 9-20, 1-14 NR (AP) NR (USA Today) | March 7th, 2009Who: Colorado Buffaloes vs. Kansas State Wildcats |  20-10, 8-7 NR (AP) NR (USA Today) |
No big preview today, you know the story already. Kansas State needs to keep winning to stay in the NCAA tournament hunt. They are currently on the outside looking in according to Joe Lunardi and may have lost all chances at getting in with their most recent lose to Oklahoma State, who has charged ahead of late and is now in the field as a #9 seed. Kansas State does still have a chance with a good performance in the conference tournament.
As for the Buffs, their style of play has kept them competitive in a fair amount of ball games that they shouldn't be but has never allowed them to be explosive enough to get a lead and maintain it. Case and point last game against a bad Texas A&M team. The Aggies turned the ball over 16 times but Colorado could only take a lead of eight into half. Texas A&M stayed close, got hot in the second half and won the game. Like the stock market stats, the win-loss numbers are not pretty for the Buffs. This about sums everything up according to cubuffs.com:
CU has lost 10-straight games, a first since the 1985-86 season when they lost their last 17 games of the season ... The Buffs also owns the Big 12 record for consecutive road losses (28). Previous mark was Baylor, 25, set from 2004-07 ... In the 108-year history of CU basketball, the Buffs have lost 20 games in three-straight seasons
Today, the oddsmakers have the Buffs as a 17 point underdog. I think that is too many points but I think you would be crazy to bet it with a 28 game losing streak and no motivation looming today.
For more on today's game, check the following links:
cubuffs.com / buffzone.com - Buffs conference tourney opponent undecided / buffzone.com - preview / buffzone blogs.com - Bzdelik Off Recruiting
| Colorado Buffaloes' Top Players | ||||||||
| NAME | PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | FG% | FT% | 3P% |
| Cory Higgins | 17.6 | 5.6 | 2.6 | 1.9 | 0.4 | 49.1% | 82.5% | 38.6% |
| Dwight Thorne II | 11.9 | 3.2 | 1.8 | 1.2 | - | 48.0% | 75.0% | 41.3% |
| Austin Dufault | 8.5 | 3.8 | 1.0 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 42.1% | 67.5% | 25.0% |
| Nate Tomlinson | 7.3 | 2.5 | 3.0 | 0.5 | - | 46.2% | 71.1% | 42.7% |
| Casey Crawford | 5.7 | 1.7 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 40.9% | 71.4% | 33.9% |
| Team Averages | 63.1 | 27.3 | 11.6 | 6.1 | 1.7 | 45.6% | 72.3% | 35.2% |
| Kansas State Wildcats' Top Players | ||||||||
| NAME | PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | FG% | FT% | 3P% |
| Denis Clemente | 15.3 | 2.4 | 3.3 | 0.9 | - | 42.5% | 79.2% | 38.8% |
| Jacob Pullen | 13.5 | 2.6 | 3.4 | 1.5 | 0.1 | 37.9% | 75.8% | 33.0% |
| Darren Kent | 9.2 | 5.6 | 1.3 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 42.8% | 77.9% | 33.3% |
| Fred Brown | 8.6 | 1.6 | 1.4 | 0.7 | 0.1 | 43.1% | 60.0% | 44.2% |
| Jamar Samuels | 8.3 | 4.8 | 1.0 | 0.6 | 1.0 | 52.5% | 56.9% | 20.0% |
| Dominique Sutton | 7.7 | 5.2 | 0.9 | 1.1 | 0.1 | 48.9% | 67.5% | 23.8% |
| Team Averages | 76.2 | 39.3 | 14.2 | 7.0 | 2.9 | 44.1% | 65.3% | 36.3% |