anything harder than that.” Wednesday night’s foul weather work at Potts Field impressed Ruiz, who said the Buffs “had a phenomenal first day – I told them that when we broke. The team had probably the best first day – I work about 40 events a year, I’ve had 20 this fall – I’d seen from any team.” But for the early Thursday water work at the Boulder ‘Y,’ “They came out a little flat,” Ruiz said. “Getting in the pool, we’re way outside our comfort zone and guys started to struggle a little bit. We make all of our mistakes when we’re tired and when we’re nervous. These guys shouldn’t be nervous when they play anybody; they shouldn’t be nervous getting in the pool. “But every athlete will get tired. The way we prevent those mistakes (and) coming out flat is we learn effective ways to communicate with each other . . . the Buffs started doing that (Thursday), and they got after it 100 percent.” BOYLE MIGHT NOT KNOW HOW The Program benefitted his young team until Pac-12 Conference play starts and the Buffs begin defending the championship they won last March in Los Angeles. But he and his staff liked what they saw developing in the rain/snow on Wednesday night and in the water the next morning. Sabatino Chen, the team’s only senior, asserted himself early, and Ruiz correctly noted on Thursday morning that when Booker and Chen “are dialed in” the entire team picks up on it. He made sure both players understood that. Addressing the Buffs at the conclusion of the pool work, Ruiz also cited other players, including Johnson; sophomore guard Spencer Dinwiddie; freshman post Josh Scott; and junior wing Jeremy Adams, whose participation was limited due to a knee ailment. In a “fireman’s carry” exercise on Wednesday night, Adams and junior guard Kevin Nelson, who was battling an ankle injury, provided literal support to their teammates and prevented Ruiz from having the entire squad rerun the drill to achieve another perfect 16 minutes. During the demanding night and morning, Boyle said every member of the team contributed a high-point and proved to be quality teammates. That included junior posts Shane Harris-Tunks and Ben Mills; freshmen forwards Wesley Gordon and Chris Jenkins; freshmen guards Xavier Talton and Eli Stalzer; sophomore guard Beau Gamble and junior guard Geoffrey Bates. When The Program concludes a two-day event, the administrators award a gray T-shirt bearing The Program logo to one participant. Not surprisingly, junior wing Andre Roberson earned this one for what Ruiz called back-to-back “monster” efforts. “It means a lot,” said Roberson, who ranked third nationally in rebounding last season (11.1 a game) and was the only Pac-12 player to average a double-double (11.6 points). “It shows that hard work does pay off. If you go out there and bust your butt, work as hard as you can, things will come out all right.” Before going through The Program, Roberson said he believed the Buffs can take it up a notch in practice: “I feel like we don’t go hard all the time. That’s one thing coach says, we’re a 20-minute team right now. We tail off toward the last 30 minutes of practice. We just have to get better and push through fatigue.” Maybe two days with Ruiz and Sollerer put the Buffs on the right course to achieve that, although Roberson believes such a push is as much mental as physical. The Program’s real value, Roberson said, “is about helping us become better leaders (and) better teammates for each other. It’s definitely something we can use later on in this season and later on in our lives.” Boyle is counting on both – in that order. Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU |
CU beat down by USC 50 to 6
Oct 21st
LOS ANGELES – When Matt Barkley makes his first million in the NFL, a small donation to the University of Colorado might be a nice gesture. It’s the least he could do after all the Buffaloes have done for him during their brief stay in the Pac-12 Conference.
On Saturday at the Los Angeles Coliseum, Barkley, Southern California’s gifted senior quarterback, virtually repeated his 2011 passing performance against CU in guiding the No. 11 Trojans to a 50-6 beat-down of the Buffs.
Barkley returned for his senior year for afternoons like Saturday. Before being pulled with 7:43 remaining in the third quarter, he completed 19 of 20 passes for 298 yards and six touchdowns – tying the school record he set in Boulder last season in USC’s 42-17 rout.
In two games against the Buffs, Barkley has thrown for 12 TDs and 616 yards. His six TD passes Saturday gave him the Pac-12 and USC career records (103) and Saturday’s 95 percent completion ratio also set single-game school and conference marks, as did his passing efficiency rating of 319.16.
“There’s a reason why he’s going to go high in the draft,” CU coach Jon Embree said. “Great player, glad he’s done, glad I don’t have to see him in person anymore.”
“He’s a great quarterback,” CU defensive end Will Pericak said. “He’s got the whole package around him – the line protects, he’s got the great receivers to throw to. It’s just what he does. He picks up his receivers when they’re open and he’s a playmaker.”
Robert Woods, a 6-1 junior, also entered the USC record books for career receptions and TDs in a single game. He caught eight passes Saturday for 132 yards and four scores. Teammate Marqise Lee made six receptions for 103 yards and one TD.
By comparison with Barkley, CU quarterback Jordan Webb finished 18-for-35 for 210 yards with three interceptions. He was replaced by Connor Wood in the final quarter.
Suffering its third consecutive blowout loss, CU fell to 1-6 overall and 1-3 in the Pac-12 while USC went to 6-1, 4-1 with its seventh consecutive win (7-0) against CU. In losses over the past three weeks, CU has allowed 1,498 yards and 143 points.
The Buffs, who travel to No. 2 Oregon next Saturday, now have lost nine straight meetings with ranked teams and 19 consecutive road games against ranked opponents. CU had won its past two Pac-12 road games – at Utah to close out 2011 and at Washington State to open 2012 conference play.
But Saturday, entering the Coliseum as a 41-point underdog, would be vastly different. After one half of The Barkley Show, the Buffs trailed 33-6 after spotting the Trojans a 19-0 lead less than 6 minutes into the first quarter.
USC got its first touchdown only two plays into the game on a 55-yard Barkley-to-Lee pass, then capitalized on back-to-back CU turnovers – a Webb interception and a lost Christian Powell fumble – for another quick pair of scores. The Buffs lost six turnovers – three picks, three fumbles – that the Trojans converted into 29 points.
The first two USC scores after CU miscues, of course, came on Barkley passes. The first was a 39-yarder to Woods, the second nine yards to tight end Xavier Grimble. CU appeared to have answered that score on a 15-yard Webb-to-Gerald Thomas pass, but Thomas was ruled to have been out of bounds at the back of the end zone and the TD was negated.
On fourth down, Will Oliver kicked a 27-yard field and CU crept to within 19-3.
On the ensuing series, Pericak forced a Barkley fumble and linebacker Jon Major recovered, giving CU possession at the USC 42. Five plays got the Buffs as far as the Trojans’ 19, where on fourth down Oliver booted a 37-yard field goal.
CU had pulled to 19-6, but from there USC steadily pulled away. And the Buffs’ scoring was done.
On the next series, Barkley threw his fourth TD pass of the half, this one caught again by Woods and covering 29 yards. It was the 100th TD pass of Barkley’s career, giving him the school and Pac-12 record and sending the Trojans up 26-6.
But the Barkley-Woods tandem wasn’t finished. They teamed again on USC’s next series for a 17-yard scoring play, with Woods again outrunning CU freshman corner Kenneth Crawley to push the Trojans ahead 33-6 with 6:52 left before intermission.
Woods’ reception was the 217th of his career, giving him the USC career record and touching off another round of celebrity congratulations on the Coliseum’s massive video board. USC obviously was expecting a record day Saturday or at some point very soon; luminaries congratulating Barkley and Woods on their records included NBA stars Chris Paul and Blake Griffin, former USC coach Pete Carroll and a host of other former Trojans.
Barkley ended the first half 16-of-17 for 269 yards and five TDs, while Woods caught six of those throws for 106 yards and three TDs – tying the school record. USC’s shortest scoring drive of the opening half was 29 seconds, its longest was 2:58. The Trojans punched up 316 yards of total offense in the first half to the Buffs’ 162.
The only question for the second half was how many more points USC might score and how many more records Barkley, Wood & Co. might set.
CU turned the ball over on its first second-half possession when linebacker Tony Burnett appeared to take the ball out of receiver Nelson Spruce’s hands. The play was ruled an interception, but whatever, Burnett returned it 54 yards to set up another Barkley-to-Woods TD.
Another catch, another couple of records . . . the pitch-and-catch covered three yards and gave Woods the USC school mark for TD receptions in a game. It also gave Barkley his sixth TD pass, tying the single-game record he set last season.
Redshirt freshman Max Wittek replaced Barkley not quite midway through the third quarter and threw his first career TD pass – a 24-yarder to sophomore tailback D.J. Morgan. That scoring pass, coupled with Barkley’s half a dozen, set a USC single-game record (seven) and a record for TD passes thrown against CU.
It pushed the score to 47-6, and Andre Heidari’s 37-yard field goal with 5:34 to play gave the Trojans their highest point total of the season (50) and the Buffs their second-worst loss of the season, behind only the 69-14 flogging at Fresno State.
BUFF BITS: CU’s injury toll continued to mount. Starting right tackle Jack Harris was left at home with concussion symptoms. Linebacker Brady Daigh, who has not fully recovered from a neck injury suffered in the loss to Arizona State, did not make the trip. Also, punter Darragh O’Neill’s status was not determined until warm-ups; he was nursing a foot injury but punted once in the first half . . . . But a couple of players returned to the world of the healthy. Safety Ray Polk played for the first time since suffering a high ankle sprain in the opening quarter of the season opener and Powell was back at tailback after missing last week’s game with a deep thigh bruise . . . . Former CU coach Bill McCartney traveled with the Buffs to LA, marking his first road trip with the team in more than a decade . . . . A special guest on the CU sidelines was Philip Bailey, lead singer of Earth, Wind and Fire.
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