Twenty-eight years.
By 1997, it was nearly three decades since the Colorado Buffaloes men’s basketball program had been to the NCAA Tournament.
During that span, Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, the Ramones had their entire run as a band and few of the current Buffs were out of diapers.
Enter 20-year-old phenom guard from Denver named Chauncey Billups. The King of Park Hill put Colorado basketball back on the map. A second-team All-American, he guided the Buffs as a sophomore to a 21-9 record and a No. 9 seed in the big dance.
The prize in the first round? A chance to face legendary head coach Bobby Knight and the Indiana Hoosiers.
From :
Colorado’s Ricardo Patton did what most college basketball coaches only dream about. He outfoxed Indiana’s Bob Knight.
Bring on Dean Smith.
Colorado started out in a trapping, full-court press for one of the few times this season, contesting every Hoosiers pass, double-teaming every Indiana ballhandler. Before the Hoosiers knew what hit them Thursday night, Colorado had scored the first seven points of the game and 15 of the first 18.
Indiana never recovered. Colorado never trailed.
CU ran into another legendary coach in the second round — North Carolina’s Dean Smith in his final season with future NBA stars Antawn Jamison and Vince Carter on the roster.
Although Colorado fell in the second round, it was the start to a renaissance of Buffaloes basketball.
The Buffs have been back to the tournament five times since ’97, but advanced past the first round just once (2012). Will good fortune shine for Colorado this time around? Perhaps. Tipoff is at 11:30 a.m.
CHEW ON THIS
• Indiana coach Tom Crean is .
• The departure of .
• Let’s predict the .
• OK, I’m not advocating nonresponsible drinking, but being that it’s St. Patrick’s Day and if you choose to play a drinking game while watching the NCAA Tournament, .
WATCH THIS
Would the Broncos ever consider ? Should they? Troy Renck and Nicki Jhabvala discuss.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
The Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan turns 49. The 6-foot-4 musician is also an avid Chicago sports and pro wrestling fan. Remember that time he ? Good times.
Joe Nguyen: jnguyen@denverpost.com or @joenguyen
