BOULDER — Where did the love go?
Way too often, the Colorado Buffaloes look more like strangers who wouldn’t say hi to each other on the Pearl Street Mall than basketball teammates.
Maybe CU coach Tad Boyle saw all this frustration coming. Back in October, when the buzz about the Buffs was all about how they were again bound for the NCAA Tournament, Boyle warned, “If I had to describe our team in one word, itap overrated.”
on Thursday night, which made me wonder: Where the heck was this unselfish, cohesive team all season? What’s the secret to this mystery?
“Itap putting the egos aside. Itap amazing what can be accomplished when nobody cares who gets the credit. Itap a challenge as a college basketball coach, especially at this level, because every one of our players, especially some of these seniors, are thinking about the next level and the next chapter of their careers,” Boyle said, after the Buffs again teased us with how good they can be.
“Itap a daily challenge to keep them playing for Colorado, and not playing for that name on the back of the jersey.”
The Buffs squandered the passion of CU students and alums alike long ago. There were 8,008 spectators in the Coors Events Center, and I swear nearly half of them were there to fist-bump with hippy-dippy broadcaster Bill Walton, the wackiest, most natural high on whatever Pac-12 Conference campus he visits.
Remember when Colorado was threatening to become a basketball school? Well, the rise of the CU football team was real. And so has been the decline for hoops enthusiasm.
The average crowd at home games (7,732) is the lowest since 2011, when Boyle first hit town. You can bet the best coach in school history has duly noticed all those empty seats.
OK, can’t say I blame the fans. These Buffs, whose record is now 17-13, have often been hard to watch, because there’s nothing fun about squandered potential. The theme song for this often-disappointing team should be that R&B classic made famous by the Supremes. Sing it, Diana: “Baby, baby, where did our love go?”
Here’s my theory. Please tell me I’m wrong. Derrick White, scoring nearly 20 points per game in conference games, is clearly the best player on the Buffs. White, however, is also playing his first season for CU, after three years of toiling at the Division II level in Colorado Springs. In any locker room where testosterone is present, there’s often a stink when the new guy is suddenly the man.
This is not to put any blame on White, who took a mere seven shots against Stanford, and tried to spread the love with eight assists.
But it appears senior Xavier Johnson thought he was going to be Batman, and instead got issued the cape and tights for Robin. Thatap tough to swallow. Try as both guys might, I’m not certain Johnson and White can ever quite bro-hug this out.
“When we play together and share it offensively, and play with energy and passion defensively, this team can be as good as they want to be and beat any team in this league,” said Boyle, whose team probably will have to upset two foes ranked in the top 10 nationally to win the conference tourney. “But we’ve also shown that when we don’t, we’re very average.”
