Buffs Poised For Good Season
By Andrew Dill
Nov 18, 2013; Boulder, CO, USA; Colorado Buffaloes guard Jaron Hopkins (23) and guard Xavier Talton (3) and guard Spencer Dinwiddie (25) and forward Josh Scott (40) and guard/forward Tre
The Colorado Buffaloes are coming off of an NCAA Tournament birth, in which they lost to the Illinois Fighting Illini in the second round. Colorado earned the 7th seed in the East bracket as they finished the season 21-12 overall, 10-8 in PAC-12 play.
This season however, they have started off strong. Despite losing their first game of the season to Baylor, Colorado has bounced back winning six-straight. In their win against Harvard Sunday afternoon, they battled back as a team. They trailed for almost 35-minutes of play coming back to defeat the Harvard Crimson.
"Sunday’s second half proved it. Down by 14 points in the opening minute of the final 20, the Buffs (6-1) used a 14-0 run in the last 8:23 to catch and surpass the Crimson (4-1). Sophomore forward Xavier Johnson contributed back-to-back three-pointers in the run, with junior guard Spencer Dinwiddie adding a third and edging the CEC crowd of 9,770 close to delirium."
Colorado now sits at 6-1 overall, 0-0 in PAC-12 play as they will play against Air Force Saturday afternoon.
Colorado would however lose PAC-12 defensive player of the year in Andre Roberson, as he would declare for the 2013 NBA Draft. Roberson would wind up being drafted late in the first-round to the Minnesota Timberwolves at 26th overall, but was then traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Colorado had a void to fill in Roberson’s footsteps as they expect sophomore forward Xavier Johnson to fill in nicely. In his freshman year, ‘X” as they call him, would average 8.9 points per game, 4.8 rebounds, shooting 51.5% percent from the field. So far in the early goings this season, he has posted 10.6 points per game, 4.6 rebounds, and 1.8 steals.
The Buffs will be led by junior guard Spencer Dinwiddie. Here is his sophomore year in review via cubuffs.com.
"2012-2013 (sophomore): A key contributor helping the Buffaloes to their second consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance, a school-first in back-to-back years since 1961-62 & 1962-63 (50 years) • Started every game (33) • First in scoring (15.3 ppg.); assists (99, 3.0) and free throw percentage (82.5%) • Led CU in scoring: 15 times; assists: 20 times (2 shared); steals: eight times (2 shared); blocks: 6 times (6 shared) • 505 points scored (ninth among all CU sophomores), 198 of them came from free throw line • Teamed with Askia Booker (410 pts.) to break CU sophomore tandem record (915 points) • Also formed best one-two backcourt scoring punches with Booker among BCS schools (27.7 ppg.), fourth overall in Division I • Tallied 18+ points: 13 times • 10+ points: 26 times • Career-high 29 points with five 3-pointers in home win over Colorado State (Dec. 5) and was one of eight times scoring over 20 points in a game • 198 free throws, second all-time in a single season; 240 FT attempts, third all-time in a single season • His 82.5 single season percentage ranks eighth • 99 assists ranks No. 35 all-time and is eighth among all CU sophomores • 1,073 season minutes ranks 11th • Owns five of the top six scoring games on the team and three of the assist games."
Colorado will also rely heavily upon junior guard Askia Booker, and sophomore center Josh Scott. Booker would be the second leading scorer on last years squad, averaging 12.4 points per game, 3.5 rebounds, and 2.2 assists. In Scott’s freshman season, he would be fourth on the team in scoring with 10.2 points per game, but led the team in rebounds with 11.2, and was also first in blocks per game at 1.3. Also, red-shirt freshman Wesley Gordon will be in the starting rotation for the Buffs.
Buffaloes head coach Tad Boyle would do well in the recruiting class, as he inked 4-star guard according to ESPN, Tre’Shaun Fletcher out of Tacoma, Washington. He would average 21 points per game, 10 rebounds, and 5 assists per game his senior year in high school. Other notable freshman: 3-star forward Dustin Thomas out of Texarkana, Texas and 3-star guard Jaron Hopkins out of Mesa, Arizona.
Notable Returners: Beau Gamble – Sr, Ben Mills – Sr, Spencer Dinwiddie – Jr, Askia Booker – Jr, Xavier Johnson – So, Josh Scott – So, Eli Stalzer – So, Xavier Talton – So, Wesley Gordon – RFr.
Incomers: Geoffrey Bates – Sr, Kevin Nelson – Sr, Brady Bent – So, Tre’Shaun Fletcher – Fr, Jaron Hopkins – Fr, George King – Fr, Dustin Thomas – Fr.
Schedule:
Nov 8th: vs. Baylor
Nov 10th: vs. Tennessee-Martin
Nov 13th: vs. Wyoming
Nov 16th: vs. Jackson State
Nov 18th: vs. Arkansas State
Nov 21st: vs. UC Santa Barbara
Nov 24th: vs. Harvard
Nov 30th: @ Air Force
Dec 3rd: @ Colorado St.
Dec 7th: vs. Kansas
Dec 13th: vs. Elon
Dec 21st: vs. Oklahoma St.
Dec 28th: vs. Georgia
Jan 2nd: vs. Oregon State
Jan 5th: vs. Oregon
Jan 8th: @ Washington St.
Jan 12th: @ Washington
Jan 16th: vs. UCLA
Jan 18th: vs. USC
Jan 23rd: @ Arizona
Jan 25th: @ Arizona St.
Feb 1st: vs. Utah
Feb 5th: vs. Washington St.
Feb 9th: vs. Washington
Feb 13th: @ UCLA
Feb 16th: @ USC
Feb 19th: vs. Arizona St.
Feb 22nd: vs. Arizona
Mar 1st: @ Utah
Mar 5th: @ Stanford
Mar 8th: @ California
For more on the Colorado Buffaloes or Colorado sports, follow me on twitter @PurpleRocktober, and go to Mile High Maniac.