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Recapping Colorado Buffaloes Basketball Wins in the Pac-12 Conference Tournament News, Links, and Stories
Brittany Wilson sparks CU women in win over Utah - Buffzone - The CU Women won 55-41
For just the second time as a college player, Brittany Wilson got a chance to play in her hometown. She looked mighty comfortable in leading the Colorado women's basketball team to a 55-41 win over Utah in the first round of the Pac-12 Tournament at the Galen Center. Wilson scored 21 points, just one shy of her career high and 13 more than her season average, in helping CU to its first conference tournament win in five years.
"I don't think it made a difference with me being home or being in Colorado," she said. "It is great to be home, I love this place, I love California, but I knew we had to come home and get this win. I was willing to do whatever it took, whether it was defense, offense or whatever my team needed me to do."
Wilson started the game with a pair of 3-pointers and finished with 18 points in the first half alone. Junior Chucky Jeffery was stellar, as well, with her seventh double-double of the season. Jeffery had 20 points and 14 rebounds.
"I thought our team did a lot of nice things tonight," head coach Linda Lappe said.
I think that's coach-speak for 'we should-a won by 100.' Their next game is tonight at 5pm PT against 2-seed Cal
Roberson leads CU Buffs in Pac-12 tourney win over Utah - Buffzone - The CU Men won 53-41
Andre Roberson was a Utah killer during the regular season. And the Buffs' super sophomore made sure the Utes were put out of their misery at the Pac-12 Tournament. Roberson scored 20 points and broke the program's 57-year-old single-season record during Colorado's 53-41 victory over Utah late Wednesday night at the Staples Center.
The Buffs (20-11), who have won 20 games in consecutive seasons for the first time in history, will play No. 3 Oregon in the quarterfinals tonight (9:40 p.m., Root Sports). "I feel everybody is beatable in this league," freshman guard Askia Booker said of a rematch with the Ducks, who avenged a last-second 72-71 loss in Boulder with a 90-81 win over CU a week ago in Eugene.
"We beat then (at CU) they beat us (at Utah). It's 1-1 right now and we'd love to settle that little tie. "But it doesn't matter who we run into. We can compete with anybody in this league."
That's good, because their next game is tonight at 8:30pm PT against 3-seed Oregon
Women's Basketball Honors Announced > Pac12 > News - Colorado's Chucky Jeffery, junior guard from Colorado Springs was named to the Pac-12 All-Conference First Team and the All-Defensive team. Way to go!
Find out if Larry Scott can alter time so the basketball games aren't on TV so late...
He can't.
Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott: Late start times are here to stay - Buffzone
It turns out Larry Scott isn't all-powerful. The aggressive Pac-12 Commissioner would have moved UCLA vs. USC matinee to prime-time and the Colorado-Utah nightcap to a more fan-friendly Mountain time slot if he were allowed to tinker with the bracket.
Instead, the Bruins and Trojans played in front of a bunch of empty seats at the Staples Center. And supporters of the Buffs and Utes had to stay up late on Wednesday night to see the programs make their Pac-12 Tournament debuts.
"People said if I were better at my job, this bracket wouldn't have come out this way," Scott joked. "It's unfortunate that such an amazing marquee matchup of the two L.A. schools wouldn't have been at a different time, but that's the way the draw works." Scott said even with the Pac-12's new television deal starting next season, Buffs fans should get used to 9:40 p.m. start times.
"With these tournaments, we're playing four games in a day," Scott said. "You wind up starting a little earlier than you like, and ending a little later than you'd like."
FULMER CUPDATE: THE LAST BOY SCOUT - Every Day Should Be Saturday - Submitted without comment
PCP is the perfect football drug as long as you don't start hearing the tin demon apes telling you to do bad things. (But you will always hear the tin demon apes, because it's PCP.)
CSU football coach puts out call for big guys to play | The Coloradoan | coloradoan.com - I just about died laughing when I read this. God, I don't think it can't get any worse for the rams.
New coach Jim McElwain has made no secret of his concern about the lack of big bodies on his CSU football team. So, Thursday, he put out a call for help from the Colorado State University student body, hoping to find a half-dozen or so big-bodied men among the school's 26,735 undergraduate students that can help the Rams out during spring drills and, possibly, beyond. "We're in search of big bodies that want to come play," McElwain said after scheduling a 5 p.m. meeting Monday in the McGraw Athletic Center auditorium for students, with valid IDs, who fit the bill.
Maybe it can though. There's always hope.
Oregon, Stanford burning questions lead Pac-12 spring primer - George Schroeder - SI.com
Colorado: Can the Buffs become competitive? Jon Embree took over a very difficult situation a year ago, and the Buffs' first trip through the Pac-12 reflected as much. It might not get much easier in 2012. The roster currently has only 10 seniors; many of the players who'll see significant action next fall aren't on campus yet. They signed letters of intent last month.
Colorado needs a quarterback, running back, receivers -- and we're just getting started. Connor Wood, a transfer from Texas, won't be handed the starting quarterback position; Embree wants open competition. Fellow redshirt sophomore Nick Hirschman is the only quarterback with previous experience at Colorado and the guy most likely to challenge for the job, but his status for spring practice is uncertain after foot surgery. If Wood is as good as the Buffs hope -- or if a healthy Hirschman wins the job -- it's a nice starting point.
Still, turning the program around requires patience; it is going to take a while.
The major prelude to spring football at the University of Colorado ends Friday. Jon Embree calls it "Coaches' Week," but his players undoubtedly have plenty of more colorful names to describe it - just as Embree and his teammates did in their day. "That's a nicer name than what it was when we were players,"
Embree said on Thursday. Last winter, it was actually "Coaches' Two Weeks," but Embree said this winter's final chapter of off-season conditioning was narrowed to one week. It consisted of returning players working through eight "stations" ranging from running steps at Folsom Field, doing agility work, running a rope course, and cone and similar drills. The team was separated by positions, with the emphasis on personal conditioning and individual competition.
"It's been real good," Embree said. "There's been focus, competition, guys rising up . . . I've seen leadership develop. I expect the best day (on Friday)." Embree said players have been "pushed as far as we can from a mental standpoint," with the focus on teaching them to "compete when they're tired and learning to follow directions when they're tired . . . all things have been done under duress. At each station, you see who can and who can't (thrive) under pressure."
He said the grueling work has been revealing. Senior tight end Nick Kasa, who moved to offense during the 2011 season, "had a great day Thursday . . . I'm anxious to see him (in spring drills). We've got some good guys coming in." Embree also acknowledged the "Coaches' Week" work of senior defensive tackle Will Pericak, junior defensive end Chidera Uzo-Diribe, sophomore outside linebacker Juda Parker, senior safety Ray Polk, and junior receiver Paul Richardson.
"They've all been phenomenal," Embree said. "They've literally dominated every time they've been up, whoever they've gone against, whatever the drill is - they've just dominated it. It's good to see they have that mindset of not just coasting if you're better than your competition. Every 'rep' they've gone like it was the last one, the only one. It's great that they have that mindset, and it's starting to spread to other guys, it really is."
The defending national champion Colorado ski team expected several top 10 finishes and a couple of spots on the podium here Wednesday, but instead found itself in a tie for fifth place after the first two events in the 59th Annual NCAA Ski Championships. No. 4 ranked Dartmouth was the surprise leader after the Nordic freestyle races, the Big Green amassing 214 points with a balanced gender attack (110 women's, 104 men's) on the strength of five top 10 finishes. Vermont, ranked No. 3, is in second with 183, buoyed by all three of its women finishing in the top eight. Utah, ranked No. 1 in the nation, holds third with 179 points, followed by host Montana State in fourth (176) and then Colorado and Northern Michigan tied for fifth with 154. It's the first time since the sport went coed in 1983 that two eastern schools rank 1-2 in the standings, not only after the first day, but at any point in the NCAA title meet. Western schools have placed three in the top four in every NCAA championship dating back to 1993, and in all but one of the 29 previous coed meets - the lone exception came in 1992, when UVM won and Dartmouth placed fourth.
Jon Embree believes new kickoff rules could increase injuries - Buffzone - The original from the Daily Camera got picked up by CBS. Embree: new kickoff rules could be dangerous - CBSSports.com - It's good to see CU in the national news
Colorado coach Jon Embree has his doubts when it comes to how successful the new kickoff rules will be in limiting injuries in the future. In fact, Embree believes the rules might lead to just as many if not more players getting hurt. The NCAA adopted rules changes for the 2012 season moving the kickoff line up from the 30 to the 35-yard line. It also limited members of the kicking team to no more than a five-yard running start.
Embree said he is reluctant to give opponents the extra five yards and he believes many of his peers will feel the same and won't want their kickers booting the ball out of the back of the end zone. That could mean a lot of kickers around the nation this spring will be directed to practice kicking off high and not so deep. Embree said it will likely become a common strategy to force a return by kicking the ball only to the 5- or 10-yard lines.
"I think you high pooch it and cover it," Embree said. "What I think will happen is if you get effective at that, you're putting the other team even more at risk than what the rule intended because unless he fair catches it, he can really take a shot because everyone is closer obviously.
"It will be interesting to see how that plays out. If you get a guy who can kick it to the 7-yard line every time, you can mishandle it and then you will have collisions. It will be interesting to see if they tweak this rule over time. The returner has to have good judgment and a good feel. You're never used to fair catching kickoffs, even though that is something you can do. There are a lot of timing issues that go into a kickoff return that now you're going to have to figure out as a return guy."
Women: Colorado 55, Utah 41 > Pac12 > News - This bears repeating, and is awesome.
After taking an early lead in the first half against No. 7-seed Utah (15-15, 8-10 Pac-12), No. 10-seed Colorado advances to play tomorrow with a 55-41 win. "I thought our team did a lot of nice things from the start," said Colorado coach Linda Lappe.
"We had trouble scoring on a lot easy shots and then they started falling towards the end of the first half. I loved the lead that we were able to build at the end of the first half and thought that was key to as they are a solid team, well coached and came at us in the second half."
Colorado jumped out to a lead early on thanks to solid performances by sophomore Brittany Wilson’s 18 points. In addition, Colorado's defensive effort created a 13-minute scoring drought for the Utes in the first half. "I thought our defensive effort was solid and what helped us get the victory," said Lappe.
THIRTEEN MINUTE SCORING DROUGHT. Remember, this is not the maligned men's Utes team we're talking about; Utah's women were a higher seed (7) than us (10). I'll just say it again, thirteen minute scoring drought. Un-real.
Go Buffs. Keep it up!