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Colorado business confidence remains positive going into first quarter, says CU Leeds School index
Jan 2nd
Colorado business leaders’ optimism is modest going into the first quarter of 2013 with uncertainty surrounding the country’s political and economic environments, according to the most recent quarterly Leeds Business Confidence Index, or LBCI, released today by the University of Colorado Boulder’s Leeds School of Business.
For the first quarter of 2013 the LBCI, conducted by the Leeds School’s Business Research Division, posted an overall confidence reading of 51.3, down slightly from 51.6 in the fourth quarter of 2012. A reading greater than the neutral mark of 50 indicates positive expectations and one less than 50 indicates negative expectations going forward
Business leaders are optimistic about all of the metrics of the quarterly index except for the national economy and industry hiring plans. The other categories measured include the state economy, industry sales, industry profits and capital expenditures.
“For months, drags on the national economy have included the European debt crisis, the slow rate of employment growth and the resolution of the federal debt crisis,” said economist Richard Wobbekind, executive director of the Business Research Division. “While Colorado business leaders have stronger confidence in the local economy than the national economy, they’re proceeding very cautiously.”
Confidence in the state economy, which is at 55.5 points for the first quarter of 2013, outstrips that of the national economy, which posted a reading of 47. The outpacing of confidence in Colorado’s economy compared to the national economy is a 30-quarter trend, based on LBCI results.
Business leaders’ sales expectations for the first quarter rose to 54.4, up from 53.2 last quarter, and are buoyed by 44.1 percent of LBCI respondents who anticipate an increase in the first quarter versus only 25.2 percent who predict a decline. Meanwhile, leaders’ profit expectations fell to 51.6, down from 52.2 for the last quarter of 2012.
Hiring expectations have slipped into negative territory at 49.3, down from 51 in the last quarter of 2012, while capital expenditures remain close to neutral at 50.1.
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Buffs Hammer Hawks, Eye Pac-12 Opener
Dec 30th
By B.G. Brooks, Contributing Editor
BOULDER – When the Colorado Buffaloes step onto the basketball court next week in the Arizona desert, the degree of difficulty will soar. But based on their final two non-conference games, the Buffs believe they are very close to being Pac-12 ready.
CU hammered Hartford 80-52 on Saturday afternoon at the Coors Events Center, opening 10-2 for the first time since the 2005-06 season. Eight days earlier, the Buffs polished off Northern Arizona 98-51 – but don’t expect a repeat of those kinds of scores anytime soon.
On Thursday, CU opens its Pac-12 schedule at No. 3 Arizona. Figure on the Wildcats playing with an extra-large chip on their shoulders; the Buffs defeated them 53-51 in last season’s Pac-12 championship game in Los Angeles. And following the trip to Tucson, CU visits Arizona State on Sunday, Jan. 6.
Starting in Tucson, reminded Buffs coach Tad Boyle, “the price of poker goes up, the intensity goes up, the level of competition goes up . . . but I think we’re ready for conference play.”
Rather than concentrating on Saturday’s final snapshot of non-league work, Boyle preferred to reflect on the big picture – the Buffs’ 10-2 non-conference record.
“Right now, what’s on my mind is perspective,” he said. “We’re 10-2 and for the most part I’m happy. There are still areas for us to get better and taking care of the ball is one of them (CU had a season-worst 21 turnovers). But when you look at our schedule and the strength of our schedule, 10-2 feels good. We’re not satisfied, but we’ve taken care of most of the opportunities in front of us.”
He said the Buffs “should dominate Northern Arizona and Hartford, but now the test comes. Can we dominate Arizona? They’ve got men, they’ve got animals. I’m not sure we can dominate, but we can stay with them . . . our guys love challenges; they’re competitive and believe in themselves.”
CU quickly disposed of Hartford (7-6). In fact, the Buffs hardly were challenged, romping to a 45-21 halftime lead and holding at least a 25-point lead for most of the second half. Their largest second-half lead was 37 with just under 12 minutes to play.
Freshman post Josh Scott led CU with 21 points and 10 rebounds, while sophomore guard Askia Booker added 19 points. Junior wing Andre Roberson had 14 points and 14 rebounds for his 31st career double-double – the sixth this season. Sophomore point guard Spencer Dinwiddie added 11 points, his second straight game in double figures after getting five total in the previous two contests.
Josh Scott led the Buffs in scoring
The Buffs hadn’t played since Dec. 21, but the long Christmas break left no ugly marks on any part of their game. After bolting to an 11-0 lead, they increased their advantage to 31-9 with 6 minutes remaining before intermission, then led by 24 points at the break.
Said Dinwiddie: “I think that every time you have an extended period of time off (and) have a lot of practices between games you’re more focused.”
Hartford was a long way from home and way out of its league, which happens to be the American East. The Hawks lost 71-63 in early December at Arizona State, and they will reflect on that loss as their closest call with a Pac-12 team. Their first 20 minutes in Boulder were seriously forgettable; they shot only 25 percent (7-for-27) from the field and didn’t reach double digits (12) until the 5:51 mark of the half.
Meanwhile, CU was in another holiday sharing mood, particularly in the game’s first 6 minutes. After recording a season-high 24 assists against Northern Arizona, the Buffs dished out 10 assists in Saturday’s first half. That helped them hit 60 percent (18-for-30) from the field and also was instrumental in outscoring the Hawks 28-0 in the paint in the first 20 minutes.
The first-half board battle wasn’t close to even being a skirmish: CU outrebounded the visitors 28-6 and finished with a 52-21 board advantage. The Buffs prevailed in the paint 44-11.
Said Scott: “We’re always trying to get a hefty rebound margin . . . we just went out and did it.”
By intermission, three CU players already were in double figures – Booker and Scott with a dozen points each and Roberson with 11.
Large halftime leads sometimes can result in an early second-half malaise, but it didn’t work that way for the Buffs. Not quite 4 minutes into the second half, they had increased their lead to 33 (56-23) and showed no signs of slowing to rest. Still, with 7:35 remaining, playing mostly against Buffs reserves, the Hawks cut their deficit to 25 (68-43), prompting Boyle to return his five starters to the court.
He said his bench “is not where it needs to be mentally. With 11 minutes to go, I wanted to let our bench take us home.”Instead, Boyle’s reserves gave up some layups, committed a handful of their 21 turnovers and were generally not as crisp as Boyle envisioned. When conference play opens, Boyle conceded “our bench has to get better – and I think it will. There are guys there we’re going to have to count on.”Of the turnover total, Dinwiddie said, “We definitely heard about that (from Boyle). We went to keep our turnovers in an eight to ten range and today, we didn’t do that. Our turnovers continue to be a work in progress. Part of it is a product of how we play, because we try to play fast. So we’re going to be higher than most teams. But we always want our (assist-to-turnover) ratio to be positive, of course.”
By the 5:07 mark of the last half, the Buffs had righted themselves and surged to a 32-point advantage (75-43) on a pair of Sabatino Chen free throws. A three-point play by Jeremy Adams brought a 78-43 lead, and at that point, Boyle inserted sophomore center Ben Mills for the second time in two games.
Just under 3 minutes later, sophomore guard Beau Gamble left the bench, marking the second time in two games Boyle has used all of his players.
Boyle said his starters “are playing together, playing at a high level, sharing the ball, moving the ball . . . I told our team that there’s not one guy who can beat the Pac-12 on his own; we’ve got to do it together as a collective group. I like where we are.”
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Buffs Hold Off No. 8 Cardinals At The Wire
Dec 15th
by BG Brooks, Contributing Editor, CUBuffs.com
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.
Jen Reese’s last second score clinched the game
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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