Colorado heart Eddie Lampkin Jr. (44) celebrates after a play in opposition to Oregon in the course of the first half of an NCAA faculty basketball sport within the championship of the Pac-12 event Saturday, March 16, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Picture/John Locher)
Because of damage and inconsistent play, the postseason outlook was grim, to place it politely, for Colorado only one month in the past.
But with their backs in opposition to the wall, the Buffaloes responded.
Regardless of a loss in Saturday’s Pac-12 event ultimate, the sudden and stirring late-season surge put collectively by the CU males’s basketball staff was rewarded on Choice Sunday, because the Buffs acquired a bid to the NCAA Match for the sixteenth time in program historical past.
CU is a No. 10 seed and can play Boise State in one of many “First 4” play-in video games in Dayton, Ohio on Wednesday (7:10 p.m. MT, truTV). The winner will play seventh-seeded Florida in Indianapolis on Friday. The Buffs gave the impression to be a lock for the event area after defeating Washington State within the Pac-12 semifinals, however a slew of bid-stealing upsets in convention title video games over the weekend pushed the Buffs again towards the lower line.
“We received again (from Las Vegas) about two within the morning and didn’t get a lot sleep. Ready till 4 o’clock within the afternoon to study your destiny is slightly nerve-racking,” CU head coach Tad Boyle stated. “However you see your identify pop up, and it’s all good. We’re excited.
“I felt good about it. I felt like we had been worthy. I felt like that is definitely an NCAA Match staff. There’s little question in my thoughts. I believe we’ve carried out sufficient to show it. However it’s out of your arms, you don’t know what’s going to occur.”
The No. 10 seed matches the second-lowest seed within the Buffs’ trendy event historical past. The Buffs additionally had been tenth in 2003 and 2013, dropping within the first spherical each instances, however had been a No. 11 seed in 2012 after they topped UNLV within the first spherical.
Colorado State, which defeated the Buffs in Fort Collins on Nov. 29, additionally was despatched to the First 4 with a Tuesday matchup in Dayton in opposition to Virginia.
The loss in opposition to Oregon within the ultimate Pac-12 championship sport ended an eight-game win streak for CU, a run that lifted the Buffs to 3rd place within the Pac-12 and left them at No. 25 within the NET rankings on Choice Sunday. The Buffs stood at No. 42 within the NET going into their sport at USC on Feb. 17, however a double-overtime win that night time sparked the eight-game win streak and allowed CU to leap 17 spots within the NET over the ultimate month.
Colorado owns a program-record-tying 24 wins (24-10) and can play within the event for the sixth time in 13 alternatives below Boyle. CU, although, has by no means superior previous the second spherical. Getting despatched to the play-in sport places an additional problem in the best way of lastly clearing that hurdle. The Buffs’ two seniors —Tristan da Silva and Luke O’Brien — had been a part of CU’s most up-to-date NCAA Match staff in 2021, which routed Georgetown within the first spherical earlier than dropping in opposition to Florida State. Middle Eddie Lampkin Jr. additionally performed within the NCAA Match with TCU two years in the past.
Boyle and Boise State coach Leon Rice are good mates, with Rice serving as an assistant on Boyle’s employees final summer time for the USA Basketball U19 Nationwide Workforce. CU and Boise State (22-10) met final season, with the Broncos posting a 68-55 win on the Myrtle Seaside Invitational. Three of the Broncos’ prime 4 scorers — Tyson Degenhart (17.0 factors per sport), Chibuzo Agbo (13.6) and Max Rice (12.5) — began in that win in opposition to the Buffs.
“It’s simply the character of a basketball season that goes over 4, 4 and a half months, you’re going to have ups and downs. You’re going to have highs and lows,” Boyle stated. “This 12 months’s highs and lows had been important due to our accidents, and the truth that we received sizzling on the finish.”
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