Tonight, the Colorado Buffaloes will play the first of their final four regular season games as a member of the Big 12 conference. After an up and down conference season that saw the Buffs win their first three games, two as large underdogs, before falling back into the middle of the pack by losing seven out of nine games, including two heart breakers to Baylor and Texas A&M. With their postseason chances on life support, Tad Boyle's team has to step up, and they have to step up tonight, in order to keep any hopes of making the NCAA tournament alive.
Luckily for Colorado, their late season schedule sets up pretty nicely for the team.
Games against at Texas Tech and Iowa State as well as a home finale against the Cornhuskers are must wins for the team. Drop any of those three and we are likely looking at an NIT berth at best. Win those three and lose to Texas, finishing 8-8 in conference play, and the team may be able to sneak in to the NCAA's with two wins in the Big 12 tournament. If the Buffs can somehow pull off the home shocker of a Texas team that will be ranked fifth in the country when they meet this Saturday and they will head into the tournament with a four game winning streak, possibly getting into March Madness with just a single conference tourney win, almost definitely with two.
It's a long shot, but it can be done. The Buffs will have to revert back to the team that started Big 12 play hungry and consistent. They will have to get two tough road wins, starting tonight against the Red Raiders, and they will have to improve on recent lackluster performances in the Big 12 tournament. It's a long shot, but what the hell? It's our last season as member of this conference, may as well go out with a bang.
Tonight, the Buffs will take on the Red Raiders who are 10-6 at home, 12-15 overall with a 4-8 league record. Tech stopped a four game losing streak this past weekend beating Baylor on the road. It was only Tech's second road win of the year and they did it without their second leading scorer in Mike Singletary. The four game losing streak was all against ranked opponents and prior to the run, Texas Tech had won three in a row against Oklahoma State, Iowa State and Nebraska. On the flip side, the Buffs will try to win the road for only the third time this year as we have learned that winning on the road against anyone in the Big 12 is no easy task. Colorado comes into the game on a low note, losing to Kansas by 26. The margin of defeat was the largest this year for the Buffs. It is now or never for Tad Boyle's team who are in as close to a single elimination setting as you can get. Each loss now is devasting especially against Texas Tech, Nebraska and Iowa State.
Let's Go Buffs!
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