Who would have thought that freshman guard Nate Tomlinson would be so important to the Buffs? That is the "excuse" the media is giving for the poor effort last night. I didn't believe it until I saw this statistic from Neil Woelk's article in the Daily Camera this morning:

In the first half, Colorado turned the ball over 13 times and had zero assists. By game's end, those numbers had jumped to 20 turnovers and only five assists.

The Buffs had only 14 points in the first half last night against a TCU team that was picked to finish dead last in the Mountain West Conference. Ouch.

The bad news is the Buffs may have to get used to missing their point guard for as long as six weeks. Tomlinson will undergo an MRI today, and if the tests show a stress fracture -- as feared -- he'll be out for as long as six weeks, leaving him on the sidelines until the beginning of the Big 12 season.

This Nate Tomlinson seems like a very mature guy, here he is talking about the fans last night at the Coors Event Center:

“I feel their pain,” Tomlinson said. “I was cringing just like they were.

“But I hope they realize that’s not us. That’s not Buffalo basketball. I hope they stick with us and give us another chance. Every team has a bad game, and they’re not going to see another effort like that. I know these guys, and they’ll bounce back.”

But the best thing about the young Buffs and coach Jeff Bzdelik is this quote:

"Excuses are for losers," Bzdelik said. "Nate's such a competitor, he wanted to play. But he has to be smart and he has to get healthy.”

How can you get on this team when the coach says something like this? It is so polar opposite of what Coach Hawkins does. You ask me, it is quite refreshing. And you know Bzdelik believes it. Bzdelik has much more reliance on freshmen than Hawkins does plus the worst facilities. Like I said in the live game thread, maybe Bzdelik should take over for Hawkins this year on the gridiron and Hawkins should coddle the freshmen and say "well, we're young and injured." The quote: "Excuses are for Losers" is our new mantra!

For now, everyone hope that Tomlinson only has a bruise and he can return to the court sooner than later.