After a stellar first three months to the season, the last month has not gone the way the Colorado women’s basketball team had hoped.
Still, the 18th-ranked Buffaloes have a lot to look forward to with the NCAA Tournament on the horizon. Before that, however, they are taking advantage of much-needed time off.
“I think any team at this time of the year needs rest because everybody’s bodies are beat up and tired,” CU head coach JR Payne said after her team was eliminated by Oregon State in the Pac-12 quarterfinals last Thursday. “We’re no different.”
Although relatively healthy, the Buffs (22-9) have had plenty of bumps and bruises, most notably point guard Jaylyn Sherrod suffering a broken nose on Feb. 29 and reserve center Charlotte Whittaker rolling her ankle in the Pac-12 first round on Wednesday. Both have kept playing, but Whittaker was limited to only five minutes in the double-overtime loss to OSU.
More importantly, CU could use a mental break. The team traveled back to Boulder on Thursday night and has been off since then. The Buffs return to practice on Tuesday as they await the NCAA Tournament bracket announcement on Sunday.
By the time CU plays another game, it will be 15 or 16 days after the loss to Oregon State.
“I think that we will rest and then just really refocus on what was really positive for us (during the Pac-12 tournament),” Payne said. “It’ll be good for us to have that time and ways to focus on improving some things. I think itap a great opportunity.”
CU finished the regular season with a 1-5 mark in its last six games. Although all the games were close, the Buffs were clearly off their game and chemistry wasn’t the same.
During the two games last week in Las Vegas, however, the Buffs seemed to get right. Payne and players spoke about finding “peace” as individuals and as a team before the Pac-12 tournament and it showed. The Buffs were impressive in the 79-30 rout of Oregon and played well against Oregon State, outside of the last few minutes of the fourth quarter.
“I think it was just a real effort to try to just take a deep breath and play free and loose and have a little bit of a lighter spirit about the group,” Payne said. “I think some of us are very serious and we work very hard and sometimes that gets a little bit intense. Everything we’re doing is intense, but itap just trying to be intentional about being really light and free.”
In that regard, last week was big for the Buffs to get back to playing great basketball.
“Even disappointing that we lost, itap still having perspective of we played really well,” Payne said. “Thatap the key is you want to play well right now, and we did.
“Itap disappointing to lose, but we played good basketball. Itap a mistake here or there (that makes a difference). Itap never one person, itap never one play. … Just be able to recognize that we did a lot of great things and move on.”
Still, Payne and the Buffs know they’ll have to be better when the NCAA Tournament starts. And thatap what this week is all about.
“For us, itap all about just identifying what needs to improve and improving it,” Payne said. “Thatap pretty tactical. I think our energy and togetherness and synergy was really good (during the Pac-12 tournament), and we’ll need to make sure that we keep doing that.”
Staying at 18
In the latest Associated Press Top 25 announced Monday, CU remained at No. 18.
CU has been among the top 20 for all 19 weeks this season, which is the second longest streak in the top 20 in program history. From 1993-97, the Buffs were in the top 20 in 72 straight polls.
Undefeated South Carolina remains the unanimous No. 1, with Big Ten champ Iowa moving up to No. 2. Pac-12 tournament champion USC moved up two spots to No. 3, its highest ranking since 1986.
Stanford, which lost to USC on Sunday, dropped two spots to No. 4, while Texas moved up one spot to No. 5. UCLA moved up to No. 6, while Ohio State, LSU, Notre Dame and Connecticut round out the top 10.
In addition to CU, USC, Stanford and UCLA, two other Pac-12 teams are ranked, with Oregon State at No. 12 and Utah at No. 20.
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