BOULDER — After walking into CU’s house like he owned the joint and breaking the hearts of Buffaloes with a 62-60 victory, Colorado State coach Larry Eustachy issued the invitation with a smirk.
Eustachy would like to invite Colorado up to Fort Collins for a rematch ASAP. He even offered to buy snacks for the Buffs, if they are brave enough to take on CSU again this season.
Eustachy boldly dared the Buffaloes to play an annual home-and-home series against CSU.
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“We’ll play for their dinner,” Eustachy said Wednesday night, as he invited CU back for a rematch during the holidays. “Where can you find a more exciting game than this?”
Whether in football or basketball, there’s a love-hate relationship between CSU and CU. The Rams love nothing better than beating the Buffaloes. The Buffs hate to admit that the school in Fort Collins could possibly be their equal or better in any respect.
But that’s precisely the problem standing in the way of an annual two-game series that would build basketball fever in a state where basketball is on the rise: lack of mutual respect.
“If we were to play again, Colorado could avenge the loss,” Eustachy said. “It just makes sense (to play home and home). I’ve been begging for it. … It’s a no-brainer.”
Eustachy, however, said his pleas have been met with deaf ears from Colorado. In fact, he insisted that CU coach Tad Boyle is dead set against the idea of an annual home-and-home series and went so far as to suggest the Buffaloes might be reluctant to play the Rams at all when the current contract expires between the schools.
“This was our quote-unquote main rival, and we just lost in our house, so (the Rams) have bragging rights for this state,” CU senior guard Askia Booker said.
I asked Boyle if he would like another chance to beat the Rams, and added that Eustachy had issued an open invitation for a rematch in Moby Arena.
“I’d love another shot. But we don’t get another shot until next year,” said Boyle, lamenting a defeat that will have the state buzzing and CU upperclassmen kicking themselves with regret. “This opportunity is gone, and it’s gone forever.”
In an arena rocking with the noise of 10,966 spectators, the big man on the University of Colorado campus was a guy that might not get selected early when choosing sides for a lunch-time, pick-up game at the YMCA.
Colorado State forward J.J. Avila might not be physically imposing, and his shot selection seems more appropriate for a game of H-O-R-S-E than major-college basketball.
“Hey,” Eustachy said to Avila in the hallway outside the CSU dressing room, “I thought it was (Peyton) Manning to (Demaryius) Thomas on that one play. It was a long pass. And a nice reception.”
There was an NBA scout at the Coors Event Center. He wasn’t there to chart Avila. Colorado junior Josh Scott has been touted as a legitimate pro prospect. But, after being limited to two points against CSU’s physical interior defense and missing all seven of his field-goal attempts, Scott volunteered that he stunk.
It was no surprise to Avila, who dominated the paint and scored 19 points, often by spinning the ball deftly off the glass with action that would make a billiards hustler drool or scooping a layup that left would leave his defender befuddled and reaching for the ball as it fell gently through the net. Avila claimed that the no-holds-barred practices run by CSU often leave foes unprepared for the defensive pressure applied by the Rams.
Colorado State improved its record to 9-0 and appear to be a legitimate threat to make the NCAA Tournament.
The Buffs dropped to 5-3 and have Boyle exasperated by a team whose lack of offensive cohesion was as evident as the 14 turnovers committed and only six assists against Colorado State. Only the Rams’ inability to make free throws down the stretch kept the game in doubt to the final seconds.
“They made plays. We didn’t,” Boyle said. “They won. We lost.”
Let’s have a rematch between CU and CSU. Let’s play two. Every season.
Or are the Buffs too big to do what’s right by basketball in Colorado?
Mark Kiszla: mkiszla@denverpost.com or
