The Town Crier

[PointGuard 70]

Game #19: #18 Colorado Buffaloes (15-3, 5-2) @ #1 Oregon Ducks (17-2, 5-2)

Later that week we travelled to Eugene to play the Ducks again. Playing them on their home court with them thirsting for revenge obviously presented a huge challenge.

We hung with Oregon throughout most of the first half, but the Ducks pulled away during the final 5 minutes of the half and when the buzzer sounded we trailed 47-38. Oregon hit 55% of their shots compared to our 40%. SF Rick Coffey and SG Kenton Dunn both scored 9 points but Oregon’s big men were the difference. PF Matt Reeves scored 13, grabbed 5 boards and had a steal and 3 block while C John Jones hit for 9 points and tore down 10 boards and dished out 5 assists. We need to control them better in the 2nd half.

Oregon just kept the pressure on us the entire 2nd half. While we never caved in and our players gave it their all the entire half, Oregon’s solid play showed why they are rated so high. Their defense kept us from getting clear shots so that they maintained a double digit lead throughout most of the 2nd half. Our shooting percentage dropped to 33% for the entire game. We fell 76-60, but playing a talented team like the Ducks on their home court is a tremendous challenge.

SG Kenton Dunn and SF Rick Coffey both scored 13 points and C Ryan Erickson finished with 8 points and 10 rebounds and also had 4 blocks. Oregon’s PF Matt Reeves scored 19 and pulled down 10 boards and C John Jones had 14 ponts, 14 rebounds, and 6 assists.

So we get through “Hell Week-and-a-Half” with one win and two losses. Not great but not horrible either. The two losses drop us into a tie with California for 5th place in the conference standings.

Other Pac-12 results:

#19 Washington-76, #5 Arizona-72
Arizona State-90, Washington State-76
#2 UCLA-92, #9 California-79
Oregon State-78, USC-75
Stanford-78, Utah-66

[PointGuard 70]

Game #20: #19 Colorado Buffaloes (15-4, 5-3) @ Oregon State (6-11, 1-7)

We topped the Beavers by 12 points when they played on our court earlier this season, but they just won against USC so are likely to be tough to beat when playing at Gill Colliseum. But we need some road victories so this is an important game for us.

The first half was a dog fight the entire way. We eked out a 36-29 halftime advantage by hitting 50% of our shots. PG Chris Smith, SF Rick Coffey, and SG Steve Jackson each scored 8 points.

The second half started with back-and-forth scoring like the first, but then we had an extended run that gave us a 62-42 lead with 8-1/2 minutes to go. We cruised to a 77-55 whipping of the Beavers. We out-rebounded Oregon State 42-31 and outshot the Beavers 48% to 36%.

SG Steve Jackson led our scoring with 15 points, followed by SF Rick Coffey’s 14, C Ryan Erickson’s 11 (together with his 3 assists, 9 rebounds, and 3 steals), and PG Chris Smith’s 10 (he also had 8 assists). For Oregon State, C Jerome Harriman scored 12 and had 13 rebounds.

Our biggest advantage was our depth so that we kept fresh legs on the court the entire game.

Other Pac-12 scores tonight:

#4 Arizona-76, Washington State-56
#1 UCLA-76, Arizona State-68
#13 California-76, #2 Oregon-70 (winning on the road is tough even for the Ducks in Pac-12 play)
Stanford-90, USC-76
Utah-62, #18 Washington-61 (after trailing by 7 with 3 minutes to go, the Huskies nearly foiled the Ute’s upset)

UCLA remains atop the standings with a 8-1 record a game ahead of Arizona (UCLA travels to take on Arizona later this week). As the top half of the Pac-12 standings becomes more jumbled halfway through the conference season, we pulled into a 4-way tie (along with Oregon, Washington, and California) for 3rd place.

[PointGuard 70]

Game #21: Stanford Cardinal (13-6, 5-4) @ #19 Colorado Buffaloes (16-4, 6-3)

All 6 of Stanford’s losses have been to ranked teams. They have yet to defeat a ranked team and we hope to keep those both of those streaks intact.

PF Vefa Kurtbek has a strained hamstring and will miss tonight’s game and possibly our next game as well.

Stanford’s SF Eric Cohen hit 3’s on the first 2 possessions for the Cardinal. We came back to take a 10-8 lead after 4 minutes of play. As we opened a small lead our crowd roared forcing Stanford to call a couple early time outs. Stanford came back to take a 27-26 lead with 7 minutes left in the first half. Although the Cardinal hit a bunch of early 3’s, we chipped in 3’s in the latter stages of the half (conncting on 7 or 9 from beyond the arc in the entire first half) to take a 49-39 lead at the break. We hit 56% of our shots while Stanford hit 46% of theirs and we had a 9-2 turnover advantage. PG Chris Smith fired in 12 points and C Ryan Erickson added 10.

Stanford reduced our lead to 2 points after just 4-1/2 minutes of play in the 2nd half. The Cardinal then had a series of turnovers that allowed us to open a 63-53 lead with 10:48 remaining. We then steadily added to our lead to win going away 87-64. We finished by outshooting the Cardinal 48% to 38%. We forced Stanford to make 19 turnovers and only had 4 turnovers of our own.

Leading our scoring was PG Chris Smith with 18 points to go along with 7 assists. SG Kenton Dunn hit for 15 points while grabbing 9 rebounds, dishing out 3 assists and getting 3 steals and a block. C Ryan Erickson scored 11 and PF/SF Charles Maors, SG Steve Jackson, and SF Rick Coffey each chipped in 10 points. Coffee also had 5 assists, 4 rebounds, 3 steals and 3 blocks. Stanford’s PF Jero Okesola had a double-double (10 points and 12 rebounds).

Pac-12 results tonight:

#4 Arizona-79, #1 UCLA-38 (wow, a real beat-down with UCLA hitting just 19% of their shots)
#2 Oregon-81, Arizona State-58
Oregon State-87, #13 California-74 (a big road win for the lowly Beavers)
#18 Washington-72, USC-57
Utah-65, Washington State-62 (big 2nd half comeback win for the visiting Utes)

Even with their embarrassing loss to Arizona, UCLA remained ranked #1 with Oregon ranked #2 and Arizona ranked #3. California is now ranked #14, Colorado is #17 and Washington is #18.

[PointGuard 70]

Recruiting News

We're losing almost the entire front line to graduation after this season, so it will be interesting to see if some of this season's recruits can step in and contribute immediately. CU recruits pretty well, but playing at Brutal recruiting level, the Buffaloes aren't able to compete with the elite programs for the best recruits.

I had hoped to steal a very good recruit with a pretty low GPA whose interest level for CU had risen to #1 on his list. So I was figuring to offer him a scholarship if he'd gotten a decent SAT score...but alas, his SAT score SUCKED. We also were working on another pretty decent recruit…again his SAT scores didn’t meet the minimum SAT requirements for our school.

Very disappointing, but there are some other good recruits on our list as we try to fill our last remaining scholarship…so back to the drawing board. While I generally prefer to recruit a high school senior who can develop over 4 seasons with us, it might be better to go after a good interior JC player who is more likely to contribute immediately for this coming season.

[PointGuard 70]

Game #22: #18 Washington Huskies (16-4, 7-3) @ #17 Colorado Buffaloes (17-4, 7-3)

The Huskies and my team are pretty similar. But the Huskies defense is a little better than ours. Washington primarily uses a 1-3-1 zone defense. The Huskies’ defense comes away with a lot of steals (10.1 per game which is 8th best in the nation) and yields few points (64.9 per game which is 22nd best in the nation).

We had a rough start, shooting horribly and turning the ball over repeatedly. But after Washington took a 5 point lead, we shut the Huskies down and took a 10-9 lead when PF Primoz Pohek scored from 10 feet away and converted the resulting free throw with 10:31 left in the half. Sloppy play by both teams continued throughout the half. The half ended with the scored knotted at 33-33. Washington had 8 turnovers and we had 9. Both teams his 41% of their shots. PG Matt Conley led our scoring with 7 points. SF Thomas Richardson came off the bench for the Huskies and hit 4 of 5 three-pointers to finish with 12 points.

Ugly basketball continued to be the name of the game in the 2nd half. The refs whistle seemed to work only against us but fortunately the Huskies missed over half of their many free throw attempts. But with 1:09 to go we trailed 64-62. We called a time out and our give-and-go worked with Kenton Dunn hitting a 12 foot jumper to tie the game. Washington ran the shot clock down but missed a 3. We rebounded but threw the ball away with 22 seconds to go. The Huskies knocked down a shot with 7 seconds remaining to go up by 2. Chris Smith put up a last second 3 but it rimmed out and we lost a heart-breaker 66-64. Team stats were very similar except for fouls (20 against us and only 8 against Washington) and free throws (27 attempts by the Huskies…they made 13 at the line…and just 10 attempts for us…we sunk 9 of those). Washington's defense definitely disrupted our game and led to poor play on our part, including us making uncharacteristic fouls due to frustration. Losing at home puts us in a real hole in this conference and means we need to make up for it with an unexpected road victory.

SG Kenton Dunn scored 19 and had 4 steals and a block. C Ryan Erickson added 10 points.

Results of other Pac-12 Games:

#2 Oregon-83, #3 Arizona-76 (OT)
Arizona State-80, Oregon State-69
#14 California-68, Stanford-58
Washington State-72, USC-60
Utah-75, #1 UCLA-63

Our loss dropped us into a tie for 5th with California a game behind 4 teams tied for 1st (Oregon, UCLA, Arizona and Washington).

[PointGuard 70]

Game #23: #17 Colorado Buffaloes (17-5, 7-4) @ Washington State Cougars (7-13, 3-8)

Following our home loss to Washington, it’s important that we turn things around and win on the road against the Cougars. While the Cougars have taken their lumps this season, two high points include a win over Georgetown (which was ranked #15 at the time) on the road and a recent home win against #14 California (which was ranked #9 at that point).

We missed our first 7 FG attempts, trailed 8-0 after letting Washington State score on 3 driving layups after intercepted passes, and didn’t score for the first 4-1/2 minutes. We didn’t begin putting things together until 10 minutes into the half and finally, led by our subs and their 12-0 run, took a 19-17 lead with 6:15 remaining in the first half. With our defense completely stymying the Cougars in the final 10 minutes of the half, we took a 27-20 lead to the locker room. We hit 34% of our shots (and 1 of 10 from beyond the arc) while WSU hit 33% (and 1 of 8 from 3-point distance). We held an 11-5 turnover advantage. PG Matt Conley came off the bench to score 11 points.

We came out cold in the 2nd half. The Cougars quickly cut our lead to a single point. We held on to maintain a small lead. With 3 minutes to go Washington State tied the score at 51-51. Then with 2:24 on the clock, the Cougars sunk 2 free throws to go up 53-51. With 1:39 remaining we called a timeout and Steve Jackson and Matt Conley executed a perfect pick and roll, with Jackson scoring on a driving layup to tie the game. The Cougars tossed the ball away on their succeeding possession. We missed a shot then Washington State missed a 3 but grabbed the rebound and hit another 3 point attempt, putting us down 56-53 with 32 seconds left. We called a time out to set up a 3 point shot but Steve Jackson’s shot missed. Ryan Erickson pulled down the rebound, got the ball to Kenton Dunn who tossed it to Matt Conley who found Jackson in the corner. Jackson lofted up another 3 that slipped cleanly through the cords to knot the score at 56-56 with 13 seconds remaining. With fouls to give, I decided that rather than give them a last shot, we would foul before a shot could be taken and take the game to overtime. But as Jackson fouled, SG Stephen Hunter threw up a 3 point attempt that had no possibility of connecting but gave the Cougars 3 foul shots. Smart move on Hunter's part, bad luck on ours. Hunter made 2 of 3 free throws with 4 seconds to go. Matt Conley brought the ball quickly over the center court line and put up a desperation 3 that was off the mark, and we went down to a 58-56 defeat.

While we didn’t play well enough to win, my calling for us to foul on the Cougars’ last possession didn’t work and caused us to lose. Big strategic mistake on my part. This was a road game I had hoped to win. Damn! Hang the coach.

PG Matt Conley scored 17 points and had 6 assists and SG Steve Jackson hit for 15 points while hauling down 6 rebounds. Washington State’s SF Barry Stacey scored 11, grabbed 10 rebounds and had 6 assists, 1 steal and 4 blocks.

Other Pac-12 results:

#3 Arizona-76, Oregon State-53
Stanford-74, Arizona State-67
#18 Washington-86, #14 California-76
#1 UCLA-74, USC-56
Utah-89, #2 Oregon-76

Our second straight loss put us into a 3-way tie for 5th place two games out of 1st place. We dropped to #19 in the polls. 6 other Pac-12 teams are ranked in the polls: UCLA-1, Oregon-2, Arizona-4, California-16, Washington-17, and Utah-22.

My old team, the Youngstown State Penguins, now have an 8-4 league record which ties them with Northern Kentucky for the Horizon League lead. After winning their first 6 league games, the Penguins have dropped 4 of their last 6 games. The Penguins overall season record presently is 13-8. SG Doylan Anderson leads the team’s scoring with 18.7 ppg followed by SF Rolan LeBarrie at 14.5 ppg and C Scott Duany who is averaging 10.1 ppg. PF Donnie Williams leads their rebounding with 4.8 rpg while PG Mike Lofton has the most assists with 4.3 apg.

Elsewhere in the nation: While only ranked 5th in the polls, the Pittsburgh Panthers are having a great season. The Panthers have a 21-2 record overall and are leading the ACC with an 11-1 conference record, 2 games better than their nearest rival. Pittsburgh is 16-0 at home.

[PointGuard 70]

Game #24: #19 Colorado Buffaloes (17-6, 7-5) @ #16 California Golden Bears (16-7, 7-5)

Both teams have had a couple difficult weeks. We’ve won just 3 of our last 7 games while Cal has won but 2 of their last 6 games. Unfortunately we have to take on the Golden Bears on their home court where they have won 10 of 12 games. The Golden Bears are heavily favored to beat us. SG Mario Burleston and SF Jesse Herbert have combined to average 31.2 ppg. I’d like to shut down one of them without letting the other go ballistic, but that’s no small challenge.

Cal took advantage of some early turnovers by us to jump out to an 18-10 lead. The Golden Bears then caught fire to put us in a 38-18 hole with 8:33 remaining in the half. At that point Cal was hitting nearly 75% of their FG attempts and over 60% of their 3’s. In the final 5 minutes of the first half we struck back to narrow the Golden Bears lead to 44-32. For the entire half California outshot us 65% to 41%. SG Kenton Dunn scored 13 points for us, but Cal’s PG Monty Camby was a perfect 6 for 6 from the field (including hitting all 3 of his 3’s) to score 15.

Poor shooting in the 2nd half by us kept us from making a serious run to narrow the lead even though California’s shooting cooled a little. We ended up taking a 73-62 beating. California ended up hitting 54% of their shots for the entire game while we could only manage to knock down 37% of ours.

SG Kenton Dunn finished with 19 points.

Here’s how other Pac-12 teams fared:

#4 Arizona-90, #22 Utah-82
USC-66, Arizona State-61
#1 UCLA-72, Washington State-54
#17 Washington-76, #2 Oregon-65
Stanford-71, Oregon State-60

We’re now tied with Stanford for 6th place in the Pac-12.

After the game Mat Hunter got into a loud argument with Camah Griffin and then complained about not getting enough playing time and how he should be playing instead of Vefa Kurtbek. Hunter’s attitude is becoming poisonous so I pulled him aside to talk with him and he got mad. I’d had enough of his bitching so suspended him for a week.

[PointGuard 70]

Game #25: USC Trojans (7-15,2-11) @ #19 Colorado Buffaloes (17-7,7-6)

USC broke a 9-game losing streak when they beat Arizona State earlier this week. They are led by their guards, Brendan Trilli (13.0 ppg) and Dennis Evans (10.9 ppg). They employ a 2-3 zone which caused us problems when we played the Trojans on their home court. We hit just 39.6% of our shots and ended up losing 82-66.

We harassed USC early forcing them to turn the ball over 6 times (3 of which were steals leading to baskets by us) in the first 3-1/2 minutes. At that point we led 14-3. As our defense continued to play havoc with the Trojans offense, our lead ballooned to 27-7 with 9-1/2 minutes remaining in the first half. USC’s offense began clicking late in the half to narrow our halftime advantage to 40-26. We outshot the Trojans 53% to 38% (although they hit 6 of 10 from 3 point range) and also held a 13-6 turnover advantage. SG Kenton Dunn dropped in 13 points and SF Rick Coffey scored 9 for us. USC was led by PG Dennis Evan’s 11 points.

With 12 minutes left to play, SF Rick Coffey hit a 3 that gave us a 54-32 lead. Even though our offense cooled down, we still thumped the Trojans by a final score of 74-52. We outshot USC 46% to 33%, forced them to make 21 turnovers (although we made an uncharacteristic 16), and out-rebounded the Trojans 38-28. Nice to get back in the win column. I hope that it helps us get our footing again for the closing weeks of the season.

SG Kenton Dunn hit for 20 points, SF Rick Coffey scored 12, and PG Matt Conley added 10. USC’s PG Dennis Evans scored 22.

Other Pac-12 results tonight:

#4 Arizona-81, #16 California-79 (Arizona won this game as time was expiring)
Arizona State-81, #22 Utah-80 (Utah made a late run but came up just short)
#17 Washington-82, Stanford-67
#1 UCLA-83, Oregon State-54
#2 Oregon-71, Washington State-62

We now are tied for 5th place with California in the Pac-12 standings. UCLA, Arizona and Washington are tied for the lead with 11-3 records and Oregon sits alone in 4th place with a 10-4 record. 3 of our remaining 4 games this season are on the road including games at Utah and UCLA. Our lone home game is against Arizona. We will need to get some upset wins to avoid dropping down in the standings.

In the polls, UCLA, Oregon and Arizona hold down the top 3 places with Washington ranked #15, California #18, and Colorado #20. We have the 13th best RPI in the nation.

[PointGuard 70]

Game #26: #20 Colorado Buffaloes (18-7, 8-6) @ Arizona State Sun Devils (11-12, 4-10)

This is a game we need to win. After this game we play at Utah, then host Arizona and finally travel to take on UCLA. We handled the Sun Devils easily (78-55) when we played them on our court. But playing on their court will mean we have to play well to win again. Arizona State primarily employs a 3-2 defense.

Our shooting was ice-cold at the beginning of the game as we fell behind 7-2, but with 12:36 remaining in the half, we took our first lead at 10-8. We hit just 3 of our first 18 shots, but fortunately Arizona State hit just 3 of their first 15 FG attempts. The first half ended with us on top 28-23, but it was an example of how NOT to play basketball. We hit just 32% of our shots and the Sun Devils hit only 33% of theirs. We had 10 turnovers and Arizona State had 8. SG Kenton Dunn scored 9 points and PF Vefa Kurtbek had 6 points and 8 rebounds.

We played atrociously in the first 4 minutes of the 2nd half and fell behind 36-30. We regained a 37-36 lead with 14-1/2 minutes left. The two teams slogged through the rest of the half but we were able to gain a lead and slowly increase it to as much as 7 points. Then Arizona State hit some big 3’s in the final 2 minutes and our lead shrunk to 67-65 with 32 seconds when the Sun Devils called a time out with them in possession of the ball. Arizona connected from inside with 5 seconds to go. We missed our final shot and the game went to overtime knotted at 67-67.

We jumped ahead in the OT, but the Sun Devils reeled us back in and outscored us in the final minute to knock us off 79-77. We got control in each half and the OT but couldn’t maintain it. It’s disappointing that we let this game get away from us.

PF/SF Charles Maors scored 20 and pulled down 8 boards and SG Kenton Dunn finished with 13 points.

Scores from other Pac-12 games:

#18 California-78, Utah-71
USC-75, #3 Arizona-72
#2 Oregon-87, Stanford-51
Oregon State-88, Washington State-79
#15 Washington-86, #1 UCLA-73

Washington’s victory over UCLA combined with Arizona’s loss to USC catapulted the Huskies into sole possession of first place in the Pac-12. Oregon is now tied for 2nd with UCLA and Arizona. We slid unceremoniously into 6th place in the conference.

[PointGuard 70]

Game #27: #20 Colorado Buffaloes (18-8, 8-7) @ Utah Utes (16-10, 7-8)

We may be ranked while Utah isn’t, but they are prohibitive favorites in this game. We were only able to edge them 69-63 playing on our court so taking them on in Salt Lake City is a formidable mountain to climb. PF Mark Wall is averaging 15.2 ppg. Together with C Jeff Odle, who averages 11.4 ppg and 9.2 rpg, the Utes have a strong inside game.

We scored the first 7 points in the game and held a solid lead until we got sloppy and turned the ball over repeatedly allowing the Utes to tie us at 25-25 with 4-1/2 minutes left in the first half. We finished the half with a 33-31 lead. SF Rick Coffey topped our scoring with 10 points. C Jeff Odle had 9 points and 5 rebounds for Utah.

The lead continually shifted back and forth throughout the 2nd half. Our extremely poor shooting kept us from being able to pull away. Then two successive blocks by Utah late in the game with subsequent scores put them on top 64-61 with just over a minute to play. We called a time out, but Rick Coffey’s 3 point shot was off the mark and the Utes rebounded. We were forced to foul but the Utes converted both free throws. When we were unable to do anything offensively, we had to foul and ended up losing the game 69-61. We hit just 30% of our FG attempts and 17% of our 3PA’s.

SF Rick Coffey and PG Matt Conley both scored 10 for us.

Pac-12 results:

#18 California-59, USC-52
#3 Arizona-94, Arizona State-59
#15 Washington-79, Oregon State-65
Washington State-71, Stanford-60
#1 UCLA-83, #2 Oregon-65

We’re now tied for 6th place with Utah as what started as a great season self-destructs. Deservedly, we’ve now fallen out of the top 25 in the polls.

[PointGuard 70]

Game #28: #3 Arizona Wildcats (21-6, 12-4) @ Colorado Buffaloes (18-9, 8-8)

C Antwan Minor is averaging 16.7 ppg and 11.7 rpg while PG Lamont Nielsen is scoring 16.3 ppg for Arizona.

The refs called 7 fouls on us in the first 6-1/2 minutes while calling none against Arizona. But we led 25-19 with 4-1/2 minutes to go in the half due to a tenacious defense. The half ended with us on top 32-28. Even though we hit only 36% of our shots, we held the Wildcats’ shooting to 30%. SG Kenton Dunn tossed in 9 points.

In the 2nd half we continued to keep Arizona in check and led 53-44 with 8:49 remaining in the game. Arizona made some runs but we were able to shut them off and regain our lead every time. We came away with a stunning 76-64 victory. The key to our victory was that our players were employing both our man-to-man and 2-3 zone defenses to perfection. And the interchange of these 2 defenses throughout the game kept the Wildcats off balance and out-of-synch.

SG Kenton Dunn had an awesome game and scored 28 points. PG Chris Smith had 12 points. For Arizona, PG Lamont Nielsen played the entire 40 minutes of the game and scored 20.

Scores from other Pac-12 games:

#16 California-71, Arizona State-60
Utah-60, USC-49
#2 Oregon-70, Oregon State-49
Stanford-76, #1 UCLA-67
#10 Washington-84, Washington State-61

We remain in a tie with Utah for 6th place in the conference. Washington nailed down the conference title as their 14-3 record is 2 games ahead of UCLA and Arizona with one game remaining.

[PointGuard 70]

Game #29: Colorado Buffaloes (19-9, 9-8) @ #1 UCLA Bruins (22-6, 12-5)

Aren’t we lucky! We get to travel to Los Angeles to take on the #1 ranked Bruins for our final game of the regular season. The Bruins’ freshman SG Kyle Taylor is the Pac-12’s leading scorer, averaging 20.0 ppg and is 2nd in assists with 5.1 apg. C Jamal Magloire is averaging 19.3 ppg and 9.5 rpg.

After 5-1/2 minutes of play we led 12-1. With 10 minutes to go in the half we were up 21-9. But then the refs began layering fouls on us which forced us to soften our defense. The Bruins tied us at 21-21 with 5 minutes to go til halftime. By the end of the half 5 of our players each had 2 fouls on them. We trailed 32-27 at the break, primarily due to the Bruins scoring 7 more points at the line than us. SG Kenton Dunn had 7 points. UCLA’s SG Kyle Taylor poured in 18 points, 11 of those from the foul line.

We continued to battle the talented Bruins team in the 2nd half and kept close until midway when Kyle Taylor broke loose to put UCLA on top 49-39. Two minutes later we cut the lead to 5 points, but it was all downhill for us from there. The Bruins lead expanded to 69-49 with 2-1/2 minutes remaining. We went down in flames 76-51. We played UCLA tough for 30 minutes, but they ultimately were just too good for us…that and we hit just 32% of our shots.

PF/SF Charles Maors scored 15 and SG Kenton Dunn added 13. But UCLA’s SG Kyle Taylor dropped in 31 points and grabbed 9 rebounds and C Jamal Magloire scored 24 points in just 22 minutes on the court.

Other Pac-12 results:

#3 Arizona-99, Stanford-56
#16 California-75, Washington State-49
Utah-67, Oregon State-58
#2 Oregon-63, USC-47
#10 Washington-81, Arizona State-59

We finished in sole possession of 7th place in the Pac-12 with a 9-9 record. Not great but probably where we deserved since there are some very good teams above us.

Pac-12 Final Standings:



After our strong start in conference play, it’s disappointing that we lost 6 of our final 8 games and slid into mediocrity.
 

In the polls, UCLA, Oregon and Arizona are ranked #1, 2 and 3. Washington is ranked #8 and California is ranked #15. So the Pac-12’s strength is definitely recognized. California is on probation so can’t go to the NCAA Tournament, but obviously the other 4 teams will be selected. Right now it would appear that both Utah and Colorado are likely to also be selected, but a poor performance in the Pac-12 tournament could derail either team. Stanford has an outside chance to make the Big Dance, most likely depending on how they do in the Pac-12 tournament. If Utah, Colorado, or Stanford aren’t selected for the NCAA Tournament, it’s likely they’ll be selected to play in the NIT.

Our 7th place finish means we will play #10 seed Washington State in the opening round of the Pac-12 tournament. If we win that game we will then go up against #2 seed Arizona in the 2nd round.

[PointGuard 70]

News:

 

Transgressions

Whoa! The investigation by the NCAA into Washington’s basketball program revealed that 3 players had been offered bribes. The school will be unable to offer scholarships for 2 seasons and not allowed to participate in post-season play this season. Head Coach Byron Guidon has been fired due to his involvement in the cheating. So that means one less Pac-12 team will be in the NCAA Tourney this year.

The NCAA’s investigation into the Missouri basketball program concluded with the finding that Missouri had offered bribes to 11 of the team’s players. Missouri will be unable to offer scholarships for 3 seasons and banned from post-season play for 2 seasons. Head Coach Ricardo Chappel has been fired.

Tennessee Tech was found to have offered bribes to 7 of their players and will not be allowed to offer scholarships for 2 seasons and precluded from post-season play for 1 year. Head Coach Larry Jensen is being fired.

Louisville bribed 4 of their players and will be kept from offering scholarships for 2 seasons and banned from post-season play for a year. Head Coach Jimmy Knight was not involved in the illegal activity but has received a letter of reprimand from Louisville for poor supervision of the program.

Memphis was found to have offered bribes to 5 players. Memphis will be unable to offer scholarships for 2 seasons and banned from post-season play this year. Head Coach Lloyd Reis is expected to be fired.

UCONN was discovered to have offered bribes to 8 players. They will be unable to offer scholarships for 4 seasons and banned from post-season play for 3 years. Head Coach Andre Fletcher was not involved in the activity but has received a letter of reprimand from the university.

 

Recruiting

In the fall I had offered our last remaining scholarship to a 6’7” high school PF by the name of Brian Ross. The recruit ranking for Ross jumped around and his interest seemed luke warm. So we continued to court a number of good recruits. I began to focus upon Kevin Martin, a strong JC center from Niagara Falls, NY and his interest level in us steadily improved. I was considering pulling the offer from Ross when spring recruiting got in full swing and tendering it to Martin. But following our loss to UCLA to end our regular season, I was completely surprised with Ross accepted and became our 5th and final recruit for this season.

Youngstown State Penguins

The Penguins, my old team, had a good year, finishing in a tie with Northern Kentucky for first in the Horizon League with an 11-7 league record. They were seeded 2nd in the Horizon League Tournament. The Penguins league record probably would have been better had not their leading scorer, SG Doylan Anderson (18.2 ppg) broken his wrist which caused him to miss the team’s last 11 games.
Anderson was unavailable when Youngstown State lost their opening game in the Horizon League. Youngstown State’s season record was 16-12.

[PointGuard 70]

Pac-12 Tournament: Round 1

Byes: Washington, Arizona, UCLA, California

5th seed, #2 ranked Oregon-64 (25-6, 12-6), 12th ranked USC (8-20, 3-15)-53: The lead changed 6 times in the early part of the first half, but by the midpoint of that half, Oregon had things in control and led 40-26 at the half and continued to hold a double-digit lead throughout the 2nd half. SF Jeff Woolfolk scored 20 points and C John Jones had a double-double (10 points and 11 rebounds) for the Ducks. SG Brendan Trilli scor3d 17 for the Trojans.

6th seed Utah (20-10, 10-8)-66, 11th seed Oregon State (8-20, 3-15)-37: Utah led from the onset and never gave up the lead. The Utes held a 34-19 halftime advantage and crushed the Beavers in the 2nd half. Utah’s PF Mark Wall scored 13 while C Jeff Odle scored 11 and grabbed 15 rebounds. C Kyle Webb scored 11 for Oregon State.

8th seed Stanford (17-12, 8-10)-82, 9th seed Arizona State (12-16, 5-13)-69: [/img]The first half was competitive with Stanford escaping with a 33-31 lead. The Sun Devils weren’t able to keep up in the 2nd half, though. PF Jero Okesola scored 15 for Stanford while PG Travis Hawkins scored 17 for the Beavers.

Game #30: 10th seed Washington State Cougars (9-18, 5-13) vs 7th seed Colorado Buffaloes (19-10, 9-9):

We only played the Cougars once this season. They upset us on our court 58-56. Our players are out to revenge that defeat.
Washington State scored the first 5 points and we were saddled with 2 fouls in the first 90 seconds of the game. SG Kenton Dunn picked up his 2nd foul after just 2-1/2 minutes of play and went to the bench. His replacement, Steve Jackson joined Dunn on the bench after picking up his 2nd foul 4-1/2 minutes later. Even though we were shooting poorly we took our first lead at 13-11 with 12 minutes to play in the first half. We held onto a small lead until the Cougars regained it at 33-31 with 2:12 remaining. We came back to take a 39-36 lead to the locker room. PG Matt Conley led our scoring with 9 points. Washington State’s PG Steven Coley also hit for 9 points.

We fell behind 49-43 with 12:45 to play. But our defense locked down on the Cougars and we regained the lead at 53-51 with 10 minutes left. The lead shifted back and forth and with 3:32 to go the game was tied at 61-61. Matt Conley hit a 3 with 1:07 to put us on top 66-63. The Cougars missed on two attempts during their next possession. We missed a shot but pulled down an offensive rebound and SF Rick Coffey hit a 14 foot jumper to make it 68-63 with 17 seconds on the clock. The Cougars hit a quick bucket to pull within and fouled with 4 seconds to go. Chris Smith hit the first and missed the second to lock down a narrow 69-65 win. Washington State outshot us 46% to 39% but we held a 16-9 turnover advantage.

PG Matt Conley came up big scoring 18 points. C Ryan Erickson scored 8 and grabbed 9 boards. SG Stephen Hunter scored 15 and had 5 assists and 6 rebounds for the Cougars.

It wasn’t pretty but we escaped to get to the 2nd round. But we need to get our act together when we take on Arizona.

PF Primoz Pohek jammed his finger and will miss the rest of the Pac-12 Tournament.

[PointGuard 70]

Pac-12 Tournament: Round 2

1st seed, #8 ranked Washington (25-4, 15-3)-66, 8th seed Stanford (17-13, 8-10)-56: This game had 12 lead changes and 7 ties. The Huskies held a slim 30-27 lead at the end of the first half. They pulled away late in the game. SG Scott Edwards scored 15 for Washington. Julian Bond came off the bench for Stanford to lead their scoring with 9 points.

3rd seed, #1 ranked UCLA-75 (24-6, 13-5), 6th seed Utah (20-11, 10-8)-54: UCLA pulled away early in the first half and took a 49-33 halftime lead. The Bruins held the Utes off in the 2nd half to win easily. C Jamal Magloire scored 22 points for UCLA. Utah’s C Jeff Odle had 16 points.

5th seed, #2 ranked Oregon (26-6, 12-6)-84, 4th seed, #16 ranked California (21-9, 12-6)-80: This game was tight throughout with California on top 42-39 at the break. After 13 lead changes and 11 ties, Oregon was able to finish on top. The Ducks’ SG Demario Kelly hit for 21 points. SG Mario Burleston scored 23 and pulled down 11 rebounds for the Golden Bears.

Game #31: 7th seed Colorado Buffaloes (20-10, 9-9) vs 2nd seed, #3 ranked Arizona Wildcats (22-7, 13-5):

We lost 85-68 when playing the Wildcats on their home court but beat them 76-64 when playing them at home. On a neutral court we’re given little chance of coming out on top.

Hey, we’re playing a tough team. We don’t need the refs helping them out as well. 4 fouls called on us in the first 2-1/2 minutes with PG Chris Smith picking up 2 and going to the bench. Then PG Lamont Nielsen shows while he’s a helluva player, scoring 24 of Arizona’s first 28 points and we trail 28-8 after 9 minutes of play. We fell behind by as much as 26 points before the half mercifully concluded with us on the short end of a 44-22 score. Arizona outshot us 44% to 33%, out-rebounded us 24-12, and hit 11 of 19 from 3 point distance. No one on our team scores more than 4 points in the half, while the Wildcats’ Lamont Nielsen roasted us for 32 points and C Antwan Minor grabs 12 rebounds.

We come out in the 2nd half firing and hitting to narrow the gap to 50-38 with 16 minutes remaining. In those 4 minutes of play SG Kenton Dunn scores 9 of our 14 points. Arizona calls a time out to cool us down and effectively does that as they go on a 7-0 run in the next 2-1/2 minutes. We fall behind by 22 again before rallying late in the game to only lose by 10, 79-69. Three reasons we lost: (1) Arizona dominated the boards 43-24; (2) The Wildcats hit 14 of 30 from beyond the arc; and (3) Lamont Nielsen.

SG Kenton Dunn hit for 15 points and PF/SF Charles Maors had 13 points. For Arizona PG Lamont Nielsen finished with 38 points, 6 assists and 7 rebounds as a one-man wrecking squad. C Antwan Minor hauled down 17 boards.

We finish the season with a 20-11 record. Following the loss, Mat Hunter and Camah Griffin got into a heated and loud argument that led to a lot of shoving. When I talked with Camah, he apologized and said he’d try to do better in the future, but Mat exploded when I talked with him, saying he wasn’t to blame (this is a typical response by him). I had enough and suspended him for the rest of the season…as a senior, it’s a bad way for him to end his career here.

[PointGuard 70]

Pac-12 Tournament: Semi-Finals

1st seed, #8 ranked Washington (26-4, 15-3)-79, 5th seed, #2 ranked Oregon-64: The first half was close most of the way with 10 lead changes and 3 ties, but Washington had a late run that gave them a 43-34 halftime advantage. The Huskies expanded their lead to as much as 21 points in the 2nd half. C Kelvin Dickerson scored 19 points while grabbing 11 rebounds for Washington. Oregon’s SF Jeff Woolfolk scored 18 points and C Antawn Harper scored 9 and pulled down 19 rebounds.

2nd seed, #3 ranked Arizona (23-7, 13-5)-75, 3rd seed, #1 ranked UCLA (26-6, 13-5)-62: The first 4 minutes were close in this game, but then Arizona took control and by the end of the half the Wildcats held a 47-31 lead. UCLA was never able to mount a serious run in the 2nd half. Arizona’s C Antwan Minor scored 19 and had 9 rebounds. C Jamal Magloire hit for 19 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for UCLA while PF George Mahorn also had a double-double (14 points and 13 rebounds).

In the polls, Oregon is now #2, UCLA is #3, Arizona is #4, California is #16, and Washington gets little respect and is ranked #9.

[PointGuard 70]

Pac-12 Tournament: Championship

2nd seed, #4 ranked Arizona (24-7, 13-5)-79, 1st seed, #9 ranked Washington (27-4, 15-3)-74: In what turned out to be an exciting championship game, there were 14 lead changes and 5 ties. Neither team led by more than 9 points at any point in the game. The first half ended with Arizona on top 40-39. The second half was as competitive as the first, but the Wildcats were able to hold off Washington and win the close game. PG Lamont Nielsen had another big game for Arizona, scoring 27 points. Washington was led by C Kelvin Dickerson’s 20 points.

[PointGuard 70]

Colorado Buffaloes Player and Team Stats for the 2025--2026 Season

[PointGuard 70]

NCAA Selections:

#1 seeds: Arizona, Pittsburgh, Oregon, Syracuse

Arizona is the #1 seed in the East Region
Utah is the #6 seed in the Midwest Region
Oregon is the #1 seed in the South Region
UCLA is the #2 seed in the South Region
Colorado is the #6 seed in the West Region

NIT Selections:

Stanford is the #4 seed in the Midwest Region

CIT Selections:

Youngstown State is the #4 seed in the South Region

[PointGuard 70]

Tournament Results:

NIT, Round 1: Stanford-75, Villanova-57—After a close first half which ended with the Cardinal on top 39-33, Stanford overwhelmed Villanova in the 2nd half to win easily. Reserve C Valter Wright led their scoring with 13 points.

CIT, Round 1: Toledo-91, Youngstown State-86—Youngstown State trailed at the half 43-35, but then came back strong in the early portions of the 2nd half to take a 14 point lead. But Toledo reeled them in and regulation time ended with the score knotted at 77-77. With both starting guards fouled out, Youngstown State’s defense evaporated in the OT and they went down to defeat. PG Mike Lofton led the scoring for the Penguins with 15 points while PF Donnie Williams scored 14 and pulled down 10 rebounds.

NIT, Round 2: Stanford-80, UNLV-64—Stanford jumped out on top and never trailed. The Cardinal led 41-25 at the end of the first half and won in a walk. C Mike Nicholas scored 14 for Stanford and PF Jero Okesola had a double-double (12 points and 10 rebounds).

NCAA Round 1: Arizona-95, Chicago State-52—A total walk in the park for the Wildcats. Arizona scored first and never relinquished the lead. By the end of the first half, Arizona held a massive 58-26 advantage and continued to pad their lead throughout the 2nd half. C Antwan Minor poured in 29 points and picked off 13 rebounds for the Wildcats.

NCAA Round 1: Utah-81, St. Joseph’s-66—Utah quickly jumped ahead of the Hawks and gradually pulled away. By the end of the first half the Utes had built a 48-34 lead. They maintained a solid lead throughout the 2nd half to win convincingly. C Jeff Odle and SG Robert McClain both scored 20 points for Utah.

NCAA Round 1: Oregon-87, Sacred Heart-43—Oregon took care of business and decimated the Pioneers in the first half to sport a 52-16 lead at the break. The Ducks continued to roll in the 2nd half and crushed Sacred Heart. SF Matt Reeves led Oregon’s scoring with 16 points and reserve John Jones had a double-double (15 points and 10 rebounds).

NCAA Round 1: UCLA-63, Presbyterian-50—UCLA never trailed and at the half was ahead 27-23. The Bruins opened a 19 point lead in the 2nd half before cruising to their first round win. UCLA’s C Jamal Magloire popped in 23 points while hauling down 10 rebounds and PF George Mahorn scored 13 and had 10 boards.

NCAA Round 1: St. John’s Red Storm (18-12) vs Colorado Buffaloes (20-11)

St. John’s didn’t play any top 25 teams this season but came on strong to win the Big East Tournament championship. They are a high scoring team, averaging 78.5 ppg (13th highest in Division 1 this year). SG Lamont Cooper is a good shooter from all over the court and averages 14.8 ppg.

Our offense was lackluster in the first half but our defense was stellar. We controlled St. John’s shooting to limit them to hitting just 26% of their shots and forced them to make 9 turnovers. We also controlled the boards 24-17. We ground out a 33-23 halftime lead. SF Rick Coffey scored 10 points.
 

We held onto a double digit lead throughout most of the 2nd half, but with 5 minutes to play St. John’s cut our lead to 6 points at 53-47. Then with 2:05 to go, St. John’s hit a pair of free throws to make it 57-54 in favor of us. With 56 seconds to play and our lead now down to 59-57 we tossed the ball away. We again fouled on St. John’s subsequent shot and when they hit both shots the score was tied with 39 seconds to go. We were called for a travelling infraction with 22 seconds remaining. St. john’s played the clock down to 3 seconds but missed a long 3 and we grabbed the rebound, quickly passed it upcourt to loft up a desperation shot as the buzzer sounded. The shot missed sending the game to overtime.

The score see-sawed back and forth but with 1-1/2 minutes remaining we trailed by 3. Matt Conley then hit a pair of free throws to cut the Red Storm’s lead to a single point. But on the ensuing possession, St. John’s grabbed 2 offensive rebounds and was finally fouled on their 3rd shot. They sunk both foul shots and we trailed again by 3 with a minute to play. We called a time out to set up a 3 point attempt by Rick Coffey. The play worked perfectly to free Coffey who drilled the 3 pointer through the hoop to tie the game at 70-70 with 50 seconds on the clock. The Red Storm missed a shot, we grabbed the rebound and were going to play for the last shot, but Charles Maors moved his pivot foot to give the ball to St. John’s with 38 seconds remaining. We pressed and the Red Storm were unable to get the ball past the midcourt line within 10 seconds. Kenton Dunn was fouled with 17 seconds left. He sunk both shots. St. John’s worked the clock down to 5 seconds and knocked down a 3 to put them on top 73-72. We were unable to get out of the backcourt and get off a shot as time expired. Our season ended.

SF Rick Coffey led our scoring with 22 points. SG Kenton Dunn scored 14. Both Ryan Erickson and Steve Jackson scored 10 with Erickson also getting 9 rebounds.

NCAA Round 2: Arizona-87, Penn State-70—Arizona started slowly but then caught fire to build a 54-42 halftime advantage. Their lead grew to as large as 23 points in the 2nd half and they cruised to a solid victory. PG Lamont Nielsen scored 21 points for the Wildcats.

NCAA Round 2: Ohio State-83, Utah-71—Utah suffered through a horrible first half as Ohio State put them into a 51-24 hole at the break. The Ute’s cut into the Buckeyes’ lead in the 2nd half, but couldn’t make up such a big difference. Utah’s SG Robert McClain scored 16 points.

NCAA Round 2: Oregon-97, Kent State-81—Kent State opened a 16 point lead in the first half and Oregon trailed 50-43 at the half. But the Ducks caught fire in the 2nd half, scoring 54 points to pull away to an impressive victory. 5 Oregon players scored in double figures, led by PF John Jones and C Antawn Harper, both of whom 15 points.

NCAA Round 2: UCLA-69, Georgetown-53—UCLA began the scoring and led by a score of 39-22 at the break. They then had to hold on as Georgetown made a couple of runs to get close. UCLA pulled away again late in the game. C Jamal Magloire scored 29 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead UCLA to victory.

NIT Round 3: Stanford-62, Ohio-57—Ohio jumped out to an 11 point lead in the first half and led 38-31 at the end of the first half. Stanford then crushed the Bobcats offense in the 2nd half with a smothering defense that allowed the Cardinal to achieve a come-from-behind victory. C Mike Nicholas scored 11 points and hauled down 15 boards for Stanford.

NCAA Sweet 16: Seton Hall-83, Arizona-78—Seton Hall took a 48-38 halftime lead and then expanded their lead to 15 early in the 2nd half. Arizona made a steady comeback but couldn’t quite catch up. Arizona’s C Antwan Minor scored 24 and PF Curtis Grace had 14 points and 10 rebounds.

NCAA Sweet 16: Oregon 72, Kentucky-66—Oregon dominated in the first half to lead 39-21 at the break. They then had to hold on as Kentucky nearly came back. Oregon’s PF Matt Reeves led the Ducks’ scoring with 17 points.

NCAA Sweet 16: UCLA-87, Maryland-65—UCLA put on a clinic in the first half as they pulled away to lead 47-30 at the intermission. In the 2nd half they expanded their lead to 29 and won this game with ease. UCLA’s C Jamal Magloire scored 19 points.

NCAA Elite 8: UCLA-79, Oregon-67—Oregon opened the game strongly and took a 5 point lead but then the Bruins came storming back to create a 47-29 advantage at the break. Oregon was able to cut into the lead but never got close enough to seriously challenge in the 2nd half. SG Kyle Taylor hit for 26 points for UCLA. Oregon was led by C John Jones 16 points and 11 rebounds.

NIT Semi-Finals: Stanford-72, Providence-71—Stanford controlled the game in the first half and built a 44-30 halftime advantage. But Providence steadily eroded the Cardinal lead in the 2nd half. Stanford won by hitting a jumper with 3 seconds remaining. PG Dustin Gervin and SF Eric Cohen both scored 15 points for the Cardinal.

NIT Championship: Stanford-75, Weber State-55—Stanford scored first and never trailed in this game. The score at the half was 43-25 in favor of the Cardinal. Stanford’s lead grew to 27 points in the 2nd half as the Cardinal destroyed the Wildcats to become the NIT Champs. Stanford’s PF Jero Okesola scored 15 and pulled down 9 rebounds.

NCAA Final 4: Syracuse-85, UCLA-83—This was a close game the entire way with 13 lead changes and 11 ties. UCLA trailed 45-40 at the half but came back to forge a 76-76 tie as regulation time expired. The OT was at tight as the rest of the game with Syracuse making the final basket to send UCLA home. For the Bruins C Jamal Magloire scored 23 and SG Kyle Taylor scored 22 while also pulling down 13 rebounds.

Championship Results:

CIT: Sam Houston-87, Northern Colorado-83
CBI: Robert Morris-73, Fresno State-68
NIT: Stanford-75, Weber State-55
NCAA: Syracuse-87, Hawaii-82

[PointGuard 70]

Recruiting Recap

We landed 5 good recruits this year:

Mike Minahan is a 6-8 PF from Oak Grove, MO who averaged 16.2 ppg, 2.7 apg, 8.9 rpg, 3.1 spg, and 2.8 bpg during his senior year in high school. He’s has outstanding defensive and rebounding skills and is an excellent shooter from both inside and outside. Because of his quick hands he’s good at stealing the ball. His high school coach said he has a tremendous work ethic. He was the MVP at the Houston Classic camp and in the top 25 at the Indy Elite Camp. When he was so highly praised after those two camps, I figured we’d get beat out by a bunch of highly rated programs, but we got him! He’s ranked as the 51st best recruit in the country.

John Phelan is a 6-3 PG from Inola, OK who averaged 17.9 ppg, 4.6 apg, 4.1 rpg, 2.4 spg, and 1.9 bpg.as a senior. His outside shooting is outstanding and while he scores well outside and at the free throw line, he’s not effective inside. He has very good passing skills but is an average ball handler. He’s not a leader but doesn’t cause problems. He was in the top 25 at the Houston Classic camp and is ranked as the 112th best recruit in the nation.

Brian Ross is a 6-7 PG from Box Elder, SD who averaged 14.7 ppg, 3.6 apg, 9.0 rpg, 1.7 spg and 1.8 bpg during his senior year. He’s a great rebounder and a solid defensive player. He’s a good shooter both inside and outside. His coach advised he hasn’t had any injury problems and has a tremendous work ethic but that he has had some attitude and discipline problems. He’s ranked as the 145th best recruit nationally.

Mel Dye is a 6-7 PF from Canton, SD who averaged 17.6 ppg, 3.8 apg, 5.2 rpg, 2.2 spg, and 2.7 bpg. He is is excellent inside shooter and is very athletic. He’s a hard worker who is a great leader on and off the court. He is ranked as the 225th best recruit in the nation.

Derricus Ivener is a 6-8 PF from Lennox, SD who averaged 15.2 ppg, 3.3 apg, 10.6 rpg, 2.2 spg and 3.0 bpg as a senior. He also has excellent shooting skills both inside and outside. He’s a very good rebounder and shot blocker and has excellent athleticism. He has a tremendous work ethic. was in the top 25 at the Houston Classic camp, and is ranked as the 536th best recruit in the nation.

Overall I’m very pleased with our recruiting class. Since we’re losing all but one interior player, we need a couple of the incoming PF’s to contribute immediately and hope that one of them can handle the Center position. We already had 2 players from South Dakota on our roster this season, and although one is graduating, the 3 new players from that state mean we're beginning to establish a pipeline to South Dakota. I'm rather surprised we were able to land three so recruits who are so talented from a rather sparsely-populated state this year, but it would be great if we can continue to successfully mine that area.

Further News:

The NCAA issue on a rampage. Two more programs got put on probation by the NCAA:

Arizona was found guilty of offering bribes to 4 players. The team will be unable to recruit for 4 years and kept from participating in post-season tournaments for 3 years. Due to the NCAA finding that Coach Paul Jones was involved In the cheating, Arizona has fired him. This is the 3rd Pac-12 to be placed on probation.

Due to its strong religious affiliation, it is rather amusing that Oral Roberts University was found to have bribed 5 recruits. But the NCAA declared it to be a minor violation and therefore only punished the program with a 1 year ban on scholarships. Head Coach Travon Alexander was not involved in the activity and no action will be taken against him.

The NCAA also announced the opening of an investigation into the recruiting activities at Utah, another Pac-12 team. Allegations of illegal recruiting have surfaced recently, but both the coaching staff and the school’s administration deny the claims.

[PointGuard 70]

Post-Season Activity:

None of our players get any Pac-12 awards.

Although a number of head coaching job openings have arisen, the schools that are interested in me aren’t of interest to me.

Five Pac-12 teams will be looking for new head coaches following firings at Arizona, USC, Washington, and Washington State plus a retirement at Oregon State.

Since I met 3 of the 4 goals assigned by the AD, my position at Colorado is secure. The team finished over .500, qualified for the NIT or better, and improved Colorado’s prestige (from 42 to 47). By finishing 7th out of 12 teams, we failed to finish in the top half in the conference standings.

Although my 3rd assistant coach Mike Jones did a good job recruiting in his first year at Colorado, he has a horrible temper and he and I really didn’t hit it off, so it was time for him to go.

After an extensive search and series of offers, I hired Marquise Archibald as our new 3rd assistant coach. He’s 65 and probably not too far from retirement, but is a very good recruiter who was the 2nd assistant coach at Florida International for 7 years and at Tennessee the past 3 years.

After what I felt had been a good season for our team, I petitioned the board for a budget increase and was very pleased when they gave us an $11,125 increase for this coming year. With 5 scholarships to fill this coming year, the additional funds are likely to be needed.

[PointGuard 70]

2026-2027 Season Begins

Recruit Class Rankings Out:

The rankings for last season’s recruit classes are out. Our recruiting class was ranked #21. Other rankings for some of our conference foes include: Arizona, #5; Oregon, #8; UCLA, #18; Washington, #22; Stanford #23; USC #58; Utah #132; and Oregon State #135.

Recruiting Plans

Marquise Archibald, my new 3rd assistant coach and recruiting coordinator, and I had a long discussion about this year’s recruiting. Marquise felt our recruiting last year was a success. But he correctly assessed that our past recruiting has been primarily regional. He feels that with our upward trajectory, improved record, and improved prestige, it’s time to expand our scope to go after some high flyers nationally. He wants to recruit a top 25 player this year.

We discussed our past strategy which was to do a shotgun approach regionally. Since costs will increase by going outside our region, Marquise suggested we become more focused in our efforts…cutting down on the number of recruits on our list, but becoming more laser focused on those on our list. While we’ve been slow to cut recruits from our list who were slow to show interest, he wants to drop those who can’t recognize what we have to offer and be ready to then zero in on new possibilities. He acknowledged that there are no guarantees, but feels that it’s worth taking a chance and I gave him the go-ahead. So we’ll see how it goes.

We have 5 seniors graduating this coming year. We also have 5 freshmen this season, but only have 2 juniors and 1 sophomore. So our classes are askew and I’d like to begin to even them out over the next couple of years. Therefore I’d like to recruit 1 or 2 JC players this season which will begin to correct that problem. Of the 5 players we'll recruit, we need 2 or 3 guards and a true center this season.

Transfers

We don’t have any open scholarships so won’t be participating, but there’s a sophomore from UCLA I’d sure like to have. He was a top 10 recruit, but UCLA just played him a few minutes each game so he must have got fed up with that. But the guy is a stud. We’d probably have a tough time getting him anyway, since the competition is likely to be intense as I expect several premier programs will go after him.

Norton Award nominees

We were ecstatic when 2 of our players received notification that they had been nominated for the prestigious Norton Award.
6’6” junior Kenton Dunn’s play in his first 2 seasons here has been extremely noteworthy. Following a strong freshman year and playing out of position at SG (he’s a natural SF), he led our team in scoring last season with 14.1 ppg. This season he is likely to play primarily at SF but also put some time in at SG and maybe even PF.

Our other nominee is 6’8” freshman Ike Minahan. We believed he would be a stud for us and his nomination shows that others think the same thing. He has so many strong skills that I believe he will provide exactly what we need offensively, defensively and on the boards playing both C and PF this season.

[PointGuard 70]

Summer and Fall Recruiting

My new 3rd assistant, Marquise Archibald, who is in charge of recruiting and I formed a good team. Marquise definitely has a lot of experience and a nice touch when working with prospective recruits and their parents. That made my home visits in September and October more effective since the groundwork had been well done by Marquise.

In early September we got a commitment from a JC point guard and then within the next 3 weeks we added 3 high school recruits, a SG, PF, and PG. All four recruits were ranked from #25 to #88 nationally. So Marquise was successful in helping us land a top 25 player which was one of his goals. We didn’t fill the 5th and last scholarship, but I’m not unhappy about that at all. We will hold it in our back pocket so we can offer it to a high ranked recruit later in the season. In the meantime we will continue to build interest in those recruits on our watch/call lists.

Here’s some basic information about the 4 recruits who have given us verbal commitments:

Devin Whitmore is a 6-0 PG from Stillwater, OK. Last season he averaged 18.6 ppg, 7.9 apg, 3.2 rpg, 3.5 spg, and 0.9 bpg. He’s a sweet shooter from outside with outstanding passing skills and is an adept ball handler. He’s also very strong defensively and is a real ball-hawk. He rarely misses practices. Devin is ranked #25 in the nation.

Lamar Kapono is a 6-8 PF from Houston, TX. He averaged 15.0 ppg, 2.0 apg, 18.5 rpg, 3.6 spg, and 4.0 bpg. He’s a beast on the boards and a great shot blocker and gets a lot of steals. Lamar is a very good defender and is an excellent scorer, particularly inside. He was in the top 10 at the Indy Elite Camp and then was MVP at the Houston Classic Camp. He’s the 32nd highest ranked recruit in the nation.

Malik Howard is a 6-4 SG from Phoenix, AZ who averaged 15.7 ppg, 3.9 apg, and 9.0 rpg. He’s an excellent shooter from outside. He also is a very strong rebounder and a good defender. He needs to work on his shot blocking and stealing, but is very athletic. He’s a hard worker and doesn’t have many problems with injuries. He’s ranked #42 in the nation.

Bret Cross is a 6-1 PG from Calhan, CO and will be transferring to just after playing JC ball. Last season he scored 13.7 ppg and had 3.5 apg, 3.8 rpg, 1.7 spg, and 0.6 bpg. He has strong passing and ball handling skills and is an excellent scorer from outside. He’s very good defensively and is very athletic and is a hard worker. He’s ranked #88 in the nation.

Howard and Whitmore don’t have very good GPA’s in high school, so we’ll be holding our breath when SAT scores are announced.

[PointGuard 70]

Pre-Conference Schedule Announced

We’re continuing to upgrade our pre-conference schedule this season. We’ve included several teams that are ranked in the pre-season polls:

BUTLER
KANSAS ST.
@ #12 Seton Hall
AIR FORCE
IOWA ST.
PURDUE
#15 PITTSBURGH
@ #18 Duke
Penn St. (in the first round of Hoops for Troops Tournament}

[if we’re able to beat Penn State, I don’t know who else we’ll come up against in the Hoops For Troops Tourney, but I’d really like to win that tournament. I think it will give our guys a real morale boost going into Pac-12 play.]