Apologize for being out of the loop for the last few days, though we're back on track--unlike the college basketball landscape around here. That, more than anything, will serve as an appropriate transition to our subject today.
The highlights of the Front Range college basketball season:
1) Tim Anderson of Air Force wins the MWC Defensive Player of the Year Award.
2) Marcus Hall of CSU leads all MWC players in scoring average at 17.2 points per game.
(Note: Hall leads in scoring average for all games, New Mexico's J.R. Giddens leads in MWC scoring average).
3) The Pioneers won 11 games this season, up from their total of four, just a year ago.
That is about all I could come up with.
The opposite end of this list is more or less discovering how low we can go and what depths of basketball despair we can reach. To some, a scary task, with potentially frightening results. I mean, there was so much ineptiude on the hardwood this season, it's hard to just bring it all together. Let's put it this way: When asked to look into the failure, even the champion of hard-charging determination, fearless Governor of New York, Eliot Spitzer, declined the chance to investigate.
He kept saying he could not help the basketball cause in Colorado because he needed to be in Washington, D.C. Why is that? Isn't he (for now) the Governor of New York?
Much like his constituents back on the East Coast, I have more or less given up on Spitzer,so I will try to figure out the basketball riddle on the Front Range, on my own.
1) Have to say that I am completely floored by this first statistic, but it's pretty wild. For the first time in a decade, the NCAA saw a school in Division I Basketball, Colorado State, fail to win a regular season conference game in men's and women's basketball. The women's team should be applauded for their positive attitude as they won their conference tournament play-in contest on Thursday, despite the adversity of a tough season. Speaking of "tough season", the men's team should try and patent that phrase. They finished the regular season on a 17-game losing streak and today face Wyoming, who like everybody in the MWC, handled the Rams this regular season. Two teams, zero regular-season conference wins...winning a national title is difficult, not winning at all, as CSU can attest, may be even tougher.
2) The Buffs won three games in Conference play this season. There were more people in line at the Passport office I was at today than there seem to be watching this team at the Coors Event Center. Win and the crowds will show up. It is that simple. That winning part, though, has proven to be rather complicated. It's year one for Jeff Bzdelik, therefore, a lot cannot be interpreted from this season. However, at times, their lack of interest and hustle is worrisome, particularly for a guy like Bzdelik, who stresses intensity on the floor.
It was not that long ago that CU had Chauncey Billups and that CSU played Duke in the NCAA Tournament. It just seems that way.
Hope to see you tomorrow, have a great Wednesday, everyone.
-"z"
