Posts tagged Tad Boyle
Buffs Ice Down Falcons, Remain Unbeaten
Nov 26th
BOULDER – Here’s the way Tad Boyle sees a night against an opponent as hot as Air Force was in Sunday’s first half: “If they’re going to make jump shots, shoot threes, over our hands for 40 minutes, then after the game we’ll shake hands and congratulate them.”
At game’s end at the Coors Events Center, Boyle’s Colorado Buffaloes did indeed wind up shaking hands with the Falcons at mid-court – but it wasn’t because the visitors’ long-range marksmanship continued.
Air Force cooled off and CU rolled on. Impressively. The No. 23 Buffs remained unbeaten by zooming past the previously unbeaten Falcons 89-74 for their first 5-0 start since the 1989-90 season.
“I think people understand now about Air Force and why we were nervous after the first half,” Boyle said. “They’re well-disciplined, well-coached . . . we did a great job of taking away their layups, but it’s pick your poison against Air Force.”
AFA (5-1) shot 57.1 percent (8-of-14) from beyond the arc in the first half, but still trailed 41-39. In the second half, with the Buffs putting more defensive emphasis on getting around/through flair screens and ball screens – and believing the visiting shooters couldn’t stay that torrid – the Falcons cooled to a more earthly 25 percent (4-of-16) from three-point range.
The Falcons finished the game at 40.6 percent (13-of-32) from long range, with the Buffs at 7-of-13 (53.8 percent) for the night. But CU had more of everything: the Buffs made the board battle a joke, winning it 46-19; they dominated in the paint, 40-18; they had 18 second-chance points to the Falcons’ four; and they sank 22-of-28 free throws. That last stat came after players shot 100 free throws each for a couple of practices preceding the Falcons’ trip north.
Freshman post Josh Scott posted his first 20-point night at CU, junior forward Andre Roberson got back in his double-double groove (18 points, 13 rebounds) and the sophomore backcourt of Spencer Dinwiddie and Askia Booker contributed 15 points each.
“This team, when we’re balanced, we have lot of different weapons,” Boyle said. Of the 6-10 Scott’s performance, he added, “He’s a great post player; he showed signs of why he was so highly regarded . . . his shot is not always the prettiest, but it goes in. Our guys believe in Josh.”
Scott said the Buffs’ standard plan is to work inside out “to me, Dre (Roberson) or ‘X’ (Xavier Johnson) . . . that’s always a constant thing.”
Just a guess, but CU Boyle’s message at halftime probably centered on making life a little more difficult for the Falcons’ marksmen.
They came to Boulder averaging 10.2 treys a game, and by intermission they were just about there, hitting eight of 14 (57 percent).
Still, CU led 41-39, matching AFA’s percentage from behind the arc but just not attempting or hitting as many (four of seven). Instead, the Buffs got their points in a variety of ways from a variety of players. Boyle used 10 players in the first 20 minutes, and nine of them scored.
Before the Falcons’ barrage of threes – they made six in the first half’s final 10 minutes – the Buffs had taken an eight-point lead (19-11) and appeared to have the visitors on their heels. Not so.
Air Force came soaring back behind Todd Fletcher, who scored nine consecutive points to bring his team to within three (23-20). Then, a DeLovell Earls three-pointer tied the score with 10:41 remaining before intermission. From there, CU managed to go up by as many as five (36-31), but AFA stayed hot from behind the arc in the final 4:30, hitting its last two treys to trail by only two at the break.
The second half’s most immediate questions: Would the Air Force cool off, or could CU make that happen? Yes and yes.
Said Scott: “I thought they were definitely going to get tired and were not going to make those shots in the second half. We were contesting them.”
Added Roberson: “They came out hot . . . but they wouldn’t be able to do it for all 40 minutes.”
Halfway through the final 20 minutes, the Falcons had added three more treys to their total – but they weren’t sizzling. And the Buffs had rolled to their largest advantage of the night (67-58) to that point. They used a 9-2 run highlighted by an Eli Stalzer trey against the AFA zone and a Roberson steal/stuff that juiced up the crowd of 10,607.
At the 7:47 mark, CU had gone ahead by 10 (71-61) on a pair of Dinwiddie free throws. Another pair from Scott and a nifty layup by Booker with 5:19 to play opened a 14-point CU advantage (75-61).
To catch up, the Falcons would have to go on another three-point binge, but it didn’t happen. The Buffs steadily pulled away.
CU plays Texas Southern Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. at the Coors Events Center.
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CU men get sweet revenge on No. 16 Baylor to advance into tourney championship
Nov 16th
CHARLESTON, S.C. – Revenge is sweet. Is payback sweeter? Doesn’t matter. The Colorado Buffaloes got both Friday afternoon in the Charleston Classic, holding off No. 16 Baylor 60-58 to advance to the tournament’s championship game.
The tournament takes a day off Saturday, with play resuming Sunday. The opponent is to be determined, but the Buffs will play for the championship at 6:30 p.m. MST (ESPN2) in the TD Arena.
CU reeled in a rare signature win in November, with its last defeat of a ranked team in non-conference play dating to 1973. Buffs coach Tad Boyle understood the magnitude of that as well as what it meant to defeat Baylor.
“In our first year (at CU), we’re up 10 at the half down there; we let one slip away,” a joyous Boyle said. “Last year in the NCAA Tournament we had another chance . . . it was a tie game with four or five minutes to go and we didn’t finish it off.
“That’s why I was so excited after the game – and that we had fans down here to support this team and program. I want them to know how much we appreciate it and all the people back home who couldn’t make the trip.”
CU’s last win against a ranked opponent came last March in the NCAA Tournament, when the Buffs defeated No. 23 UNLV. In the next game in Albuquerque, N.M, Baylor ousted the Buffs 80-63.
After Thursday’s 67-57 win against Dayton here, CU players were pointing at Baylor. They got their wish Friday – but making it come true wasn’t easy. On the game’s final play, Baylor’s 7-1 freshman, Isaiah Austin, caught a three-quarter length of the court rainbow pass, but missed at the buzzer.
“I held my breath,” said CU junior Andre Roberson. “I thought he was going to hit the shot. But he missed it luckily and we came out with the win.”
Added Buffs sophomore Askia Booker: “All kinds of things are running through your brain, but you try to stay positive with your teammates,” We’ve been here before, we’ve been in close games. We just had to fight through it and stay together and be positive.”
Booker led the Buffs with a career-high 19 points – 16 in the first half. Spencer Dinwiddie (11) was the only other CU player in double figures. Baylor (3-1) was led by Cory Jefferson’s 17, with Pierre Jackson adding 12.
CU made only four of 18 free throw attempts, including missing five of six in the final 1:01. The four makes were the fewest in a Buffs win since the 1980 team sank only two against Oklahoma in a 60-59 win. Fortunately on Friday, Booker hit one of two with 11.6 seconds to play, giving CU its narrow margin.
The Buffs (3-0) led four times in the first half, three of the advantages coming in the first 5 minutes and the first coming on a Dinwiddie trey (5-2). From there, CU’s challenge seemed to be staying close – and it was a challenge.
But Booker and the Buffs were up for it.
The long and athletic Bears twice led by five points in the first 20 minutes, with their second advantage coming on the heels of a controversial blocking call against Josh Scott. One official – the trio was from the Big 12 – whistled a charging foul on Pierre Jackson, but an outside official overruled it.
The officials huddled, the Buffs bench objected, but the call stood. Jackson hit one of two free throws, then added a three-pointer on the next Baylor possession, sending the Bears up 22-17.
CU – especially Booker – had loads of fight left. He tied the score at 22-22 with a trey at the about the 5 minute mark. After Baylor had crept ahead by three, Andre Roberson stepped back and drained a three-pointer to tie it again at 30-30.
Then it was “Ski Season” in South Carolina – at least for the first half’s final minute. With the shot clock ticking toward zero on CU’s next-to-last possession, Booker drained his second trey of the half to send the Buffs up 33-30.
When Baylor gave up the ball on the ensuing possession, the Buffs left the final 17 seconds wind down – with the ball in Booker’s hands. With two seconds showing, he pulled up just inside the three-point arc at the top of the key. His soft jumper nestled into the net and CU left the court with a 35-30 halftime lead.
Booker finished the half with a game-best 16 points on a career-high seven field goals and was the only player on either team in double figures. He called it “absolutely” the best half of his college career: “At this level, with this intensity, yeah it was.”
The Buffs outrebounded the Bears 22-17 – a Tad Boyle mandate – in the first and 41-40 for the game. Boyle called that “no easy task because they have some length and good athletes out there who are a little bit longer than ours and little more athletic at some positions. But our guys found a way and we overcame.”
CU gave up only three three-pointers to Baylor – a huge upgrade from their last meeting in March in the NCAA Tournament when the Bears’ Brady Heslip gunned down nine of 12 from beyond the arc for 27 points. In Friday’s first half, Heslip had two points and 0-for-3 from three-point range. He finished with seven points – and one trey.
Boyle’s biggest concern might have been his team’s first-half free throw shooting. After going only 14-of-24 from the line against Dayton, CU ended Friday’s first half one-for-six and finished the afternoon with 14 misses.
But the Buffs had other issues to open the second half, turning the ball over on two of their first four possessions and leaving Heslip open in transition. His first trey of the afternoon – and his only one of the game — brought the Bears to 37-35 in the first 3 minutes.
Baylor tied the score at 37-37 on a baby hook by Cory Jefferson, but Boyle and his bench believed Jefferson’s toss didn’t beat the shot clock. Whatever, the game was tied with 151/2 minutes to play and CU couldn’t allow Baylor to muster any more momentum.
At the 10-minute mark, the Bears took a 45-44 lead – their first since 30-27 – on a twisting drive and layup by Deuce Bello. The Buffs answered with a key trey from the left wing by Eli Stalzer and a goal tending call on a steal/layup by Sabatino Chen.
That four-point CU advantage (49-45) wilted fast. Baylor went inside and got immediate results from the 7-1 Austin and 6-8 Rico Gathers, who pulled the Bears within 50-49 with 7:30 remaining. But the Buffs stayed focused.
After Josh Scott scored on a goal tending call on Austin, Dinwiddie buried a three-pointer, sending the Buffs up 55-51. They hawked the ball on the Bears’ next possession, forcing a tie up that went to CU. Dinwiddie hit again, this time a two-pointer to give the Buffs their biggest lead at 57-51 with 3:40 to play.
But could they hold it? Yes, but with difficulty.
At the 3:00 mark, Baylor – trailing 57-52 – began pressing and extended its halfcourt defense. With 1:55 left, Jefferson hit a follow shot (57-54), Dinwiddie answered with a floating layup (59-54), Jackson countered with a jumper (59-56) and then added two free throws (59-58) with 19.8 seconds to play.
Dinwiddie missed the front end of a one-and-one, but Shane Harris-Tunks controlled the rebound. Booker was fouled with 11.6 seconds showing, hit the front end of his one-and-one (60-58) then missed the second.
Baylor rebounded, A.J. Walton drove the length of the court but couldn’t hit a difficult running shot from the right side. Roberson got the last of his 12 rebounds, was fouled and went to the free throw line. With 3.1 seconds left, he missed both attempts but in the scramble for the second miss, time nearly expired.
Baylor got possession with 0.2 remaining. Austin caught a lob pass just above the free throw line, turned, shot . . . and missed.
The Buffs had one sweet ‘W.’
“It’s revenge, it means a lot,” Booker said. “It burned last year in our hearts. Just knowing we could have this chance and we finally got it. We took full advantage of it. I loved it.”
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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 |