The Town Crier

[PointGuard 70]

Game #23: Colorado Buffaloes (12-10, 4-9) @ USC Trojans (15-9, 5-8)

USC uses the 2-3 zone a lot, so I’m hoping our guys can hit some good clear shots from outside. After winning their first 10 games this season, the Trojans have fun hot and cold and have lost their last 3 games so they’re only a game ahead of in the Pac-12 standings. SG Ryan Kincade leads their scoring averaging 15.8 ppg. They also have the “anders twins”…Matt Flanders at PG and Courtney Sanders at C who are both averaging in double figures. The Trojans beat us earlier 75-60 on our court, but I think we have a chance of returning the “favor” and topping them on their court if we play well.

USC jumped out on top and opened an 8 point lead before we came roaring back and went ahead at the half by a 37-34 score. We shot particularly well from beyond the arc. PG Chris Smith was on fire, scoring 18 points in the half. USC’s SG Ryan Kincade countered with 14.

We maintained a small lead for the first 8 minutes of the 2nd half and then went on a run that put us up by 11. The Trojans made a couple minor runs but weren’t able to take the lead and we ended up delivering a 68-61 “back at ya” defeat to them. We exploited their 2-3 zone to hit 14 of 33 shots from beyond the arc.

PG Chris Smith had an awesome game, hitting 9 of 14 three-pointers and scoring 29 points while also dishing out 5 assists and getting 2 steals and 3 blocks. SF Rick Coffey scored 11 and had 7 rebounds and 4 assists. SG Ryan Kincade finished with 20 points for USC.

Our victory moved us up into a tie with the Trojans for 8th place in the conference. While I wish we were higher, it’s a helluva a lot better than we were a few short weeks ago. We’ve now won 5 of our last 7 games including 2 on the road.

In other Pac-12 games, Oregon barely held off a late rally by Washington State to win 81-78. A contested out of bounds play was awarded to Oregon in the final seconds to keep the Cougars from getting a chance to tie the game. Washington had to come from behind in the 2nd half to slip by a determined Stanford team 67-63. The Huskies C Kenyon Holmes scored 20 and picked off 12 rebounds.

[PointGuard 70]

Game #24: Arizona State Sun Devils (10-13, 4-10) @ Colorado Buffaloes (13-10, 5-9)

Our mission tonight is to keep Arizona State’s C Craig Jones (16.9 ppg and 6.1 rpg) in check. The Sun Devils beat us 72-67 when we played them in Tempe, a game in which Jones had 15 points and 12 boards. The Sun Devils like to use a 3-2 zone but their defense has not been particularly effective this season.

After going ahead 7-0 and then gaining a 10 point advantage midway through the half, we let Arizona State back into the game late in the first half. When the buzzer sounded we were ahead by a slim 39-37 margin. SF Rick Coffey tossed in 12 points and SG/PG Matt Conley had 5 assists for us. We failed to hold down the Sun Devils’ C Craig Jones who put 15 points on the board.

Arizona State immediately tied the game on the first possession of the 2nd half, but we then hit 4 straight buckets to regain an 8 point lead. We held onto a small lead but couldn’t pull away. The Sun Devils hit back-to-back 3’s so that with 6-1/2 minutes left in the game they went ahead 65-63. We regained the lead but with 3 minutes remaining were only on top 72-69. Then with 2:03 on the clock, a technical foul was called Arizona State’s coach when he laid into one of the refs. We sunk both resulting free throws to go up by 5. Both teams were infected by a series of turnovers but the Sun Devils hit a shot to reduce our lead to 74-71 with 51 seconds to go. We again threw the ball away with 37 ticks remaining giving Arizona State a chance to tie the game. After taking their last time out, Arizona State worked the ball in and out but their 3 point attempt was off the mark and we rebounded. The Sun Devils fouled at the 0:17 mark. Vee Kurtbek knocked down both shots to give us a 5 point advantage. Arizona State hit a 25 dart to make it 76-74 and fouled on the inbounds pass. Camah Griffin missed the first, but made the second free throw. The Sun Devils had 6 seconds to get off a 3 point attempt to tie the game. We pressed, but they broke it quickly and made three quick passes to find Travis Hawkins open. His shot rimmed around, bounced up on the glass and then dribbled off the rim letting us escape with a 77-74 victory. Looking at the stats we were fortunate to win since Arizona State held a 53% to 47% shooting advantage and controlled the boards 27-22. On the other had they made 19 turnovers to our 14. While we had a lead throughout most of the game, we could never shake the pesky Sun Devils who hung on and kept making runs so they deserve a lot of credit for nearly pulling off a road win which is always difficult to do.

SF Rick Coffey scored 23 and PF/SF Charles Maors, PF/C Vee Kurtbek , and SG Camah Griffin each put in 13 points. SG/PG Matt Conley failed to score but had 10 assists. For Arizona State, C Craig Jones put in 21 and SG Travis Hawkins had 20.

With our 4th straight win we moved into a tie with Stanford for 7th place in the Pac-12. Besides our nail biter, other close games in the Pac-12 included UCLA’s blockage of Washington’s final shot that allowed the Bruins to hold on for an 84-82 win and Oregon’s last second long 3 pointer that gave them an 88-87 victory over Stanford.

[PointGuard 70]

Game #25: Utah Utes (16-9, 8-7) @ Colorado Buffaloes (14-10, 6-9)

Utah ripped us, winning by 20, when we played them on their home court. They were in the Top 25 in the polls until recently after losing 4 of their last 5 games. All 4 of those losses were road games for the Utes and were played against ranked Pac-12 teams. PG Billy Rychart (12.6 ppg, 4.2 apg) and PF Mark Wall (13.3 ppg, 6.6 rpg) lead their team. Even without their most talented player, freshman SG Robert McClain (13.0 ppg) who was placed on academic probation the end of December, they remain a very talented team and will be very tough opponent.

Since I had a bout with the flu, 1st Assistant Coach Bryant Marshack coached the team. I think I got the flu from C Ryan Erickson who also sat out the game. 

The first half was a donnybrook with only a few points separating the two teams throughout the entire 20 minutes of play. We scored the final 5 points in the half to give us a 33-29 lead. 

Our team totally squelched the Utes offense in the 2nd half and we gradually pulled away to achieve a solid 63-47 knockout win. Utah hit just 26% of their field goal attempts and 17% of their 3’s. While they out-rebounded us 37-28 our defense contributed to our 16-8 turnover advantage.

SG/PG Matt Conley topped our scoring with 16 points while PG Chris Smith added 10. PF Mark Wall had a double-double (13 points and 11 rebounds) for Utah.

Some surprises in the Top 25: Fresno State (26-3) has climbed steadily upward and is now ranked #3. Miami (OH) (28-2) has similarly progressed and now stands at #7. Rice (24-4) has made their way into the Top 25 and is ranked #22. Four Pac-12 teams remain in the Top 25: Arizona is #1, California is #10, Oregon is #12, and UCLA is #17.

[PointGuard 70]

Game #26: Colorado Buffaloes (15-10, 7-9) @ #1 Arizona Wildcats (28-0, 16-0)

We come into this game with a 5 game win streak and 7 wins in our last 9 games. But having to take on Arizona is a herculean task, particularly having to do it in McKale Center in Tucson. The Wildcats gave us a 72-51 beatdown earlier this season. Four of their starters are scoring in double figures and their entire roster is made up of extremely talented players. It’s no wonder they have not only won all their games but have been yet to be seriously threatened. They’re averaging 84 ppg while their opponents have only averaged 61 ppg.

Arizona continued to show why they’ve gone wire-to-wire as the #1 ranked team in the nation. We trailed 47-26 at the half and fell behind by as much as 32 points in the 2nd half before the Wildcats eased up a little. We still endured a 78-55 drubbing. Not much more to say about this game.

C Ryan Erickson had 11 points and pulled down 9 rebounds while SG/PG Matt Conley also scored 11. Arizona’s PG Kelvin Smith hit for 26 points and SG Darrell Walker had 13 points and 10 assists.

Elsewhere, UCLA hosted Stanford. The lead was exchanged 13 times and there were 10 ties. At the end of regulation, the teams were tied 72-72. The Bruins prevailed in OT, edging Stanford 85-81.

After the game, I was told that Steve Jackson mouthed off about not getting enough playing time and that he should be starting instead of Matt Conley. I immediately pulled Jackson aside to counsel him. He’s frustrated and competitive and feels he’s done well with the limited playing time he’s been given. Since he was a starter his entire season at Prairie View, I think he expected that to continue after he transferred here. I reminded him this was an entire different level of competition and then gave him some things to work on so that his playing time next season will increase.

[PointGuard 70]

Game #27: #17 UCLA Bruins (18-8, 10-7) @ Colorado Buffaloes (15-11, 7-10)

UCLA has a very good team but has lost 6 Pac-12 games on the road this season. C Jamal Magloire is their leader, averaging 17.3 ppg and 7.3 rpg. If UCLA wins this game they will finish alone in 5th place rather than tied for 5th. If we win we finish alone in 7th place rather than tied for 7th. And if we tie with Stanford for 7th, the Cardinal will be seeded 7th and we will be seeded 8th since we lost the lone game we played against them this season. We’d then play USC rather than Washington State, but more importantly, if we then beat USC, we’d have to play Arizona in the next round. If we are the 7th seed, if we beat Washington State, then we’d play Cal in the 2nd round.

We fell behind 26-9 and could never really slow down the Bruins in the first half, although we did begin scoring ourselves. The half ended with us trailing 44-29. UCLA hit 60% of their shots and their two big men, C Jamal Magloire and PF George Mahorn poured in 13 and 10 points respectively. We were led offensively by SG/PG Matt Conley’s 8 points.

We made a couple runs in the 2nd half but could never get that 11 points. Abysmal shooting (32%) was our downfall. Ultimately though, UCLA was a helluva lot better than we were. We fell apart at the end of the game to go down to an ignominious defeat by a score of 82-55. The loss left us in a tie for 7th with Stanford.

PF/SF Charles Maors had 13 points and SG/PF Matt Conley scored 11. UCLA’s C Jamal Magloire was unstoppable, scoring 25, grabbing 14 rebounds, and getting 2 steals and 5 blocks plus holding down everyone we had at C to a total of 4 points.

In other Pac-12 games, #1 ranked Arizona had there closest game of the season, edging Stanford by a 78-72 score. #12 ranked California barely held off Washington State 75-74. Washington had to come back in the 2nd half to top Arizona State 73-68, and #9 ranked Oregon scored 60 points in the first half and went on to stomp USC 99-64. Utah closed out a strong season by ripping Oregon State 81-56.

[PointGuard 70]

Pac-12 Conference Final Standings for 2024-2025 Season

[PointGuard 70]

Pac-12 Conference Tournament—Qualifying Round

12th seed Oregon State Beavers (10-17, 4-14) vs 5th seed #20 ranked UCLA Bruins (19-8, 11-7): UCLA was up 29-18 at the half and finished the game with a 70-44 annihilation of the Beavers. C Jamal Magloine scored 22 and had 9 rebounds for UCLA. SF Steffon Trotman was the top scorer with Oregon State with 14 points.

11th seed Arizona State Sun Devils (10-17, 4-14) vs 6th seed Utah Utes (18-10, 10-8): It took a while for Utah to get untracked, but by the end of the half they led 44-35. Then in the 2nd half they surged to a 24 point lead before finishing with an easy 84-69 victory over Arizona State. C Mark Fife scored 24 and had 15 rebounds for Utah. For the Sun Devils SG Travis Hawkins tossed in 30 points.

10th seed Washington State Cougars (9-18, 4-14) vs 7th seed Stanford Cardinal (13-15, 7-10): Stanford broke out on top and never looked back. By the endo the first half the Cardinal were in charge 45-36 and then they expanded their lead to 25 in the 2nd half and romped over Washington State by a final score of 94-72. Reserve C Jon Montross scored 22 points while playing just 13 minutes for Stanford. The Cougars were led by SG Ryan Diggs who scored 19 points.

9th seed USC Trojans (15-14, 5-13) vs 8th seed Colorado Buffaloes (15-12, 7-11): We split with USC, both winning on the other team’s court. The winner of this game gets the pleasure of playing #1 ranked and 30-0 Arizona in the next round, but we want to take on that challenge.

The game was close for most of the first half with 9 lead changes and 2 ties. Late in the half our offense clicked and we drew away for a 37-30 halftime advantage. We forced the Trojans to turn the ball over 14 times in the half. SF Rick Coffey dropped in 10 points. USC’s SG Ryan Kincade scored 8.

USC edged ahead of us after 5 minutes of play in the 2nd half. Even though we tried to recapture the lead, we were unable and midway through the half we were behind 53-50. But SG Steve Jackson hit a 12 foot turn around jumper from the baseline to give us a 54-53 lead with 8:50 to play. The lead shifted back and forth, but Jackson continued to chip in shots and we led 64-61 with 4 minutes left. The score remained unchanged until PF Charles Maors drilled a 3 at the 2:17 mark to put us ahead 67-61. We held on to win 69-64. We won by making just 8 turnovers while USC turned the ball over 23 times.

Leading our scoring was SF Rick Coffey with 16 points. PG Chris Smith scored 12 and had 9 assists. Reserve SG Steve Jackson hit for 12 points in his 14 minutes on the court. For USC, PG Matt Flanders tossed in 19 points and C Courtney Sanders had 13 points and 10 boards.

[PointGuard 70]

Posted by:   Ddevore65 » 03 Aug 2019 13:40   in the WolverineStudios forums

 

 

Nice win Coach, now go get those Wildcats! They ain’t so big and bad. I know you have a strategy for them just like when you went to battle against those mighty teams from Detroit Mercy and pulled off the upset.

Meanwhile at the Lazy Dog Sports Bar in Boulder the fans were watching the game, drinking and cheering loudly as the Buffs pulled off the win against USC.

1st fan - You know, these guys have really improved over this season, maybe this Coach Dust isn’t so bad. 

2nd fan - He’s better than whoever the last idiot was.

Fan 1 and 2 look at the 3rd guy with them.

Fan 3 - They will still get destroyed by Arizona or any of the other 6 teams left. Is that the type of team you guys want? We need someone to lead us to the top of this conference!

Fan 1 - Come on Rome wasn’t build overnight. He is on the right track with the players he has coming in

Fan 2 - Yeah Jim Rome is the best

Fan 3 - Shut up both of you and help me with this online petition to get this Coach Dusty Fired.

[PointGuard 70]

Pac-12 Conference Tournament—Quarterfinals

5th seed #20 ranked UCLA Bruins (20-8, 11-7) vs 4th seed Washington Huskies (20-8, 12-6): The game was close throughout the 1st half with Washington coming away with a 36-32 lead at the break. The Huskies maintained control in the 2nd half and slowly pulled away knock of UCLA 77-65. PG Kelly Phillips led the Huskies with 20 points. For UCLA, SF George Mahorn scored 14 and pulled down 8 boards.

6th seed Utah Utes (19-10, 10-8) vs 3rd seed #8 ranked Oregon Ducks (21-6, 13-5): Utah jumped ahead at the beginning of the game, but Oregon passed and pulled away from the Utes to go ahead 43-26 at the half. The Ducks waddled way past Utah in the 2nd half going up by as much as 26 points. Utah cut into their lead but still lost 75-62. Oregon’s SG John Barnes poured in 21 points. Utah was led by PF Mark Wall who scored 17.

7th seed Stanford Cardinal (14-15, 7-11) vs 2nd seed #13 ranked California Golden Bears (24-6, 13-5): The Golden Bears were in control for the entire game. They applied a staunch defense in the first half to take a 48-23 halftime lead. They then coasted through the second half to throttle Stanford by a final score of 78-60. For Cal, C Cliff Mitchell scored 21 and SF Jesse Herbert tossed in 20. C Jon Montross scored 12 for Stanford.

8th seed Colorado Buffaloes (16-12, 7-11) vs 1st seed #1 ranked Arizona Wildcats (30-0, 18-0): We lost to the Wildcats twice by 21 and 23 points. Arizona has rolled over opponents throughout their schedule this season. Thus far all higher seeds have won their games in this tournament, so the odds are exceptionally against us pulling off a totally unexpected upset. We definitely can not let Arizona’s PG Kelvin Smith put up 26 points like he did in our last loss to the Wildcats. 

We trailed Arizona but hung close for the first 10 minutes but then let the Wildcats pull away. When the buzzer sounded ending the first half, Arizona led 41-25. SG/PG Matt Conley hit for 8 points for us, but was outshone by Arizona’s PG Kelvin Smith who poured in 16 points.

We continually made inroads on cutting into the Wildcats’ lead, but Arizona was relentless of fighting back to knock down baskets to regain their solid lead. Our best efforts were for naught and Arizona stayed unbeaten by winning 82-60. Becoming the 31st team to succumb to the dominating Wildcats meant the end of our Pac-12 conference play this season. By losing 3 times to them by 21, 22, and 23 points just shows they definitely are a giant step beyond us.

Reserve SG Steve Jackson led our scoring with 14 points. The game’s top scorer was Arizona’s PG Kelvin Smith with 20 points while the Wildcats’ C Cliff Rivera scored 16 and had 11 rebounds.

[PointGuard 70]

Pac-12 Conference Tournament—Semifinals

3rd seed #8 ranked Oregon Ducks (22-6, 13-5) vs 2nd seed #13 ranked California Golden Bears (25-6, 13-5): The game was close in the early going, but Oregon broke the game open midway through the first half and blazed away to a 40-25 halftime advantage. The Ducks continued to derail the Golden Bears in the 2nd half, opening a 29 point lead and winning by an 80-57 score. Oregon’s SG John Barnes scored 27 and PF Matt Reeves had 20. For California SF Jesse Herbert led their scoring with 16 points.

4th seed Washington Huskies (21-8, 12-6) vs 1st seed #1 ranked Arizona Wildcats (31-0, 18-0): Arizona steadily crept away from the Huskies and finished the half ahead 40-30. The Wildcats came out strong in the 2nd half to move ahead by 20 but then Washington trimmed their lead. Arizona held the Huskies off to win 70-60. PF Marques Smith hit for 17 points for Arizona while Washington’s PG Kelly Phillips led all scorers with 24 points.

Pac-12 Conference Tournament—Championship

3rd seed #8 ranked Oregon Ducks (23-6, 13-5) vs 1st seed #1 ranked Arizona Wildcats (32-0, 18-0): The score remained close throughout the first half with Arizona taking a 43-35 lead at the break. The Wildcats put the game away in the 2nd half as they continued their perfect season with a commanding 89-73 victory. SG John Barnes dropped in 19 points for the Wildcats. Oregon was led by C Cliff Rivera’s 20 points.

Colorado Buffaloes Player and Team Stats

[PointGuard 70]

NCAA Selection Show

#1 seeds: Arizona (33-0), Syracuse (26-5), Oregon (23-7), Seton Hall (26-5)

Pac-12 teams selected for the NCAA Tournament: 

Arizona (33-0)…#1 seed in East
Utah (19-11)…#7 seed in Midwest
Oregon (23-7)…#1 seed in South
Washington (21-9)…#6 seed in South
UCLA (20-9)…#3 seed in West

[California (25-7) and ranked #15 in the polls is presently on probation (2 years no post-season and 4 years no scholarships)]

Pac-12 Teams in Other Post-Season Tournaments:

Colorado (16-13)…#7 in East Region of CBI Tournament…matched up against #2 seed Robert Morris 
USC (15-15)…#2 seed in West Region of CIT Tournament…matched up against #7 seed Eastern Illinois
We were excited to get the news that we’d be participating in a post-season tournament.

 

 

Youngstown State:

 

The Penguins finished the season with an overall record of 15-14 and a Horizon League record of 9-9 so they were in a 3-way tie for 5th place in the league. No post-season tourney for the Youngstown State. SG Doylan Anderson was their leading scorer averaging 16.8 ppg

[PointGuard 70]

Mail Call:

The day after receiving the invitation to play in the NIT tournament, I received an envelope in my mailbox containing a small sheet of paper on which was written: “16-13. Watch Your Back!” Nothing else on the paper or in the envelope but the envelope was postmarked as coming from Boulder. I can only scratch my head wondering: What the hell is this all about? 

With our CBI Tournament game fast approaching, my focus has to be on our team and our first round opponent, not on some ambiguous threat. As the lower seed, we have to play the game on the home court of Robert Morris, so that makes the challenge greater. Playing in Pennsylvania means we will have few fans in the stands.

[PointGuard 70]

CBI:

Round 1: 

7th seed Colorado Buffaloes (16-13) vs 2nd seed Robert Morris Colonials (19-9)

The Colonials are from Moon Township, Pennsylvania. They completed their Northeast Conference schedule with a 12-6 record, which was good for 2nd place a game behind Mount St. Mary’s. They then lost to Wagner in the first round of their conference tournament. In pre-conference play they went up against two top 25 teams, Duke and Oklahoma State and lost both of those games on the road. But they lost by just 5 points to Duke and 2 points to Oklahoma State.

Robert Morris is led offensively by SG Brett Mapp who is averaging 18.3 ppg. PG Nick Johnson and SF Ryan Fry are averaging 9.1 and 9.0 ppg and both hit a high percentage of their shots. Since over 70% of the Colonials’ points come from the perimeter and they shoot well from outside, including beyond the arc, we need to keep their perimeter players in check so we will start by deploying a man-to-man defense. The team is averaging 76.9 ppg (43rd highest in the nation) while giving up 70.3 ppg to their opponents.

In the first half, Robert Morris hit their shots, we didn’t. That put us in a 41-28 hole at the break. C Ryan Erickson and PG Chris Smith both had 6 points for us. The Colonials’ SG Brett Mapp tattooed the hoop for 16 points.

We scored the first 9 points of the 2nd half to get back into contention. But we then let the momentum swing back to the Colonials when they began again hitting their shots and soon the lead was back up to 11. Slowly we chipped away at that lead and with 5:32 to go Chris Smith knocked down both ends of a one-and-one to make it 56-54 in favor of Robert Morris. But we simply couldn’t get over the hump and Robert Morris again expanded their lead. In the final couple minutes we were forced to foul and ended up losing 71-61 to complete our season.

SG/PG Matt Conley scored 15 and PG Chris Smith added 10. Robert Morris’ SG Brett Mapp ended up scoring 19 points.

CIT:

Round 1: USC Trojans-96, Eastern Illinois Panthers-77--USC took the lead at the onset and never gave it up. At the half the Trojans were on top 51-36. They went on to crush the Panthers 96-77 PG Ryan Kincade scored 22 points and PF Slavi Kraka had 13 points and 10 rebounds for USC.

Round 2: USC Trojans-56, Arkansas State Red Wolves-54—The Trojans jumped out to a 31-22 halftime lead. The Red Wolves missed a shot at the buzzer so USC escaped razor 2 point victory. Leading USC was SG Ryan Kincade with 10 points. 

Round 3: Southern Jaguars-67, USC Trojans-58—The score remained very close throughout the first half with Southern coming out on top 31-29. But the Jaguars leapt out to a 15 point lead in the 2nd half and put an end to the Trojans season by only allowing USC to hit 31% of their shots. PF Slavi Kraka was the top scorer for USC with 15 points.

NCAA:

Round 1:

Arizona Wildcats-97, Albany Great Danes-73: The Wildcats took care of business with PG Kelvin Smith scoring 23 and SG Darrell Walker hitting for 21.

Utah Utes-73, UNLV Runnin’ Rebels-69 (OT): The first half ended up knotted 33-33 and the game was still tied at 64-64 when regulation time expired. But Utah tightened its defense in OT to win by 4. PF Mark Wall dropped in 24 points for Utah.

Oregon Ducks-59, Northern Arizona Lumberjacks-46: Oregon escaped the first half with a 30-29 lead. The Ducks then put a defensive squeeze on the Lumberjacks to pull ahead and win convincingly. C Larry Graves scored 18 points and hauled in 10 boards for Oregon.

Washington Huskies-82, New Mexico Lobos-67: The Huskies started slow but built up 37-26 advantage. Washington then gradually windened their lead to win easily. The Huskies were led by 2 reserves as David Smith and Richie Bell both scored 16.

UAB Blazers-71, UCLA Bruins-65: The Bruins had a disastrous first half and trailed the Blazers 40-25 at the intermission. UCLA came back in the 2nd half but had too much ground to make up. Leading UCLA was C Jamal Magloires with 16 points.

Round 2:

Arizona Wildcats-91, Georgia Bulldogs-65: Georgia came out on fire and took an early 10 point lead, but Arizona seem unfazed and surgically began cutting up Georgia’s defense. By the end of the first half, the Wildcats had a 44-36 lead. The 2nd half was all Arizona as they steadily added to their lead and won going away. SG Darrell Walker had his 2nd straight strong game, scoring 27, grabbing 7 rebounds, dishing out 4 assists, and getting 2 steals and 4 blocks while holding Georgia’s SG Jack Wall to just 4 points.

Maryland Terrapins-69, Utah Utes-55: Utah was in charge in the first half and led 37-32 at the break. But the Terrapins wilted the Utes’ offense in the 2nd half with a defense that allowed Utah to score just 18 second half points. Maryland methodically eliminated their scoring deficit and then slowly but surely pulled away for what turned out to be an easy win. Utah’s PF Mark Wall scored 19 points but no other Utes scored in double figures.

Oregon Ducks-83, West Virginia Mountaineers-78: Neither team could open more than a 7 point advantage throughout the entire game. There were 14 lead changes and 10 ties during the game. At the end of the first half, Oregon held a 43-39 lead. The outcome remained in doubt, though, in the 2nd half. For the Ducks PF Matt Reeves score 18 while C Larry Graves had 14 points and 12 rebounds.

Washington Huskies-76, Miami (OH) Red Hawks-61: The lead jockeyed back and forth early in the game, but the Huskies took control midway though the half and held a 39-31 lead when the teams went to the locker room. Washington continued to dominate throughout the 2nd half and was never seriously threatened by the Red Hawks who came in ranked 6th in the polls. Washington’s PG Kelly Phillips dropped in 22 points.

3rd Round (Sweet 16):

Arizona Wildcats-75, Oklahoma Sooners-58: The Sooners hung with the Wildcats throughout the 1st half and trailed by just 35-30 score at the break. Arizona quickly dispelled any concerns about an upset in the 2nd half and built a 24 point lead before breezing to another sure-fire victory. C Cliff Rivera led the Wildcats’ with 19 points and PF Marques Smith had a double-double (15 points and 11 rebounds).

Oregon Ducks-81, Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets-69: Oregon quickly asserted their dominance and took a 46-31 lead after the end of the first 20 minutes of play. The Ducks maintained a solid double digit lead throughout the 2nd half to put together another impressive victory. C Larry Graves poured in 28 points while hauling down 9 boards.

Iowa Hawkeyes-67, Washington Huskies-59: Washington jumped out to an 11 point lead but Iowa came back and cruised to their largest lead of the game as the first half ended with Hawkeyes ahead 39-28. The Huskies fought back early in the 2nd half and regained the lead. The lead see-sawed for several minutes before the Hawkeyes pulled away late to knock the Huskies out of the tournament. Even though Washington outshot Iowa, the Hawkeyes totally dominated the boards which was the difference in this game. Washington’s C Stanley Towers scored 15 points.

Round 4 (Elite 8):

Arizona Wildcats-86, Indiana Hoosiers-73: The first half was a donnybrook. Indiana controlled the early going but then the Wildcats caught up. At the buzzer ending the first stanza, Indiana led 37-36. Arizona came out used a rebounding and turnover advantage in the 2nd half to score 50 points in the half and open an 18 point lead before settling for a solid win. PG Kelvin Smith led the scoring for Arizona with 19 points and C Cliff Rivera scored 15 and picked off 12 boards.

Oregon Ducks-65, Iowa Hawkeyes-63: Iowa held sway throughout the first half and led 29-23 at the break. The Ducks got their offense in gear in the 2nd half, scoring particularly well inside but could never lead by more than 4 points. During the game there were 15 lead changes and 8 ties. With the score tied with 18 seconds to go, Oregon played for thee last shot and worked the ball inside for a contested but successful 6 foot turn around jumper by C Larry Graves who was the leading scorer for Oregon with 18 points to go along with his 13 rebounds. PF Matt Reeves also had a double-double with 15 points and 10 boards.

Round 5 (Final 4):

The NCAA Selection Committee did a great job this year since all of the final four were #1 seeds.

Syracuse Orange-83, Arizona Wildcats-81: This was the game of the tournament with an amazing 28 lead changes and 17 ties. Syracuse held a slim 38-37 lead at the end of the first half. The two teams battled throughout the entire 2nd half and with Arizona on top by a single point, Syracuse beat the Wildcats’ full court press, and as the buzzer was sounding, PG Gamal Lyde lofted up a 30 footer that went cleaning through the hoop to disappoint the Arizona faithful and pin the solitary loss of the entire season on the Wildcats. PG Kelvin Smith knocked down 25 points and SG Darrell Walker hit for 22 and PF Marques Smith had 10 points and 10 boards. Syracuse’s PF Justin Madsen scored 26 while PG Gamal Lyde finished with 20 and C Walter Harper had a double-double (12 points and 10 rebounds).

Oregon Ducks-81, Seton Hall Pirates-70: The first half was very close all the way as Seton Hall came away with a 41-39 halftime advantage. The game continued to be close for the first 10 minutes of the 2nd half (there had been 17 lead changes and 8 ties up to that point in the game). But Oregon then clamped down defensively and pulled away to move on to the championship game. SG John Barnes scored 25 points and had 7 rebounds for Oregon.

Round 6 (Championship):

Oregon Ducks-69, Syracuse Orange-54: Syracuse looked to be on their way to a victory in the first half as they opened a 10 point lead, but the Ducks narrowed the gap to 37-35 at the break. Then in the 2nd half, Oregon totally shut down the Orange offense allowing them to score just 17 points in the final 20 minutes of play. Meanwhile the Ducks doubled Syracuse’s 2nd point output to come away with a dominating victory. C Larry Graves completed an extremely successful NCAA Tournament with 26 points and 8 rebounds while teammate SG John Barnes had similar success throughout the tournament, scoring 19 points and grabbing 10 rebounds while getting 3 steals and 2 blocks. Larry Graves was selected as the tournament’s MVP.

[PointGuard 70]

Interview of Coach KD Durst (KD) by Carlos Ortez (CO) of Denver’s KDVR-TV:

CO: Coach now that you’ve completed two seasons coaching the Buffaloes basketball team, how would you compare the two seasons?
KD: The first season was definitely difficult. We were short-handed and weren’t able to compete well within the Pac-12 conference. I’d characterize this past season as a building year during which we brought in some good new players and acquainted them with our offensive and defensive strategies. Our early efforts in Pac-12 play were disappointing but I think we matured and played well during the 2nd half of the conference schedule even though we lost our best scorer to a season-ending injury. We were happy to get into a post-season tournament but having to play the opening round on the road kept us from being successful in the CBI Tourney.
CO: What are your expectations for next season?
KD: I’m very optimistic, Carlos. We are bringing back everyone since we had no seniors this year. We’re on the right trajectory, and I think we will move up in the conference standings. But as you saw, we had 5 good teams get into the NCAA Tournament and with both Oregon and Arizona making it into the Final Four and Oregon winning it all, there obviously will continue to be some teams next season with a lot more talent than we possess.
CO: Who do you expect will be your team’s leaders next season?
KD: We’ve got a lot of players who could fill that role. We didn’t have one stand-out player this past season, but several all of our starters and a number of our reserves who played well. We’ll just have to wait and see who develops the most. At this point, I think all starting positions are in play since we had a very good bench this past year.
CO: What aspect of the game do you feel your team needs to improve the most upon?
KD: I think we need to learn how to get free for good open shots so we can improve our shooting percentage which was a sore point during many of our games this past season. I think with the increased maturity and experience we will have this coming year, we will be more confident and develop more of a killer instinct so we player tougher in the waning moments of games. Another thing is that we really don’t have a scholarship player who is a true center. But we do have some power forwards who did a pretty good job playing the center position this past season. With the big, strong and exceptionally talented centers some of the Pac-12 teams have, it’s a real challenge for our players to contest them. Since we didn’t have any scholarships opening, we weren’t able to recruit a center this year, but I expect a few of players we have to continue to improve.
CO: Rumors have it that your job has been in peril this season. Are you worried?
KD: What? Me worry? (laughing) You know, that’s something totally out of my control. My staff and I have worked hard to develop our players. I think the team made some excellent progress this season and we have the makings of a solid team next year. 
CO: What’s your plans for the off-season? 
KD: You know a college coach really has no off-season. There are always things to do and work on. In fact my assistant coaches and I are already making plans for the coming season.

[PointGuard 70]

Reconciliation?

Two months of thought and many discussions lead to no resolution. But we agreed that I will go back to Youngstown after the basketball season and the two of us will spend time together to see if we can work things out.

[PointGuard 70]

National Awards garnered by the Pac-12:

Arizona’s Paul Jones was the NCAA Coach of the Year.
UCLA’s Jamal Magloire was a 2nd Team All-American
Arizona’s Darrell Walker was a 2nd Team All-American
USC’s Ryan Kincade was a 2nd Team All-American

Other Awards:

No Colorado players gained national or Pac-12 awards

Andre Lilly of Youngstown State was the Horizon League Defensive Player of the Year
Doylan Anderson of Youngstown State was Horizon League 1st Team All-Conference
Andre Lilly of Youngstown State was Horizon League 1st Team All-Conference

[PointGuard 70]

Meeting with Jake Meacolm, Athletic Director for Colorado:

Even though Wayne Dewayne, a rather strange dude on Sportsnet Radio has been repeatedly saying Bryant Marshack, my 1st Assistant Coach, should take over from me as head coach since the team has never lost a game that Bryant has coached (he filled in for me when the team beat Utah so has a 1-0 record), I made it through my performance review with the AD and will return next season as the Buffaloes head coach. Jake does mention that he received a “fan” petition calling for my head. Since I met 2 of the 4 goals Meacolm had set (finishing above .500 and improving school prestige (from 40 to 42), as well as qualifying for the CBI Tournament) while failing to meet two (finish in top half of the conference and qualify for the NIT Tournament), Meacolm was generally supportive although not effusive in his praise. He still wants more rapid improvements to the program and mentioned how much higher conference prestige (83) was than ours (42). But I got the feeling that my job security was a tad higher than it was midway through the season.
'
I asked for a budget increase but that was denied. Our budget remains much lower than most all other schools in the Pac-12. So that makes the message…compete with the big boys, but not with big boy resources.

I let Jake know that I’d like to upgrade our pre-conference schedule for this coming season. I think we need to take on a few good teams before conference play begins this year. He said he’d do what he can.

His goals for us remain the same: (1) finish over .500; (2) finish in the top half of the conference; (3) qualify for the NIT Tourney; and (4) improve school prestige. I think all four are reasonable expectations. In fact, our team goal exceeds his in that we focused on getting to the NCAA Tourney rather than the NIT.

[PointGuard 70]

Assistant Coaches:

I had planned on keeping all 3 assistants, but Ivoree Snoddy, my 3rd assistant and recruiting coach, who had one more year of his contract was poached by UNLV as their 2nd assistant.

We had a really tough time hiring. The coaches we were most interested in and who were rated as high as we would have liked turned down our offers. We went after a lot of different coaches and finally were able to land Mike Johnson who had been the 2nd assistant for Appalachian State. Even though Mike doesn’t have the experience we would have liked, he will be our recruiting assistant. He does have higher ratings for other coaching components than Ivoree had. We’re going to have a lot of scholarships to fill this year, so hopefully Mike can step up and perform well in that role.

[PointGuard 70]

Time Together in Youngstown

The reconciliation back in Youngstown has had some highlights and some lowlights. Both Jacky and I were open with our thoughts and feelings. After spending a month together, Jacky and I have decided that its best for the two of us to go our separate ways. We’re both career people with two careers whose paths coincided for a while but that now are going in distinctly different directions. We will be filing for an uncontested divorce using a mediation service. Since there are no children and we both have jobs that are financially secure, the process will be relatively simple.

[PointGuard 70]

Last Season’s Recruiting:

Obviously since we had no scholarships to fill last year, we were basically unrated, but when recruiting class rankings came out, 4 Pac-12 schools (UCLA, Arizona, California, and Stanford) were in the top 7 with Oregon at #25 and USC at #27. So our competition just got stronger.

Youngstown State had the 79th best recruiting class so maybe that means they are going to rise back up the Horizon League.

Recruiting Plans for this season:

I sat down with Mike Johnson, my new recruiting assistant, to discuss recruiting for this coming season. We have 5 seniors graduating this year. So unlike last year when we had no scholarships to offer, having 5 this year means we have to work out butts off. We’re need to land a good PG and 3 big men. With he remaining scholarship, preferably we can get either a strong guard or another big man. 

We’re buying basic scouting reports for our region (Great Plains) and also the West and National. We also will be attending the Indy Elite Camp for top-rated recruits and the Houston Classic for Great Plains recruits.

Surprising News

When June rolls around, I’m initially surprised when PF Shawn Owes decides to transfer away. But then upon further consideration, since he didn’t get much playing time as a freshman and his relationship with both the team and me was never really strong, his leaving becomes more understandable. We have enough depth inside that his departure won’t be a problem this season, but I think he eventually would have been a strong player for us had he stayed beyond this coming season. Rather than add yet another scholarship to fill by recruiting, I hope to be able to land a good transfer player and begin researching available transfers, focusing on guards and centers.

Transfers 

We made an initial offer to a very highly rated PG who played as a freshman at North Carolina, but he opted to transfer to Indiana. We then made an offer to PG Justin Wilson, who as a freshman started nearly every game for Notre Dame, and he accepted our offer. Wilson is a 6-5 sophomore from Hammond, Indiana. As a high school senior he was rated as the #48 recruit in the country. Last season he averaged 7.7 ppg and 3.1 apg while hitting 44% of his FG attempts and 34% of his 3P attempts. He has great vision and passing skills. He’s a great ball hawk. While he didn’t display it last season, we expect his rebounding to be strong for a PG.

Shawn Owes got picked up by North Carolina so he did well. But his playing time for the Tarheels may be even more limited than it was for us.

Pro Draft

A lot of good players from Pac-12 teams were drafted (of course none from Colorado), but the best news was that C Andre Lilly (who I had recruited while at Youngstown State) was the #29 selection. Way to go Andre!

Pre-Conference Scheduling

When our pre-conference schedule is finalized, we have achieved the goal of significantly upgrading the level of competition for our preparation for what will be a demanding Pac-12 conference schedule. Our pre-conference schedule is as follows:

Youngstown State (I’m really looking forward to taking on the Penguins)
Mississippi
DePaul
Alaskan Classic (we will play Memphis is the first round)
Bradley
Auburn
Florida State
Minnesota
Missouri

[PointGuard 70]

The following was posted by Ddevore65 in the WolverineStudios forum:

 

 

by Ddevore65 » 13 Aug 2019 11:11

The mysterious fan #3 from the bar during the PAC-12 tournament is seen on the phone. Who he is talking too isn’t clear.

Fan #3 - I did what you said Mr......

Voice - No names you idiot, you never know who is listening.

Fan#3 - Sorry sir....anyway I did as you instructed with the threatening letter

Voice - Yes we will have to turn up the heat. Your message didn’t seem to cause too much of an impact. At the booster luncheon, that idiot AD also seems committed for at least another year. 

Fan#3 - The good news sir is that kid Owes transferred out. He took the money.....

Voice - Good, good. If that Coach Dust doesn’t take a hint that he isn’t wanted here, then we will have to sabotage him from within. I took care of that recruiting assistant, got him sent off to another school.

Fan #3 - So what’s the plan for this year?

Voice - To continue to discredit the coach and sabotage his recruiting efforts. That and we continue to look for kids on the team to target, get them to either quit or disrupt the team. One way or another, this will be his last year at Colorado. I’ll see if we can find out who he is targeting in the transfer group, but more importantly the recruiting trail. And if that doesn’t work, I have another idea to discredit the coach. Now get to work on plan B, we will make it so he wished he’d never have left Ohio (laughs as the call ends).

[PointGuard 70]

Phone conversation between KD Durst (KD) and Steve Porter (SP)

SP: Hello?
KD: Hey, is the famous Steve Porter?
SP: Maybe more infamous than famous, but who’s this?
KD: Hey Steve, this is KD Durst. How you doin’, man?
SP: KD? Geez, this is a surprise! Never expected to hear from you after you left Youngstown. I hardly ever answer calls from numbers I don't know, but for some reason the area code caught my attention.
KD: How’s life at the newspaper?
SP: There is no life at the newspaper, at least for me. And little life at the paper as a whole since hardly anyone reads the newspaper any more. 
KD: Did you quit?
SP: Hell no, They got rid of me shortly after you left.
KD: Damn I’m sorry to hear that. So what are you doing now?
SP: Trying to get by. I’m doing a little free-lancing and have a blog going that I’m trying to get to rise to the point where it can make me some money. But mainly I’m working at Walmart.
KD: The hell ya say! Walmart? You’re not a greeter are you?
SP: Ain’t a lotta jobs here in Youngstown so had to take what I could get that would bring in a steady paycheck, meager as it is. And no, I’m not old enough to be a Walmart greeter. In fact, the company has been phasing those out so since even the Walton’s needed to cut costs. The company took quite a hit after those mass shootings at their stores several years ago that caused a lot of their customers to be afraid to come to their stores. So, a lot of things got trimmed, including pay. If it weren’t for minimum wage laws, as crappy as they are, we’d probably be paying the company to work for them.
KD: Well, then I guess my call may be of possible interest to you. Look, a vacancy just opened in our athletic department’s communication and media department. I’m not sure how much it pays, but I thought about you when I heard about it. It’s the Assistant Communications Director who reports directly to the head of the department, the Association AD for Communications. Her name is Penny Margolis. I’m not on the best of terms with our AD, but Penny and I get along well and she’s the one who said she needed to find a reliable person to fill the Assistant position.
SP: Umm, sounds pretty interesting. What do ou think of living in Boulder?
KD: It’s a GREAT place to live. More expensive than living in Youngstown, but a fantastic college town atmosphere, progressive, and at the foot of the Rocky Mountains. Definitely get some cold weather and snow in the winter, but not as continuous as in northern Ohio.
SP: That's really enticing. Yeah, I’m interested. I had thought about trying to latch on at YSU, but there was never an opening plus some of the stories I wrote rubbed those in the athletic department the wrong way.
KD: I’ll send you information about the job. And if you put in an application, I’ll put in a good word for you with Penny.
SP: Wow, thanks! You know things haven’t been the same with Penguins’ basketball since you left. And I’ve been keeping track of how the Buffaloes have done. Tough start for you, but you seem to have already begun to turn things around, just like you did for Youngstown State. Maybe even quicker.
KD: Heh! Well, we’ll see how things go. The Pac-12 is a helluva lot tougher to make progress in than the Horizon League was. Nice talking with you, Steve. Hope you like what you find out about the job here. If you apply and get the job, I can help you find a place to live. I have some good contacts.

[PointGuard 70]

Two weeks later: Steve Porter (SP) and KD Durst (KD) meet for dinner in Boulder.

KD: Congratulations! Penny told me she hired you for the Assistant Communications Director position.
SP: Yeah, this has all happened so quickly. She and I spoke on the phone, then I submitted my application and resume. Next thing I know I’m here being interviewed this week and am offered the job. She barely got the words out of her mouth before I accepted.
KD: I'm pretty sure Penny researched the hell out of you. She probably read most of your bylines. And the ones where you raked me over the coals probably were what won her over. [Laughing} Like I said before, I think you’re going to like Boulder and Colorado University. Penny’s a heckuva a nice person so I think you'll like working for her. Just be careful. She's focused on getting things done right so be sure to do your homework.
SP: I’m flying back to Youngstown tomorrow. One thing about being single and never making a lot of money is that I don’t have a lot to pack up. I'll return here next week since Ms Margolis says she needs me on the job as soon as possible.
KD: By the time you get back, Paul Morris will have pulled together a list of the best apartment options for you.

[PointGuard 70]

Recruiting

We cast a wide net throughout the summer and early autumn and gained interest from a larger number of recruits. We focused primarily on PG’s, PF’s, and C’s but also evaluated some SG’s and SF’s.

In early September we landed our first recruit when PF Mel Dye, who is 6’7” and from Canton, SD. His high school coach said he’s a hard worker and a great leader on and off the court. As a junior last season he averaged 17.1 ppg and 5.8 rpg. He has a good inside shot and is very athletic. He’s ranked as the #160 recruit in the nation. But he’s not strong academically and has just a 2.4 GPA in high school, so hopefully he will meet our minimum SAT score.

In mid-September two highly rated recruits to whom we offered scholarships don’t choose us, one opting for Iowa and the other for Creighton. We though we had a good shot to get both of them, but then at the last minute they just seemed to tune us out without telling us why. It seemed strange that both did the same thing at almost the same time, but what are you gonna do? Maybe just our bad luck.

But two other recruits accept our offers. First to accept was PG John Phelan. He’s 6’3” tall and comes from Inola, Oklahoma. As a junior he averaged 16.3 ppg, 3.7 apg, and 3.1 rpg. He was a top-25 player at the Houston Classic and had a decent showing at the Indy Elite Camp. His coach has told us he isn’t a leader but doesn’t cause problems. He’s a good outside shooter who likes to shoot 3’s and he has very good passing skills. He’s ranked as the 105th best recruit in the nation. The next day we got the exciting news from the 50th ranked recruit, PF Ike Minihan, that he will be coming our way next season. Ike is 6’8” and is from Oak Grove, Missouri. He’s an excellent scorer from both inside and outside. He’s also a great rebounder and defender.

We then reset our sites to try to fill the remaining 2 scholarships. We make an offer to a talented JC big man, but he decides to go to Louisville. again we seemed right on the verge of landing him and then he shut us off without explanation. With our two remaining scholarships we made offers to two PF’s. One has given us mixed signals so he probably won’t accept our offer. But PF Derricus Ivener, who is 6’8” tall and comes from Lennox, SD accepted our offer in mid-October. Derricus was in the top 25 at the Houston Classic and according to his coach, he has a tremendous work ethic. As a junior he averaged 16.6 ppg and 10.2 rpg. He shoots very well from both inside and outside and is a very strong rebounder. He also has excellent athleticism. He’s ranked #179 in the country.

So as autumn concludes 4 of our 5 scholarship offers have been accepted. While we have the last one pending, if the fifth recruit we offered to doesn’t commit, I’m happy to wait until spring to see if there will be some highly rated recruits available who just didn’t commit earlier. In the meantime we’ll just try to develop and increase interest with the recruits on our list. Even though we lost out on some high rated recruits, overall our recruiting efforts thus far have been very successful.

[PointGuard 70]

A warning

Steve Porter, who got to know me well while I was coaching at Youngstown State and he was covering our team for the local newspaper and now is Colorado University’s Assistant Communications Director, talked with me last night. He said he stopped by a local tavern and was sitting at the bar having a drink. From a ways down the bar he heard a guy making a bunch of derogatory remarks about me. So Steve moved to a table nearer to the guy so he could hear better. He said while nothing specific was revealed it sounded like someone this guy knows wants me out as coach of the Buffaloes and has a plan to get me fired. Being new to the area, Steve doesn’t know anything about the guy who was talking, but he does have a good description of him if it’s needed.

I told Steve not to put too much faith in what drunks at a bar say. Hell, if I were to worry about every “fan” who might get upset with me I’d be a wreck. I just can’t worry about such things. Besides I don’t know of anyone who has reason to go to the effort to create a “plan” to oust me.

Steve said I may be right, but it only takes one weird guy to create big problems. He said even though I’m not worrying about this, he’s going to keep his ear to the ground. He said that being a reporter in the past gives him some ability at ferreting things out.