CU Buffs
Buffs Hold Off No. 8 Cardinals At The Wire
Dec 15th
BOULDER – The buildup was big, but Colorado’s effort was bigger. The CU women’s basketball team took on – and took down – No. 8 Louisville 70-66 on Friday night at the Coors Events Center.
But it wasn’t easy for the Buffaloes to remain unbeaten (9-0).
CU led by as many as 13 (64-51) in the final 3 minutes before Louisville’s full-court pressure sparked a 10-0 run and allowed the Cardinals to close to 68-66 in the final half-minute.
But Jen Reese scored on a critical put-back after two missed free throws by Brittany Wilson with 11.1 seconds remaining to give the Buffs their first win against a Top Ten opponent since the 2002 CU team defeated No. 5 Stanford in the NCAA’s Sweet 16. Buffs coach Linda Lappe was a junior on that squad.
The Buffs had four players in double figures, topped by Chucky Jeffery’s 22. Arielle Roberson added 13 and Reese and Wilson had 11 each. CU center Rachel Hargis contributed seven points and a career-high seven blocks.
Louisville (9-2) was led by Antonita Slaughter’s 19. Cardinals’ leading scorer Shoni Schimmel was held to four.
The Buffs are off until Saturday, Dec. 22 when they host Utah Valley (1:30 p.m.). They close non-conference play a week later against New Mexico (2:30 p.m., Coors Events Center).
Jeffery scored the game’s first basket to give CU a 2-0 lead, but the Buffs trailed for almost the next 10 minutes. The good news: They never let the Cardinals get more than a five-point lead before they made their move to go ahead on a 11-0 run that put them up 23-16.
Roberson scored five points during that spurt, with Jeffery and Lexy Kresl each adding a three-pointer.
Louisville closed the gap to three (23-20) before CU surged again, this time riding Jeffery’s five points and an inside basket by Rachel Hargis on the way to a 7-2 run that gave the Buffs their biggest early lead – 30-22.
Lappe liberally subbed her posts and it paid off. Hargis contributed her best half of the season, hitting three of four field goals, blocking a season-high three shots, collecting two rebounds and getting one steal.
She was on the receiving end of a Jeffery pass in the half’s closing seconds, scoring a layup that put the Buffs up 36-30 at intermission. Jeffery led all first-half scorers with 13 points and was the only player on either team in double figures.
The Buffs held the Cardinals to 39.1 percent from the field (9-for-23) and shut out Schimmel, who entered the game with a team-best 12.1 points a game. Mostly, the job of defending her fell to Brittany Wilson – and “B-Wil” stayed as close as fuzz on a peach.
Louisville entered the game with a plus-9.1 rebounding edge, but was out-boarded 19-12 in the first 20 minutes. CU forced the visitors into 10 first-half turnovers, but matched that total.
The Buffs started the last half in an offensive stupor, not getting their first points until Roberson hit a pair of free throws (38-34) with 15:36 remaining. She followed those with a basket in the lane to push CU ahead again by six (40-34).
But Monique Reid answered with a pair of quick inside buckets to cut the Buffs’ advantage to two (40-38). The Cardinals then pulled to within 41-40 on a bucket by Shawnta Dyer. But the Buffs temporarily held them at bay.
At the 10-minute mark, CU was up 48-43, but a three-pointer by Slaughter trimmed the lead to 48-46. The Buffs held that two-point advantage until Brittany Wilson hit both ends of a one-and-one to up CU’s lead to 50-46 with 7:18 to play.
The Cardinals weren’t done – and the Buffs weren’t even close. A pair of Slaughter free throws pulled them to 50-48 before Jen Reese banked in a short jumper for a 52-48 CU lead with 5:22 showing.
That started a 10-0 Buffs run that produced their biggest lead of the night — 60-49 – with 3:33 remaining.
Here’s how it happened: Jeffery followed with an acrobatic layup to make it 54-48 with just under 5 minutes left, Reese got another basket, and Kresl and Brittany Wilson scored on fast-break lay-ins. The Buffs were up by 11 points, the Cardinals were staggering and the CEC was rocking.
But Louisville’s 10-0 run and a frantic finish were on the way.
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CU Women Put Away Pioneers, Eye No. 8 Cardinals
Dec 12th
DENVER – The unbeaten University of Colorado women’s basketball team shook off a lethargic start, took control with an 8-0 run and never looked back in dispatching the University of Denver 83-63 here Tuesday night.
Now the Buffaloes (8-0) can look ahead. Finally, they can focus on their biggest non-conference game – a Friday night date with No. 8 Louisville at the Coors Events Center. The Cardinals are 9-1, with their lone loss by one point (48-47) to archrival Kentucky.
In winning for only the second time in Denver against the Pioneers, the Buffs got a season-high 19 points from Brittany Wilson and 14 points and 11 rebounds from Chucky Jeffery. Leading scorer Arielle Roberson, who entered the game with a 17.3-point average, added 11.
DU defeated CU 70-69 in their most recent Magness Arena matchup on Nov. 16, 2010. The Buffs lead the series 6-2 and won for the third time this season against a Front Range opponent. Before making the trip down I-25 South, CU had beaten Wyoming (68-59) and Colorado State (72-46) in Boulder.
Tuesday’s first half produced 11 lead changes, but they all occurred in the first 10 minutes. DU (4-5) took advantage of CU’s sluggish start to go ahead by as many as five points (13-8) before the visitors roused themselves.
Finally focused, the Buffs made an 18-17 deficit their last of the game. They went on an 8-0 run, getting baskets from Jamee Swan, Roberson (her first of the game), Jeffery and Brittany Wilson on a fast-break assist from Jeffery to go up 25-18 with 6:22 before intermission.
From there until the halftime buzzer, CU increased its lead to 10 on two occasions and led 37-27 at the break. The Buffs got 12 first-half points from Brittany Wilson and nine from Jeffery. Morgan Van Riper-Rose kept the Pioneers close with 13, while none of her teammates managed more than four first-half points. She finished with a career-high 28.
CU shot 41.7 percent (15-for-36) from the field in the opening half to DU’s 37.5 percent (9-for-24). The Buffs owned the boards (25-13) and forced 10 Pioneer turnovers that resulted in seven CU points.
CU outscored DU 9-1 to open the second half and surge ahead 46-28. The Buffs didn’t allow the Pioneers their first field goal of the last 20 minutes until the 14:07 mark. A minute later, CU went up by 23 and wouldn’t allow DU within 15 points the rest of the night.
With 7:55 remaining, Roberson was assessed CU’s first technical foul of the season. The reason: Roberson apparently touched the ball before a Pioneer player was about to throw it in bounds after a made Buffs basket. CU was up 67-44 at the time and led by as many as 26 points in the final 4 minutes.
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MacINTYRE NAMED HEAD FOOTBALL COACH AT COLORADO
Dec 11th
BOULDER — Mike MacIntyre, who led San Jose State to its first 10-win season in 25 years, has been named the 25th head football coach at the University of Colorado, athletic director Mike Bohn announced Monday.
MacIntyre agreed to a five-year deal with a salary of $2 million annually; as with all hires of this nature, the contract is subject to final approval of CU’s Board of Regents.
He replaces Jon Embree, who was dismissed as Colorado head coach on November 25; Embree was 4-21 in two seasons at the reins of the program.
MacIntyre, 47, led San Jose State to a 10-2 record this fall, with a final regular season ranking of No. 24 in the Associated Press and USA Today/ESPN Coaches polls as well as in the final BCS Standings. The Spartans earned a berth in the Military Bowl opposite Bowling Green on December 27.
He assumed the SJSU position in December 2009, compiling a 16-21 record with the Spartans; he took over a team that had gone 2-10 in 2009, but began instilling a different culture despite a 1-12 record his first season in San Jose. His second Spartan team went 5-7, but closed the year with thrilling wins over Navy and Fresno State. His SJSU team has thus won 12 of the last 14 games.
San Jose State’s most impressive wins this fall came over San Diego State (38-34), Navy (12-0), BYU (20-14) and Louisiana Tech (52-43), teams that otherwise combined to go 30-12 in 2012. Louisiana Tech was an offensive powerhouse (led the nation in scoring, second in total offense and fourth in passing), but Tech personnel felt MacIntyre and his staff put together the best plan to disrupt its high-octane offense of any of its opponents, including Texas A&M. The losses were to Stanford (20-17 in the season opener, as the Cardinal won on a fourth quarter field goal) and to Utah State.
The 2012 season under MacIntyre is one of the best in San Jose State’s nearly 120-year football history. In recording their first 10-win season since 1987, the Spartans did it with a highly-productive offense that scored 423 points, a defense that ranked among the national leaders in many statistical categories and reliable special teams.
His third Spartan saw a SJSU single-season record 16 players earn All-Western Athletic Conference honors, which came in a year that 36 school and conference records either were tied or broken.
MacIntyre’s San Jose State teams performed in the classroom as well. In 2011, the school had a record number of Academic All-WAC team members – 13 – while defensive end Travis Johnson became the Spartans’ first player in 30 years to get Academic All-America recognition this fall. In addition, San Jose State’s Academic Progress Rate (APR) score in the last reporting period was 981, second best in the WAC.
Before his 2010 head coaching debut, MacIntyre instituted a comprehensive recruiting plan and initiated a “Summer Bridge” program for his first recruiting class to provide his newcomers a smooth transition into life as a college football player. Facing five nationally-ranked teams early in the season, the Spartans rebuilt themselves repeatedly, and were positioned late for victory in four of their final five games before finishing with a 1-12 record.
The 2011 Spartans produced the fourth-best positive turnaround in their football history with a 4½-game improvement. San Jose State exhibited the resiliency and resourcefulness to find a winning way.
Four of the team’s five wins were in the final minute of the fourth quarter. The opportunistic Spartans were the co-national leaders with their 20 fumble recoveries, tied for fourth in turnovers gained with 33, were disciplined as the second least penalized team in the Football Bowl Subdivision and were ranked in the top-25 in passing offense (23rd) for the first time in eight years.
After the season, San Jose State was so pleased with the direction of the program that they extended hiscontract through 2017.
A veteran coach of 22 seasons, MacIntyre arrived at San Jose State after two years as the defensive coordinator at Duke University, where he was reunited with head coach David Cutcliffe from earlier in his coaching days. Those Blue Devil defenses were among Duke’s best statistically over a 20-year span, and in 2009, Duke’s five wins were the most in a season by the Blue Devils since 1994. The American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) named him its 2009 FBS Assistant Coach of the Year.
Prior to returning to college ball, MacIntyre spent five seasons in the National Football League with the New York Jets (2007) and Dallas Cowboys (2003-06) coaching defensive backs. Working for legendary coach Bill Parcells, the Cowboys returned to the NFL playoffs in 2003 and again in 2006 after missing out on postseason competition during the 2000 through 2002 seasons.
MacIntyre has coached on both sides of the ball, spending four years at Ole Miss (1999-2002) where he started as the wide receivers coach for two seasons and the defensive secondary coach in his final two years. The Rebels posted a 29-19 record in that time with bowl appearances in the 1999 and 2002 Independence Bowls and the 2000 Music City Bowl. The 2001 Rebels ranked fifth nationally in pass defense, allowing just 161.3 yards per game.
At Mississippi, among his recruits were two high profile student-athletes that one could sign to letters-of-intent, quarterback Eli Manning and linebacker Patrick Willis. And along his coaching trail, he has mentored many current and former NFL players including recently retired former Dallas and Cincinnati safetyRoy Williams, a five-time Pro Bowl player. At Dallas, he also tutored Terrence Newman, the former Kansas State cornerback who longtime CU fans certainly remember.
He began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at the University of Georgia, working two years (1990-91) in that capacity. He then coached one year as the defensive coordinator at Davidson (1992), four years at Tennessee Martin (1993-96) and two seasons at Temple (1997-98) before he joined Cutcliffe’s staff at Ole Miss.
A 1989 graduate of Georgia Tech, he lettered twice (1987-88) at free safety and punt returner for legendary head coach Bobby Ross. Prior to becoming a Yellow Jacket, MacIntyre played two seasons (1984-85) at Vanderbilt for his father, George, the head coach of the Commodores from 1979-85. The elder MacIntyre was the national coach of the year in 1982 when Vandy beat Alabama on its way to an 8-4 record.
MacIntyre earned a bachelor’s degree in Business Management from Georgia Tech and his master’s in Education with an emphasis on Sports Management from Georgia in 1991.
He was born George Michael MacIntyre on March 14, 1965, in Miami, Fla., and he and his wife, Trisha, have three children, Jennifer, Jay Michael and Jonston.
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