SB Nation - Dwight Thorne II

Preview: Colorado Buffaloes Take On the Gonzaga Bulldogs In the Maui Invitational

irish1611 — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 03:17:49 -0000

3-0, 0-0
NR (AP)
NR (Coaches Poll)

November 23rd, 2009
Who: Colorado Buffaloes vs. Gonzaga Bulldogs
Where: Lahaina Civic Center
1:00 pm MT
TV: ESPN2
Live Stats: ESPN.com
Line: Gonzaga -10.5
Gonzaga Blog: Slipper Still Fits

2-1, 0-0
NR (AP)
NR (Coaches Poll)

The always prestigious preseason tournament, the Maui Invitational, kicks off tomorrow with the Colorado Buffaloes taking on the Gonzaga Bulldogs, a top five program in terms of wins over the past decade. Gonzaga has won 9 consecutive regular-season conference titles and has reached the NCAA tournament in nine consecutive years as well, something only nine schools have done over that time period. Now recruiting with the best of them in college basketball, the Gonzaga Bulldogs are a true perennial power, not just a nice story.

preview after the jump...

The Gonzaga Bulldogs are 2 - 1 in the early season with home wins against Mississippi Valley State and IPFW. The one loss was on the road to the #2 ranked Michigan State Spartans 75 - 71 in a game which they led until three minutes remaining. If you watched the game, you will have noticed three things. The Bulldogs are very talented, are playing a different style of basketball more conducive to the physical style of play they will see at tourney time and you may have needed a roster to see who all of the new players were. Amazingly, Gonzaga stuck with Michigan State after losing five seniors off of last year's team - F Ira Brown, F Austin Daye, G Micah Downs, F Josh Heytvelt, G Jeremy Pargo. Austin Daye was a first round draft pick in the 2009 draft while Downs, Heytvelt and Pargo were starters along with Daye for much of the year and all four were in the top five of the team in scoring. This off a team that went to the sweet sixteen a year ago. Because the Bulldogs were such an experienced team in 2009, Gonzaga has four upperclassmen and twelve underclassmen including nine freshmen. Five freshmen play and make solid contributions for this team. But don't expect much of a drop off from the Bulldogs as you can already tell, they have enough of a talented nucleus to be a contender, just ask Michigan State.

The two top returning players from a year ago is Colorado high school product, G Matt Bouldin and G Steven Gray. Matt Bouldin, a front runner for the West Coast Conference player of the year, leads the team in scoring this year with 17.3 points per game. The biggest difference between last year's team and this year's team is the early front court play from sophomore Robert Sacre (7'0"), freshman Elias Harris (6'7"), freshman Kelly Olynyk (7'0") and senior Will Foster (7'4"). Robert Sacre, hurt last year, has averaged 16.3 ppg and 7.0 rpg. His presence is a big improvement inside from a year ago when even Bulldog fans would admit that players like Heytvelt and Daye became too perimeter oriented. Sacre and Harris have truly solidified the post position on this team. If you are fortunate enough to watch the game tomorrow, you have to check out Elias Harris, a freshman from Germany who sort of flew under the radar in the recruiting circles but has Gonzaga fans salivating. A silky smooth player in the mold of Amare Stoudemire, he has come in and averaged 14.3 points per with seven rebounds.

This team might also have more depth compared to a year ago, especially with Sacre and Harris now available, which is making the Bulldogs more competitive on the defensive end, something Gonzaga fans have always wanted to see more of. If their past performances are indicative of the future, expect the Bulldogs to really get after the young Buffs on the defensive end.

As for the Colorado Buffaloes, this game will be a pretty big challenge for them. Gonzaga, although they have one loss, will probably be ranked when the polls come out tomorrow because of their impressive performance against MSU. Where the Buffs might have the most trouble is in the post where Sacre, Harris, Olynyk and Foster are all bigger and more talented than the Buffs down low. The tallest person on the Buffs top five is Austin Dufault who stands 6'9". True freshman Shane Harris-Tunks goes 6'11" but has only averaged 8.0 minutes a game. It will be interesting to see how the Buffs try and defend the Bulldogs. You will probably see a lot of zone as my guess is the biggest threat from the Zags is their penetration game and less on the perimeter as Steven Gray is their only bona fide perimeter shooter but he has struggled shooting only 40% from the field and 35% from the three point line. The biggest question for the Buffs the past three years has been its rebounding and that has come into question again this year as they were out-rebounded 31 - 23 by Texas Southern, who the next day went up and lost to University of Northern Colorado. The Buffs shot over 60% in that game to win but unless the Buffs hit the boards hard on Monday against the Zags, it could be a long day. Colorado averages 29 rebounds a game with junior college transfer Marcus Relphorde leading the Buffs with just 4.0 rebounds per game.

Tomorrow's game does have the potential for some great matchups, though. The best in my eyes is Gonzaga star Matt Bouldin against the Buffs' star Cory Higgins. Higgins is once again proving he is one of the best players in the Big 12, averaging 23.3 ppg and shooting an amazing 70%. Bouldin is a very physical guard who uses his strength to create shots. It will be a good battle of strength vs. speed. Another matchup that will be exciting is Buffs' freshman G Alec Burks against G Steven Gray. Gray is the Zags best perimeter threat. Alec Burks is averaging a strong 18.0 points per, a great number for a guy playing for the first time at the collegiate level. If the Buffs can out play the two perimeter players in Bouldin and Gray, they might be able to make things interesting tomorrow. I am very excited to see how Burks plays tomorrow in his first look at strong competition.

I am very worried about the matchups elsewhere on the court. Colorado G Nate Tomlinson will face a very tough and quick guard in sophomore Meech Goodson, who likes to push the pace and play tough defense on the perimeter. Look for more Dwight Thorne, Cory Higgins and Alec Burks to play the point tomorrow as well. One of the reasons the signing of Marcus Relphorde got Buffs' fans excited was his athleticism at 6'8" and his self acclaimed ability to guard four positions on defense. He might have to do that tomorrow and do it very well for the Buffs to have a chance when freshman Elias Harris is in the game. This will be a good barometer for Relphorde and I hope the coaching staff puts Relphorde on him as soon as he steps on the floor and tells him it is his job to make the freshman's life miserable.

As for the post position, your guess is as good as mine as to what the Buffs will plan to do but you can bet Gonzaga goes to the post often tomorrow. If Colorado can get Harris and Sacre in foul trouble, which is what Michigan State did to beat the Zags, CU will have a much better chance tomorrow, that and if they make it a goal to crash the boards.

It should be a fun watch and a great gauge for the young Buffs' team.

Full Maui Invitational Field Overview

Ben Broman — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 05:28:06 -0000

We're just hours (okay, days) away from tipoff in Hawaii, and Maryland actually have a legitimate shot at winning the entire thing. Here's a quick overview of their competition; we'll go more in-depth as each game goes along (minus Chaminade). The bottom half of the bracket seems unusually loaded this year - it'll be a tough championship for whoever escapes the upper half.

First Round

Chaminade Silverswords

Maryland's first round game as the de facto #1 seed in the tourney pits them against hosts and traditional upsetters, Chaminade. Everyone remembers that one time they faced a team from the ACC in this tourney, but they shouldn't prevent much of a problem. They might be the worst team Maryland plays this year.

So Far: No games played

Watch Out For: Joel Smith, last year's leading scorer and disco extraordinaire. His straight-outta-the-70s fro may distract Eric Hayes.

Second Round

Vanderbilt Commodores

The favorite to play Maryland, Vandy could present a big-time problem for the Terps with their established size (skilled big man A.J. Ogilvy) and sweet-shooting freshman guard John Jenkins. This one will be tight, and would give Maryland a chance to test their young bigs against an established center.

So Far: An easy win over Libscomb and a 2-point nailbiter over St. Mary's to get to 2-0

Watch Out For: Jeffery Taylor, an athletic Swede with a penchant for big dunks and grabbing rebounds. Ogilvy and Jenkins have been disappointing in the first two games, and the onus has fallen on Taylor to get the points, which he's done - he leads the Commies (that's what I'm going to call them) with 19.5 points a game.

Cincinnati Bearcats

Two words: Lance. Stephenson. That's what this matchup will be about, even though Cincy has enough surrounding players to cause Maryland some trouble. Hopefully, Stephenson will be so concerned with beating Maryland that he takes the Bearcats out of the game with forced shots. Otherwise, they have the talent to make this interesting.

So Far: A close win over Prairie View A&M and a blowout of Toledo; they're 2-0

Watch Out For: Deonta Vaughn and Yancy Gates. Stephenson will get the talk, but senior PG Vaughn is the team leader, and super-talented Gates, a face-up four, can hurt opponents when he's focused in.

Third Round

Colorado Buffaloes

Well, Colorado did return four starters from last year, including stud SG Cory Higgins. Unfortunately for them, they're four starters from a team that had 9 wins. Still, more experienced usually means better, though probably not good enough to get all the way to the championship game. The lack of a dominating rebounding presence may hurt them, as it takes away from their ability to exploit Maryland's young bigs.

So Far: Three wins on the year, all showcasing an ability to score a lot of points against lesser opponents

Watch Out For: Dwight Thorne. Higgins is the star of the team and will score the points, but Thorne is the lone senior and a steady presence. He's very good from outside; whoever's manning him up will need to extend their defense.

Gonzaga Bulldogs

If you didn't notice, Gonzaga took Michigan State to the wire a few days ago. These guys are plenty talented, and will probably be Maryland's opponent in the final. That's not a great sign, if you look at recent history: Maryland's played Gonzaga three times since 2000 and lost all three, including two blowouts - one of which came last year. The Zags lose star PG Jeremy Pargo, but return SG Matt Bouldin and consistent inside presence Robert Sacre. Without a doubt, this will be Maryland's toughest matchup.

So Far: Two blowout wins a close loss to the #2 team in the country; 2-1

Watch Out For: Steven Gray and Demetri Goodson. Gray is the #2 man for Gonzaga and another solid outside shooter. Goodson is replacing Pargo, and has been a little turnover prone so far this year. Vasquez should be able to outclass him at point.

Arizona Wildcats

Ah, a game against Sean Miller. Personally, I'd love to lay down the law on Miller for messing with our recruit (Terrell Stoglin), and I'm sure it'll be an interesting game for Stoglin, too. Senior PG Nic Wise is the leader of this team, and one of the few holdovers after the ugly Sean Miller transition. Big man Jamelle Horne is also back, and he's capable of putting up numbers close to double-doubles. Arizona has talent, but I wouldn't bet against Maryland if this is the championship game.

So Far: Two easy wins that might not've been as easy as they should've been

Watch Out For: Solomon Hill. The freshman SF moved over to a area of relative stability (no, really) from his originaly USC commitment late last year. A cerebral wing with everything but a jumper, he's second for the Wildcats in scoring.

Wisconsin Badgers

It's supposed to be a building year for Wisconsin, but they aren't buying it. And really, there's no reason they should: these guys are the BC of college basketball. They simply find ways to always have a solid year and get an NCAA berth, no matter how bad they may seem. This year they have to deal with their star forward and a major starter leaving. They still have two guards back, Trevon Hughes and Jason Bohannon, who will be expected to shoulder a lot of the load. They're a big question mark right now, so I don't feel too comfortable taking a big stance on them one way or the other at the moment.

So Far: Two easy wins - though neither over 20 points - over bad but not terrible opponents.

Watch Out For: Jon Leuer. Bohannon and Hughes are the ones I mentioned, but it's Leuer - a long, lanky PF who would draw Maryland's big men out with his shooting ability - who's led the Baders in scoring and surprised everyone with his development.

KNOW THY ENEMY: Colorado Buffaloes

BracketCat — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 18:00:33 -0000

Okey dokey, Cats, get ready for a swift blitz of info leading into the long-anticipated start of basketball season. Each week during the month of November, you'll get two KNOW THY ENEMY previews for the price of one. And this week, there even will be a super-duper extra-special bonus preview before the Cats' exhibition opener on Sunday.

So, hit the jump for everything you need to know about the enemy Buffaloes, as I catch up on a preview that should have ran last week, and if you need to know more for some reason, you always can head to The Ralphie Report.

The Coach

Jeff Bzdelik
Third Season
21-42 (3-28) at Colorado
96-89 (26-38) overall

Although his second year at the helm was not a successful one based on victories, Bzdelik and his staff continued onward and upward in numerous and positive steps toward a successful season, despite a 9-22 campaign. With one senior and one junior, and a core of underclassmen, the Buffaloes' youth of freshmen and sophomores attributed for 72.3 percent of the team's scoring, marking the highest of any Buffs team since the Big 12 began play in 1996-97.

CU's competitive spirit on a nightly basis saw the Buffs fall short in conference play eight times by single digits (an average of 5.3 ppg) and in 11 games overall (an average of 4.6 ppg). Four of those single-digit setbacks came against 2008-09 NCAA Tournament opponents: Texas (in overtime), at Kansas, at Oklahoma and Texas A&M.

The Departures

Starter

Jermyl Jackson-Wilson (20.5 minutes per game, 5.4 points per game, 3.8 rebounds per game)

Reserves

Matt Favaro (2 minutes per game, 2 points per game, 0 rebounds per game)
Ryan Kelley (5.5 minutes per game, 2.6 points per game, 0.5 rebound per game)
Toby Veal (6.9 minutes per game, 1.8 points per game, 1.6 rebounds per game)
Andrew Zehnder (5.1 minutes per game, 0.8 point per game, 0.2 rebound per game)

The Veterans

		#1 Nate Tomlinson Sophomore Guard 6-3 \| 185 Sydney, Australia Tomlinson started all 28 games in which he participated. He missed three games due to injuries; averaged 7.4 points, 3 assists, 2.6 rebounds and 33.6 minutes per game; finished in 16th place on CU's freshman points list with 206; became the first freshman since Chauncey Billups to lead the team in assists and finished seventh on the school's all-time freshman assists list; shared scoring honors with 18 points at Stanford on 8-of-12 shooting; and led CU in assists 14 times. Tomlinson had five games with five or more assists and 18 games with at least three; a season-best seven assists against Texas A&M; six rebounds vs. Iowa State; four steals at Texas Tech; an assist in 27 of 28 games; and nine games with 10+ points. He finished seventh overall in the Big 12 in minutes played; played 35+ minutes 13 times; grabbed four or more rebounds nine times; made two free throws with 6.6 seconds remaining, clinching CU's 65-62 win over Louisiana-Monroe; and was the first freshman point guard since 2002-03 to start a season opener.

		#3 Rick Higgins Senior Guard 6-1 \| 175 Danville, Calif. Higgins transferred to Colorado from Cal Poly to play with his brother, Cory. He sat out of the 2008-09 season due to transfer rules and lost a year of eligibility because he already had redshirted at Cal Poly, where he played in 43 games, with two starts in two years, and averaged 1.2 points per game.

		#11 Cory Higgins Junior Guard 6-5 \| 190 Danville, Calif. Third Team All-Big 12 (2009) Big 12 Player of the Week (12/08/09) Higgins was one of 13 nationally ranked players who were first or second on their team in the five major statistical categories (points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks) and the only sophomore nationally on that list. He was first statistically on the team in points, rebounds, steals, defensive and total rebounds, free throws and attempts, free-throw percentage, field goals made and attempted, and minutes played; second in assists and blocks; third in 3-point field goals made; and among CU players with a minimum of 200 shots taken was second on the team in shooting percentage Higgins tallied three nationally ranked categories: 64th in steals, 77th in free-throw percentage and 93rd in points per game. He scored 538 points, finishing 13th all-time at CU for most points scored in a single season. Those 538 points rank third all-time among CU sophomores and seventh all-time among CU guards for a season. Higgins led the team in scoring 18 times, steals 16 times, rebounding 15 times, assists 10 times and blocks 8 times; scored double digits in 28 of 31 games, 20+ points 12 times and 30+ twice; owned the team's top two scoring games with 34 points vs. Texas and 33 points vs. Colorado State; made 11 field goals in a single game twice, also a team best; achieved a perfect 12 of 12 at the free-throw line twice; had two double-doubles; was second both in CU seasonal minutes and conference minutes played; was named to the Rainbow Classic All-Tourney team, leading the Buffs in scoring every game; scored a CU 13-year conference high with a personal-best 34 points against Texas; also performed the same feat against Texas A&M with 27 points; was the first player at CU to lead the team in rebounding and assists the first two games of any season since the 1973-74 season; played 35+ minutes 24 times; had six games over 40 minutes; posted six or more rebounds 15 times; grabbed three or more steals 13 times; dished out four or more assists eight times; had 13 games with at least six or more made field goals; and tallied five CU Athlete of the Week awards.

		#12 Dwight Thorne II Senior Guard 6-3 \| 185 Arlington, Texas Thorne was selected as one of 10 NCAA Division I student-athletes to participate on an Athletes In Action team for a one-week, competitive international tour against teams in Poland and Berlin, Germany. He is a three-year captain who started every game; was the team leader with 45 made 3-pointers; was second in team scoring, steals, made field goals and made free throws; was third in assists with 52, minutes played and fourth in rebounds; finished the season ranked in three Big 12-only categories; played 1,035 minutes and made 128 field goals, surpassing his previous two-year total of 53; made a 3-pointer in 23 of 31 games and had 12 games with at least two treys; scored in double digits 22 times, netted 20+ three times and scored a career-best 30 points vs. Kansas State on 8-of-12 shooting, with a personal-best five 3-pointers, nine free throws made and 11 attempts; scored a trio of 20+ point efforts; led the team in scoring eight times; recorded five or more rebounds nine times; made three or more 3-pointers five times; logged 35+ minutes 16 times; and played 30+ minutes 24 times. Thorne is a cousin of Acie Law IV, the former Texas A&M star who plays for the Atlanta Hawks.

		#14 Javon Coney Junior Guard 6-3 \| 210 Chicago, Ill. Coney played in 23 games, with one start; averaged 8.8 minutes, one point and 1.3 rebounds per game; started his first career game against Oklahoma State; had a career-best six rebounds, one blocked shot and 27 minutes played against the Cowboys; played a career-best 27 minutes against Kansas State, with four points and four rebounds; grabbed five defensive rebounds at Nebraska; tallied a season-best five points with five rebounds against Missouri; recorded 20+ minutes four times and multiple rebounds eight times; and is a non-scholarship student-athlete.

		#24 Levi Knutson Junior Guard 6-4 \| 200 Littleton, Colo. Knutson played 30 games, with one start, and averaged 3.8 points, 1.7 rebounds and one assist per game. His lone start came at Baylor, with seven points, three rebounds and two assists in 33 minutes. He led the team in scoring with a career-high 19 points on 8-of-13 shooting, and a team-high four assists and two steals, against Oklahoma State; grabbed a career-best six rebounds at home against Nebraska; shared team-high honors with six rebounds against Nebraska and Texas in Oklahoma City; went 3 of 3 from the field in a home win against Iowa State; had a career-best two steals at Texas Tech and Oklahoma State; played nine games of 20+ minutes and netted three games in scoring double digits; and has played 62 career games, with two starts.

		#33 Austin Dufault Sophomore Forward 6-9 \| 230 Killdeer, N.D. Dufault was named one of three CU Sports Performer of the Year finalists in the Male Freshman Athlete of the Year Award category; started all 31 games, averaging 30.7 minutes, 8.2 points, 3.7 rebounds and one assist per game; scored 254 points, ranking 11th among CU freshmen, and his 115 rebounds ranked 12th among all CU freshmen; was third in team scoring, rebounding and defensive rebounding, and fourth overall in minutes; He was one of three on the team to have started all 31 games; was fifth among all conference freshmen in scoring and rebounding; led CU in scoring twice, with a season-best 21 points on 9-of-14 shooting vs. Louisiana-Monroe. His 15 points and five rebounds against Missouri led CU in both categories for the first time. Dufault had a season-best seven rebounds at Iowa State and at SMU, as well as a Big 12-best 13 points at Oklahoma; played a season-high 42 minutes against Texas; recorded 12 games in double digits and 12 games shooting 50 percent or better from the field; led the team in rebounding six times, had five or more rebounds 13 times and played 35+ minutes seven times; logged 30+ minutes 20 times; adds size and versatility to the roster; and brings a high basketball IQ with a great shooting touch from long range.

		#34 Casey Crawford Junior Forward 6-9 \| 245 Overland Park, Kan. Crawford played in 25 games, with four starts; averaged 5.5 points, 1.7 rebounds and 14.2 minutes per game; was fourth on the team in 3-pointers made, and fifth in steals and points per game. During the last five games of the season, the transfer from Wake Forest averaged 8.6 points and 2.6 rebounds per game, and led CU with eight 3-pointers. He had a career-best 18 points with four treys in a win over Harvard. The 18 points were the most points off the bench to lead the team in scoring since Javon Coney scored 15 points in a reserve role at Nebraska. Crawford scored a Big 12 season-high 16 points on 5-of-11 shooting against Texas A&M, and also played a season-high 30 minutes; and came off the bench to score 14 points, tying a career-best four 3-pointers against Oklahoma State. Eight times he had three or more rebounds in a game, and had five games with five or more field goals made. He netted 14 points in his CU debut, tying Jermyl Jackson-Wilson’s debut of 14 back in 2006-07. The 14 points is a CU high by a transfer or freshman in a debut over the last four years. Crawford scored in double digits six times, led the team in scoring twice and played 20+ minutes six times.

		#55 Trey Eckloff Sophomore Forward 6-10 \| 235 Englewood, Colo. Eckloff played in 26 games, averaging 10.1 minutes, 2.2 points and 1.8 rebounds per game; logged a season-high 25 minutes with six rebounds against Kansas; also had 23 minutes and four rebounds at Stanford; had a season-best two steals against the Cardinal; scored a season-best seven points on 3-of-4 shooting at Oklahoma; grabbed five rebounds at Missouri; played 15+ minutes in six games; scored four or more points seven times; recorded multiple rebounds 13 times; and was the second-youngest scholarship player in the Big 12 (teammate Ryan Kelley was the youngest).

The Redshirt

#44 Trent Beckley
Junior Forward
6-10 | 250
Vail, Colo.

Beckley missed the entire 2008-09 season with a stress fracture in his lumbar spine, but will have two more years of eligibility remaining after redshirting.

The non-scholarship student-athlete played in 10 games in the 2007-08 season, spanning 44 minutes. He logged a career-high 10 minutes at Mizzou, with three defensive rebounds; went 2 for 2 from the field, scoring four points with two rebounds and one steal at Kansas State; scored two points with one defensive rebound in four minutes at home against Missouri; and blocked one shot against Grambling State.

The Newcomers

		#2 Shannon Sharpe Freshman Guard 6-1 \| 200 Corona, Calif. Sharpe will miss the 2009-10 season after having season-ending knee surgery, Bzdelik announced Oct. 28. As a senior at Corona Centennial High School, Sharpe averaged 17.9 points, 7.9 rebounds, 7.7 assists and 3.2 steals per game; helped the Huskies to a 27-5 record during his senior season; tallied four top-five Mountain View League finishes in points, assists, steals and rebounds; recorded five triple-doubles during his senior season; and was named Mountain View League and Triple Crown Tournament most valuable player, and also named to the Inland Empire and Corona all-tournament team. Sharpe was on the Division 2 All-California Interscholastic Federation and All-Riverside County first team his senior year, and was a member of 2007 All-California Interscholastic Federation championship team. He helped Corona to the 2007 and 2008 Mountain View League Championships. In 2008, his AAU team was ranked No. 3 nationally.

		#5 Marcus Relphorde Junior Forward 6-7 \| 220 Chicago, Ill. Relphorde averaged 10.6 points and 4.2 rebounds per game as a sophomore at Indian Hills Community College, helping the Warriors finish with a 30-3 record. He was an All-Region honorable mention; shot .487 from the floor and .722 from the free-throw line; averaged 14 points per game; and scored in double figures in 12 of the team's last 13 games. Relphorde originally signed with Saint Louis under then-head coach Brad Soderberg. As a freshman with the Billikens and under head coach Rick Majerus, he averaged 4.3 minutes in 21 games; scored 22 points with 10 rebounds; and made 5 of 7 shots against Houston Baptist en route to 14 points and a team-high seven boards.

		#10 Alec Burks Freshman Guard 6-6 \| 185 Grandview, Mo. Burks was the 2009 Gatorade Player of the Year in the state of Missouri. During his senior year at Grandview High School, he averaged 23 points per game, in addition to 6.8 rebounds, 3 assists and 1.6 steals per game. He also was named The Kansas City Star and Metro Sports Player of the Year during his senior year. Burks helped his team to a 29-2 record during his senior season; scored a season-high 38 points; and received first-team all-Suburban Mix Six League honors as a junior after averaging 19.9 points and 4.8 rebounds per game. Rivals.com listed Burks the No. 31 point guard in the Class of 2009. He was the career leader, in points scored, in school history and participated on the Mo-Kan All-Star game.

		#13 Shane Harris-Tunks Freshman Forward 6-11 \| 225 Liverpool, Australia Harris-Tunks was a member of Team Australia, which placed fourth at the 2009 FIBA U19 World Championship; played in eight games, averaging 2.5 ppg; represented Australian U/19 at the Albert-Schweitzer Tournament in Germany and a third-place finish, and also was named captain; and was an Australian Institute of Sport scholarship recipient.

		#35 Keegan Hornbuckle Freshman Forward 6-7 \| 205 Westlake Village, Calif. As a senior at Campbell Hall High School, Hornbuckle averaged 12.2 points, 4.8 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.3 steals per game, helping his team to 19-9 record. He was a three-time first-team All-Olympic League selection and a three-time All-California Interscholastic Federation second-team selection. Hornbuckle was rated as the No. 34 small forward/shooting guard by Scout.com; helped Campbell Hall to a 31-5 record as a junior and a No. 39 national ranking by Rivals.com in 2007-08; was a member of a pair of state championship-winning teams in his sophomore and junior years; had a four-year prep record of 101-29; and was a member of the Valley All-Star and academic all-American All-Star team.

My thanks to the Colorado sports information department for the photos and most of the information for the bios.

The Analysis

There's no sugar-coating the fact that Colorado sucked ass last season. I mean, seriously, they went 1-15 in Big 12 play.

But as crazy as it sounds, there are a few reasons for optimism in 2009-10 for a program mired in mediocrity and dragged down by an athletic department that at times seems strangely uncommitted to developing athletic programs.

Foremost among those reasons is the return of super-stud Cory Higgins. The do-everything junior is one of the better returning players in the North and is skillful enough to help propel Colorado to a few more conference wins this season.

Colorado also returns its two other guards, Nate Tomlinson and Dwight Thorne II. K-State fans might remember Thorne from the game last year when he set his career high in points against us. Tomlinson played well for a true freshman, and should continue to mature into one of the better point guards in the league.

The fourth and final returning starter is Austin Dufault. Like Tomlinson, Dufault started every game last season as a true freshman. Colorado took its lumps, but all that experience should start to pay off this season as teams such as Missouri and Nebraska enter critical rebuilding phases.

But Dufault will need to help. Colorado was notoriously weak and undersized in the post last year, and coach Jeff Bzdelik set out to address some of those crucial needs in offseason recruiting.

Enter Marcus Relphorde and Shane Harris-Tunks. Relphorde is a juco transfer who began his college career at St. Louis under Rick Majerus. I look for him to have an impact similar to Marquis Gilstrap at Iowa State.

At 6-11, Harris-Tunks is the tallest player on the Buffs' roster. Like Tomlinson, he is a native Australian, and we've all seen how good they can be in college, even as true freshmen (Patrick Mills, Aaron Bruce and Andrew Bogut all are names that come to mind). At a minimum, he should provide solid depth in the paint.

Javon Coney and Levi Knutson should provide quality depth for the guard spots. Each started a game last season and played in several. Casey Crawford, an Overland Park native who transferred to Boulder from Wake Forest by way of a juco, is another nice player who should figure into the eight-man rotation.

After that, the pickings are slimmer and the new recruiting class is harder to figure out. Alec Burks was a pretty highly touted recruit out of Missouri, but not as highly touted as some of the guys the power programs in the Big 12 are adding to their rosters. Shannon Sharpe might have made an impact, but it was announced last week that he will have to redshirt after having microfracture surgery on his knee. Keegan Hornbuckle probably will get a few minutes out of necessity, but I don't think he will contribute much more than that.

Rick Higgins transferred from Cal Poly to play with his little brother, and like Jeffrey Fitzgerald, he burned a year of eligibility to do it because he already had redshirted at his previous school. I admire his C.J. Henry-ish desire to play with bro, but nothing in Rick's background suggests he will be anything more than a bench-warmer, even at Colorado.

Trey Eckloff played a lot last year, but didn't do much statistically when he was in. Still, you can't coach 6-10, so he probably will see increased minutes. The other 6-10 guy is Trent Beckley, who is likely to be rusty after sitting out last year due to major back problems.

That's pretty much it. There's some talent and some potential on this roster, but it's still frighteningly thin on talent and size for a team that has to play Kansas, Kansas State and Craig Brackins two times each.

Projected Starting Lineup


Nate Tomlinson	Dwight Thorne II	Cory Higgins	Marcus Relphorde	Austin Dufault
1	2	3	4	5

Projected Top Reserves


Javon Coney	Levi Knutson	Alec Burks	Casey Crawford	Shane Harris-Tunks
1	2	3	4	5

The Final Verdict

I think Colorado will be improved because Bzdelik is a hell of a coach, but it probably won't be reflected in the record. There's just too damn many other good teams in the North and in the Big 12 as a whole for them to move up very much.

That said, even a two- or three-win season in conference play would represent massive improvement over last year's post-Richard Roby 1-15 debacle, wouldn't it?

The best news for Colorado is this: The Buffs get to play Nebraska twice. Wait'll you see my breakdown on that train wreck.

No matter how bad Colorado is, I think they finally might get out of the basement.

Predicted finish: 11th

Best-case scenario: 9th

Previously on KNOW THY ENEMY...

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Texas A&M
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Iowa State
Texas Tech
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2009-10 Team Previews: Colorado Buffaloes

Zach B — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 23:46:38 -0000

Cory Higgins has flown under the radar thus far in Boulder but don't expect him to be overlooked this season.

View full size photo »

Early season tournaments are a great way for teams to simulate the pressure of playing in late March. Last season, Gonzaga was playing some of their best basketball when they traveled to Orlando for the Old Spice Classic. They won the tournament that featured teams such as Michigan State, Tennessee, Maryland, Oklahoma State, and Georgetown. This season, the Zags will be headed to Maui instead of Orlando and instead of facing one of the deepest early season tournament fields in recent history like last season, they'll take on teams similar to them, young, inexperienced, and dangerous. It's not a weak field by any means. It features some of the best coaches in the nation in Mark Few, Sean Miller, Bo Ryan, and Gary Williams and plenty of outstanding youth.

Gonzaga's first opponent in the 2009 Maui Invitational will be last season's worst team in the Big 12 Conference, the Colorado Buffaloes. CU won 9 ballgames last season, only one of those being in the Big 12. They have, for all intents and purposes, have nowhere else to go but up from last season. Jeff Bzdelik, most known for his head coaching stint with the Denver Nuggets, enters his third season as the Buffs head coach and while his seat isn't as hot as the Buffs' football coach, it's obvious that another nine win season won't be tolerated in Boulder. Looking ahead to this season, Colorado has been slated by the Big 12 coaches to finish last in the conference...by a pretty wide margin. The good news is that Jeff Bzdelik is now working with mainly kids that he recruited for his system. Much like Gonzaga, Colorado brought in a large 2009 recruiting class, five in all and it seems that Bzdelik will be giving each of them a fair shot to make an immediate impact. While this class is very promising, I don't think any Colorado fan would tell you that this season will be a huge breakout year for this team. Their matchup with Gonzaga comes at a favorable time. Both teams will be attempting to find their identity as a basketball team and Colorado might have the most talented player on the floor in junior guard Cory Higgins.

Last Season: Jeff Bzdelik's second season in Boulder was extremely difficult. There's no real way to sugar coat a nine win season when you are a Big 12 team but looking at last season's results, it is clear that the missing component was experience. It's difficult to even dissect last season's schedule for Colorado because of it's inconsistencies. They lost to both Kansas and Oklahoma by five points in very tight games and that was kind of the way the rest of the Big 12 slate went. They were constantly overmatched by teams in their conferences late in games and really lacked that killer instinct from veteran players. They lost nine close games of less than 10 points and didn't defeat any team with an RPI of less than 150. A major reason for there inability to close games is because of the style of basketball the Jeff Bzdelik plays. If you watched any CU basketball last season, which I doubt many of you did, you would notice that when CU is playing well, there isn't a whole lot of scoring. The Buffs mostly lingered around the high 50's to low 60's in Big 12 play and when you don't have much talent, opposing teams are able to get back into games no matter how bad they play. The one bright spot on Colorado's team last season was Cory Higgins. Higgins was third team all Big 12 a year ago and averaged 17 points per game for CU. A 6'5'' guard, Higgins also led the team in rebounds and steals.

New Faces: Five new players will suit up for Jeff Bzdelik this season. There are three names that we'll probably hear a lot about come Maui. The first one is Marcus Relphorde. Relphorde has arrived in Boulder via Indian Hills Community College via Saint Louis University. Like most junior college players that make it to division one basketball, Relphorde is a versatile 6'7'' forward with great size that can play four positions on the court, even point guard. Bzdelik has raved about Marcus thus far and all indications point to him starting the season at forward for the Buffs. The second newcomer to watch is 6'0'' guard Shannon Sharpe. Sharpe is a YouTube legend that averaged 18 points and 8 rebounds in his senior season in Corona, California. Sharpe kinda fell off the recruiting landscape when he went to prep school in North Carolina to help him qualify for college. He'll make an immediate impact at the point guard position for Jeff Bzdelik and will provide a great defensive presence off the bench. The last name to remember is Alec Burks. Burks is a lengthy 6'6'' shooting guard that had scholarship offers from Kansas State, Drake, Santa Clara, as well as Colorado. The other two new faces for Colorado are Shane Harris-Tunks, an Aussie that received some interest from Gonzaga and Keegan Hornbuckle. Both players may see the court this season but they will need to physically mature before making a significant impact on this team.

Players to Watch: Colorado returns their top four scorers from a season ago. Leading the charge for the Buffs this season will be Cory Higgins. Higgins was only a sophomore last season but played 37 minutes a game and this season it will be even harder to get him off the court. He is probably the most underrated player in the conference and has a nose for the ball. He led the conference in steals last year but towards the end of the season he really wore down and his efficiency began to decrease. Coach Bzdelik maintains that won't happen this season as freshman Alec Burks should be a steady back up but it remains to be seen if this team can compete without Higgins on the floor. Nearly matching Higgins in minutes played last season was Dwight Thorne II. Thorne started all 31 games last year and averaged 12 points a game. He was basically second on the team in every statistical category behind Higgins. He shot 42% from beyond the arc for the Buffs and that was good enough for fifth in the conference. Thorne will be entering his second season as team captain and this will be his last hurrah in Boulder. He'll be the main source of leadership for the Buffs this season as the other senior this season is Rick Higgins, brother of Cory and a transfer. Sophomore Austin Dufault will be the key in the middle for the Buffs this season. Dufault is only a sophomore but he made a huge impact as a freshman a year ago. He started every game for CU and averaged eight points a game. He'll probably be joined by Relphorde in the paint for the Buffs where they will really need to step up their rebounding performance from last year which was historically bad.

Concerns: This will be a game that is mostly contested on the perimeter. If Colorado is going to have any chance, Higgins and Thorne have to play outstanding all game long. My major concern with this game has to do with the pace that Bzdelik will try and play and how this young Gonzaga team will respond. If Colorado can slow this game down and force their will on Gonzaga, it will be close the entire way and I feel like Higgins now has the experience to deliver a knockout blow. Gonzaga will need Matt Bouldin and Steven Gray to outshine Higgins and Thorne and play a very good defensive game. I would imagine that Matt Bouldin will want to come out and make a statement against the Buffaloes; after all, he was one of the best players to ever come out of the state of Colorado and I'm sure he'd love to show them what they are missing, even though Bzdelik wasn't there during his recruitment.

What we are watching for: The Higgins/Bouldin match up should be worth the price of admission. Even though they might not guard one another, they are the centerpieces of these young teams. This match up will be great for basketball fans, but as a Gonzaga fans, I am looking towards the front court to really establish themselves. Rob Sacre, Elias Harris, and Andy Poling are all young and inexperienced in their own ways but their talent level should exceed whatever combination of bigs Colorado puts out there. Austin Dufault, while very skilled offensively, is not a good rebounder and Marcus Relphorde will be an outstanding match up for Elias Harris. Both are a similar size and have outstanding versatility. If Elias can dominate this game at the power forward spot, Gonzaga fans will have much to look forward to in 2009. This should really be a field day for Robert Sacre. The 6'11'' Canadian will benefit from playing against a Colorado team that was abused on the boards last season. He should be the key to this game and it could be his breakout game as a full-service big man that can not only rebound and provide energy, but score at will.

Colorado: Know Your Rival

Bill C. — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 23:00:09 -0000

Hopefully Mizzou's not as rusty tomorrow as I was...one bye, and I'm already out of the habit to do a stat preview!

As always, these numbers are based off of conference play only.

vs Big 12
Colrorado: 1-10

	CU	Opp
Points Per Minute	1.44	1.73
Points Per Possession (PPP)	0.94	1.12
Points Per Shot (PPS)	1.25	1.39
2-PT FG%	46.4%	55.6%
3-PT FG%	34.3%	39.3%
FT%	76.5%	65.0%
True Shooting %	53.6%	59.3%

	CU	Opp
Assists	101	176
Steals	80	72
Turnovers	163	152
Ball Control Index (Assists + Steals) / TO	1.11	1.63

	CU	Opp
Expected Offensive Rebounds	113	110
Offensive Rebounds	89	109
Difference	-24	-1

Where Colorado is decent: Steals, Defensive Rebounds, 3-point shooting.
Where Colorado is...less than decent: 2-point shooting, offensive rebounds, defense, passing, ball control of any kind. (I figured listing them out was less rude than saying "everything else.")
Despite the fact that their stats are not so hot (they're 1-10, so uhh...yeah, few 1-10 teams have good stat lines), there's absolutely no question that they've been playing better recently. Four of their last five games have been very respectable--55-53 loss to Nebraska, 77-72 loss at Oklahoma, 70-42 loss at Iowa State (ahem), OT loss to Texas, 46-41 loss at Nebraska. I'm not going to try to convince you that this is a good team, but they're certainly getting better. They only have one senior in the rotation (19th-year senior Jermyl Jackson-Wilson), and he doesn't contribute much. I'm not sure if they have the talent or athleticism to move too far up the ladder in coming years, but they're only going to get more experienced, and Jeff Bzdelik is at least a competent coach.

Stats by StatSheet.com

Player	AdjGS*	GmSc/Min	Line
Cory Higgins (So)	20.28	0.54	17.4 PPG, 4.9 RPG, 2.4 APG
Dwight Thorne II (Jr)	15.22	0.42	14.4 PPG, 2.7 RPG, 1.5 APG
Ryan Kelley (Fr)	11.63	0.80	Two games, then injured
Austin Dufault (Fr)	7.48	0.23	8.0 PPG, 4.4 RPG
Jermyl Jackson-Wilson (Sr)	6.46	0.28	5.5 PPG, 3.5 RPG, 1.2 APG
Nate Tomlinson (Fr)	3.33	0.10	5.7 PPG, 2.5 RPG, 1.8 APG
Levi Knutson (So)	1.80	0.13	2.3 PPG, 1.5 RPG
Javon Coney (So)	0.27	0.03	1.0 PPG, 1.6 RPG
Toby Veal (Fr)	0.00	0.00	0.4 PPG, 1.8 RPG
Trey Eckloff (Fr)	-0.12	-0.01	2.1 PPG, 2.0 RPG
Casey Crawford (So)	-1.40	-0.18	0.7 PPG

* AdjGS = a take-off of the Game Score metric (definition here) accepted by a lot of basketball stat nerds. It does the same thing my previous measure of choice did (it takes points, assists, rebounds (offensive & defensive), steals, blocks, turnovers and fouls into account to determine an individual's "score" for a given game), only the formula is more used and accepted. The "adjustment" in Adjusted Game Score is simply matching the total game scores to the total points scored in the game, thereby redistributing the game's points scored to those who had the biggest impact on the game itself, instead of just how many balls a player put through a basket.

Cory Higgins is an emerging stud, though he had an...interesting game the first time around against Mizzou. He scored 12 points on 3-for-9 shooting and had 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 5 steals...and 4 turnovers. He's scored in double digits all but once this season, and he ripped off 34 points against Texas Tech last weekend. He's more of a slasher than a bomber, and he's outstanding from the FT line.
Fortunately, after Higgins and (maybe) Dwight Thorne, CU still doesn't have a lot to offer. Austin Dufault is the closest thing to an inside threat for the Buffs, but at 6'8, 210, the freshman needs a little more beef if he's going to contain either Leo Lyons or DeMarre Carroll.
Ryan Kelley's got a super-strange stat line. He was CU's leader the first time around against Missouri, scoring 19 points in 19 junk minutes off the bench, but he tweaked his knee in practice and hasn't played since January 17. He was supposedly cleared to practice a week or two ago, but I don't know what his status is.
We'll find out how much experience is truly a benefit because freshman Nate Tomlinson has gotten a ton of minutes this season...and done almost nothing with them. Will his development be helped by this? Hurt? Either way, when a starter on your team is averaging 0.10 GS/min, you're probably not that great.

Keys to the Game

Rust. Self-explanatory. Mizzou's had a week to pat themselves on the back for winning a bunch of games and finding themselves in the Top 10. I figure Mike Anderson has tried to run the satisfaction out of them in practice this week, but there's always the potential for rust or hangover here. If Mizzou shows up and plays decent, they probably win...but they need to show up and play decent because CU will be playing hungry.
Turnovers. Turnovers important in a Missouri game? Wha?? Last time around, Colorado had 26 turnovers and a 0.65 BCI. Not good. Even if they had shot well (and they didn't), they'd have still lost by 25 with those ball control numbers. But they shot horribly and lost by 45 instead. They've been shooting better recently, but it won't matter unless they keep their turnovers under at least 20. It's been pretty hard to do that against Mizzou lately.
3-pointers. CU likely won't be able to do much to stop Mizzou inside--without Leo Lyons last time around (that's right, remember that Mizzou won by 45 without Leo??), Mizzou's frontcourt scored 47 points (DeMarre 13, Laurence Bowers 16, Justin Safford 13, Keith Ramsey 5), and Colorado just doesn't have the beef to make Carroll, Lyons, etc., uncomfortable up front. But if a home team starts making 3's, look out.

Nate Tomlinson has hit 15-for-31 from long-range in conference play (it's the one thing he does well), while Dwight Thorne has hit 21-of-46, Cory Higgins 11-of-32. Chances are, they'll be taking a ton of 3's tomorrow. If they're making them, it's a ballgame.

Prediction

PAIN!!!!

Okay, kidding. There's no question that Colorado has been playing better, and it's enough to make me slightly paranoid about tomorrow. But I have to lean back on the fact that the teams that have beaten Missouri have managed two things--limited turnovers and great defense. Colorado might be able to limit the turnovers (doubtful), but they have not proven themselves capable of slowing down Missouri's athletes. I'm still a hair paranoid, because that's just who I am, but Mizzou should be able to overwhelm Colorado with athleticism even if CU's making some shots. CU will be all sorts of motivated here, and I say it stays pretty close for a while. But until a team can weather the mid-second half storm that Mizzou inflicts, I'm sticking with the Tigers. Mizzou 74, Colorado 59.

Buffs Lose Tough One Again, Higgins Continues to be a Bright Spot

irish1611 — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 21:46:52 -0000

Well, Jeff Bzdelik hates the term "moral victories" but today was one of those games that the young Buffs and even coach can look back on when the season is over and say, "we have done some good things this year." Yes, the record will be horrible this year and with a 40 point loss against Mizzou and a 28 point loss against Iowa State, this team still needs help. At the same time, the Buffs are extremely young and have played Oklahoma, Kansas State, Kansas and Texas to extremely competitive games and had chances at winning each and every one of them. Bzdelik has a long way to go instilling more movement on offense, an inside presence and a intensity on defense that is not there yet but with all but two players being underclassmen, this experience of tough playing time in the Big 12 will be something they can learn and grow stronger from.

Today, CU fought back from a big first half deficit, closing the first stint on a 17 - 6 run to get within four at the break. The Buffs would eventually lose in overtime after sticking with the Longhorns the entire second half. Colorado never led in this game but they were able to take a preseason top 10 team, who has definitely had its share of struggles recently, to the brink of a pretty big upset. The main reason for today's strong effort was a combination of Texas' horrible free throw shooting and their tendency to let teams play their way back into games coupled with Buffs guard Cory Higgins, who showed why he should be a first team All Big 12 player. Higgins, at a slender 6'5", continues to be the Buffs best player by a long shot leading the team in many major categories. Against an athletic team in Texas, Higgins had a career high 34 points and 8 rebounds to single handily keep his team close. Dwight Thorne could not get into a rhythm on offense and was unable to get more than three shots off in this game but the future looks bright with the development of these two players.

I know many people are not happy with the state of the Buffs basketball program but given the lack of facilities, an extremely young team and a lack of an inside presence to make teams defend the inside outside game, I believe Bzdelik has this team playing hard even though this year has been a complete struggle. The godo thing is that Bzdelik usually won't make excuses about those issues, which is refreshing to many CU fans after what we heard last year from some other Buff coach. Today's game could have gone really bad after Iowa State embarrassed the young Buffs to a point where you did not know how they would respond for the rest of the year. Bzdelik and this team has a long way to go but today was a moral victory considering what happened at Iowa State, even if Bzdelik hates that phrase. The good thing is Cory Higgins is only a sophomore!

ISU 70, CU 42

Mark Kieffer — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 03:33:46 -0000

Final - 2.11.2009	1	2	Total
Colorado Buffaloes	9	33	42
Iowa St. Cyclones	37	33	70

Complete Coverage >

That isn't a typo, CU had 9 points at the half. The funny part is that only one of their guys, Thorne, had all 9 of their points at the half!

The story here was the fact we could score. CU had no answer for Brackins as he scored 26 points in 22 minutes. Lucca, Petey, Boozer, and Vanderbeken all had a good day shooting.

As you can see, the difference in the game was in the first half. Did ISU play stellar D? Not exactly, but we played them into their weaknesses. CU did a good job of dribble-penetrating, setting up open jumpers. ISU would collapse and put 2-3 guys on the guy driving, allowing for wide open shots. Fortunately, CU went 4 of 23 in the first half including 0 for 9 from 3. I'd have to think 7 of those 9 were uncontested. When you are able to shoot over 50% in a half, and the other team is shooting 17-18%, you're going to get a big lead.

Not really much to add. It was fun to see the team establish such a big lead that the game is out of reach by the half. Our guys have been playing much harder the past several games and they got a much deserved win. Hopefully they can carry this over into getting a few more wins down the stretch.... We'll see...

[Note by CrossCyed, 02/12/09 12:56 AM CST ] I wish I could have seen this game (curse you Iowa State University and your night classes!). I predicted a few games back that our "best" total game of the year would come against CU in a game I would not be able to attend. Anywho, check out this gloriousness:

Stats by StatSheet.com

Pretty, huh? The game was essentially totally out of reach by just after the first TV timeout in the second half.

In other news, Sean Haluska has 32 fouls on the year, against 19 made field goals.

Also, to heck with freeing Lucca. Free Wes Eikmeier! He logged just 3 minutes tonight in blowout action, and his minutes have steadily decreased.

Stats by StatSheet.com

Who cares if he's having trouble adjusting to the Big 12? His defense may not be the greatest, and his shot may be off as of late, as well as turnover issues, but I want to use my new acronym.....

WELP

The Wes Eikmeier Liberation Project.

via www.journalstar.com, because it's hard to find one of him playing here.

Free these amber waves of hair from the purgatory of the end of the bench. I don't know if Clone Chronicles is the official blog of Wes Eikmeier, but Wes Eikmeier is the official baller of Clone Chronicles.

WELP!

A KenPom Preview: Colorado #1

rockchalk — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 08:35:50 -0000

Here we go again with the KenPom previews. Basically, all it is is a semi-regurgitation of each team's KenPom page (Colorado page). If you don't want to read all of these words, just check out the page and glance over the numbers for yourself.

Opening Thoughts

This one shouldn't be a close one. I understand that it is dangerous to ever proclaim such a thing about a road conference game, but this one's different. Were you to look under godawful in the dictionary, there would be a picture of a buffalo with a basketball. Because, in power conference college basketball, Colorado is as bad as they get. Last season, Oregon State went 0-18 in the Pac 10. And, despite statistics that more-heavily weight contests against Arkansas Pine-Bluff, Prarie View A&M, Louisiana-Monroe and Coppin State, their stats aren't too much hotter. So, yeah, basically this year's Colorado is last year's Oregon State. Of course, this year's Big 12 is significantly worse than last year's Pac 10, and I bet that the Buffs figure out a way to win a game-or-two this conference season. But those wins will, almost assuredly, be more because of the other team having a poor night than simply the Buffs outplaying an opponent.

So, yeah, if we lose. I'll be pissed. Although, pissed is probably way too much of an understatement.

Continues after the jump...

The Background

This Colorado Buffaloes team has beat, let's check...one team in the Top 200 of KenPom's rankings. Colorado State, generally considered to be the second worst team in the Mountain West, would be the Buffaloes' feather-in-the-cap. Their next-most-impressive victory would, probably, be against Harvard. At home. Yowza. Last season, the Buffs were merely a severely sub-par Big 12 team, but had some legitimate Big 12-level talent in Richard Roby and Marcus Hall. This year, with those two leaving, they've been left with a hodgepodge of mid-level players. And I'm talking mid-level of the MWC, not the Big 12. However, I do believe that Jeff Bzdilek has the program going in the right direction, it's just going to take awhile to completely U-turn away from the garbage heap-of-a-mess that Ricardo Patton left in Boulder. Yowza times two.

The Offense

OK, I feel better already. Our biggest weakness on the defensive side of the ball all year long, without question, has been our inability to box people out and pick up defensive boards. We've been giving up offensive rebounds and free second-chance points left-and-right all year long. Thankfully, though, the Buffs aren't a good offensive rebounding team. Scratch that. They aren't a bad offensive rebounding team. They are an absolutely dreadful offensive rebounding team. They rank 342nd in the country at picking up offensive boards. However, beyond that, they actually aren't a bad offensive team. Even with their sixth-grade-level offensive rebounding, they rank in about the middle of the pack in the NCAAs offensively. How? Easy. They make their shots. They rank 27th in all of Division 1 in making the shots they are presented with, 21st in the country on all two-pointers. So, yeah, they pretty much shoot themselves into kinda-sorta being in games. This utter dependence on making shots leaves you quite, well, screwed when you aren't making the shots; and that is precisely what happened Wednesday night against Mizzou. It happens again Saturday, it could get even ugler than Missouri's 45-point victory. Assuming it doesn't, though, as long as we box out we should be good. It's weakness versus weakness, although I'll take our defensive rebounding over their offensive rebounding. Every day of the week and twice on Sunday.

The Defense

While Colorado's offense is quite subpar, with its shooting ability keeping it afloat, the Buffs' D has little to keep it above water. It isn't significantly worse, overall, than the O, it's just that they really don't do anything well. They'll let you take plenty of good shots, and make them, they don't turn you over all that often, they don't do a great job of preventing offensive rebounds and they aren't completely immune from fouling. Worst of all, in terms of their sucktitude, is their complete lack of an interior presence. They are one of the country's worst teams in the country at blocking shots, which, combined with the fairly poor rebounding, makes perfect sense. They essentially have no size down low, making it hard for them to perform too well around the glass.

This doesn't fit into the defense category, per se, but it is important to mention tempo. Last season, when we paid a visit to Boulder, Colorado coach Bzdilek utilized just about every second of the shot clock, trying to slog it down and drone out possessions. After all, when there is such a talent disparity, the less possesions, the better for the underdog. So far this season, Colorado is in the bottom third of the country in tempo, choosing to suck the life out of the clock. And while we aren't the same, superstar-infused team we were last year, I fully expect the Buffs to try and drone out possessions.

The Players

Here's who to watch out for, and why.

Cory Higgins - Soph. G -- The star of the team. One of the few players on the team who can legititemately claim that he is a Big 12-caliber basketball player. He's good, too. Should get the Brady assignment, so he will likely struggle. Love how that always works. Anyways, dude plays a shitload; has played 91% of Colorado's minutes this year. His big thing is to drive and get fouled, and once there make his free throws. He's already shot 100 free throws this season; making 84 of 'em. He is also likely their best shooter, and clearly the guy to watch out for.
Austun Dufault - Fresh. F -- Sadly, this is about as big as they get at Colorado; 6'8". Austin is a pretty solid player, though, and plays plenty. He, literally, isn't terribly good at anything, though. A subpar rebounder, an average shooter withot too much range, an OK defensive player. A ho-hum player, the type you'd love to have coming off the end of your bench if you're Colorado. Not, exactly, the type you want second on your team in minutes. Yowza.
Casey Crawford - Soph. F -- Another tall one, although Casey is just 6'8" as well. He's not any better of a rebounder than Dufault (actually, Higgins is, statistically, a better rebounder than both), and while he is an all right three-point shooter (40%), he has just shot 30 times all year from back there. So, who knows how much of that is true ability, and how much is simply a small sample size.
Dwight Thorne - Jr. G -- One of the veteran leaders of the bunch, he's only a junior. He is, probably, the second-best shooter on the team, and you could argue he is a better pure shooter than Higgins. He is their primary three-point shooter, albeit not by a huge amount, and a decent rebounder.
Nate Tomlinson - Fresh. G -- Tomlinson, based off of his assist rates, I would surmise is the point guard of the Buffs. As a true freshman, that is pretty interesting, although certainly not unexpected given the massive underhaul the program is going under. He's another good shooter, although not in the same league as Thorne or Higgins.
Jermyl Jackson-Wilson - Sr. G/F -- The only senior who sees much of any playing time, Jermyl isn't a tremendous player by any stretch. Still, he serves his role, as he is probably the best rebounder on the team (despite being only 6'6") and being the primary shot-blocker on the Buffs. Yes, he is still only 6'6". He didn't grow. He, on the other hand, isn't the best shooter in the world, but he tends to stick close to the hoop, anyways.

The Keys

Treat Them Like a Real Team - This is ridiculous. This shouldn't have to be a key in a conference road game, particularly for a team who has yet to win a road game, but hey, that's the deal. In all seriousness, we need to be focused on simply winning a road game. Not only because we can't afford to have a loss to Colorado, but because it'd be nice as hell to actually win a game away from Allen.
Guard the Perimeter Shooters - Basically, Colorado's offense is the shooting game of Higgins, Thorne and Tomlinson, in descending order. They have some other contributors on the team, but those are the central three. If we can shut them down, we are in tremendous shape. 99.99% chance of winning kind of shape. I'd imagine that Brady will draw Higgins, TyTay will be assigned Thorne and Sherron on the freshman, Tomlinson. All three have to play lockdown D. If they get hot, and get enough confidence, we could lose. That's pretty much the only way I can think of that could end up in a Kansas L. So, yeah, let's not let that happen.
Cole, Cole, Cole - I'm going to keep saying this until we bump it up the priority list. I understand that we shouldn't simply run every play through Cole, but he needs a bigger role in our offense. I promise.

Concluding Thoughts

Pretty much, the game comes down to the Buffs' trio of guards. They all get hot, or even just two of the three, and Colorado drowns out enough possessions, and this could be a game late. If not, and assuming we don't entirely implode, it's game over.

More concluding thoughts in tomorrow's Open Game Thread, which will occur again. I'll be there, and would love to see anyone come over and drop by.

Game Preview: Lafayette Leopards @ Colorado Buffaloes

irish1611 — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 23:15:31 -0000

	VS.
Colorado Buffaloes		Lafayette Leopards

Who: Colorado Buffaloes vs. Lafayette Leopards
Where: Coors Event Center (Boulder, CO)
When: 7:00 pm MT
Line: None Available

As we are fresh in the middle of Nebraska week and with the Buffs welcoming another "who" school in town tonight (would be funny if the Buffs hadn't lost to a "who" school and survived against another), forgive me if this preview is a liittle light. Straight to the point with this one.

The Buffs come off a come from behind victory against the Harvard Crimson last Saturday as CU picked up the tempo and were able to claw out a 70 - 57 victory. The score doesn't reflect how close the game was. The Buffs found success by picking up the pace and playing pressure defense, something I expect Colorado to do frequently the rest of the season. A young team plays better when they are not thinking but playing aggressive. Right now the Buffs best player has been 6'5" Sophomore G Cory Higgins who is leading the Buffs in points, rebounds and assists. Higgins has shot a solid 48% from the field on his way to averaging 16 points per game. Higgins is considered a veteran on this team of youth and should continue to be the Buffs meal tickets as Bzdelik's pups continue to develop.

The Lafayette Leopards from the Patriot League come into tonight's game at the Coors Event Center (7:00 pm MT) 2 - 2, beating Wagner and Stony Brook to start the year but losing their last two against Temple and Rider. Lafayette was up by as much as 15 in the second half against Rider before giving up the lead late in the second half. The Leopards don't boast a powerful inside presence, something that should be music to the ears of Colorado fans. But the Buffs will need to defend the perimeter as close to half of Lafayette's 215 field goal attempts are from the three point line (103). That is unbelievable. I guess when you don't have much of an inside game, that is where you go. Last year, Lafayette was able to get hot early in the season and really surprised some teams with their outside shooting ability. Colorado doesn't have the the offensive fire power to match these guys if the Leopards start going off so playing tough on the perimeter will be important for this team. The two leading scores for Lafayette, 6'2" G Jeff Kari and 5'11' G Andre Brown, both have attempted more three point field goals than two point field goals in the first four games. Kari averages 17 points per game and has shot 42.9% from behind the arc this season. The 6'2" guard led the Leopards in all four major statistical categories against Rider so he will be the guy the Buffs must keep an eye on. Brown, who most predicted would be the best player on the team before the season, averages 15.3 points per game and 28% from three point range. Last year, Brown made 40% of his 3-pointers last year and made 99 treys (third most in the league). Brown is from the state of Colorado.

With the heavy reliance on outside shooting and smaller players, the Buffs will need to dominant the boards. Temple outrebounded the Leopards by 9 and they went on to cruise. The problem is the Buffs are just as bad on the boards as the Leopards. On the offensive end, keep feeding Higgins. Cory has had the hot hand this year so look for the Buffs to try and establish him early and often. Also, Colorado needs to make the effort against a smaller team to win the offensive rebound game. If the Buffs do that and shut down the perimeter play of the Leopards, CU should roll.

Gameday Matchup
	W-L	PF	PA	HOME	ROAD	STK
LAF	2-2	71.3	73.3	1-2	1-0	L2
COLO	2-1	76	66	2-1	0-0	W1
Team Stat Leaders
	LAFAYETTE			COLORADO
Points	J. Kari 17.0			C. Higgins 15.7
Rebounds	R. Willen 6.3			C. Higgins 7.3
Assists	J. Kari 3.5			C. Higgins 4.7
Steals	J. Kari 2.3			C. Higgins 2.0
Blocks	M. Koltun 1.5			J. Jackson-Wilson 1.0
Projected Starting Lineups
	LAFAYETTE			COLORADO
1	Darion Benbow, F			Jermyl Jackson-Wilson, F
2	Marek Koltun, C			Austin Dufault, F
3	Andrew Brown, G			Nate Tomlinson, G
4	Ben Wheeler, G			Cory Higgins, G
5	Jeff Kari, G			Dwight Thorne II, G

Breaking Down the Home Team: Buffs Basketball

Zach B — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 04:40:33 -0000

Tomorrow Night's game against Arkansas Pine-Bluff will only cost $1 to attend...not to mention they are giving out some sweet t-shirts. There should be no excuse not to support this very very young team!

I never thought I would say this but it appears that CU football and basketball are in very similar positions at the present point in time. The Big 12 has been a force in football and basketball for years but Colorado has largely been MIA recently. The future seems bright for both programs however because of the recent coaching changes. Dan Hawkins brought a breath of fresh air to the football program and Jeff Bzdelik is doing the same to the basketball team. It is going to take some time to see consistent results but optimism is abound for the Buffs.

Last year was hopefully the last season where the team looked like it was being coached by Ricardo Patton. CU went 12-20 on the season which included a 3-13 record in the Big 12 conference. Season highlights were few and far between. CU played some good competition outside the Big 12 but the games were never that competitive. Wisconsin and Stanford were the headliners of their non-conference slate last year but both of those games resulted in 20+ point losses. Year two of the Bzdelik reign should produce better results...it can't get much worse.

Bzdelik will have to replace some departed productivity from a season ago. Looking back on it, I wish Richard Roby would have left a year or two sooner. Roby was on plenty of draft boards after his sophomore and junior season but elected to stay in school and finish out his career as a Buff. Roby was one of the better players to ever play basketball at CU. The athletic wing scored 17 points a game last year and added 7 rebounds. He's going to be greatly missed and was a joy to watch, hopefully we see him again in the NBA. Marcus Hall is another departure that will hurt CU. Hall put in 14 points a game last year and was a huge factor in the Buffs' outside shooting ability. Xavier Silas, Marcus King-Stockton, and Caleb Patterson have all finished out their careers at Colorado last season as well. These three were relatively effective when they were on the court. Silas was a exciting guard to watch but never saw the floor much. King-Stockton was your typical "eat up minutes" big man and Patterson rarely saw the court. The absence of Hall and Roby is also going to hurt this team's chemistry and leadership. They were the two go to players on the floor and it will be interesting to see who steps up in their place.

The 2008 recruiting class was a very good one for Jeff Bzdelik and is major reason why people are so optimistic about this program's future. The one guy to watch for to make an immediate impact is Toby Veal. CU has not had a good interior game in recent years and Veal should be a solid buidling block in the low post. At 6'8'', Veal is the most college ready out of the recruits. Don't expect a ton of results out of him on the offensive end right away but he was an excellent defender in high school and has a nose for grabbing rebounds. Fellow incoming bigs Trey Eckloff and Austin Dufault will provide some nice size in the paint for CU and also have pretty good games around the perimeter. An intriguing player for the Buffs this year is point guard Nate Tomlinson. Australian players have become pretty popular in college basketball and Bzedelik seems to be building a recruiting pipeline in Oceania. Tomlinson is a pure point guard in that he is an excellent passer and does all the fundamental things right. By the end of his career at Colorado, he should be an excellent player and floor general. Another young guard that the staff is excited about is Ryan Kelley. Kelly is a talented scorer, averaging 17 points a game in his senior season. After transferring from Wake Forest, Casey Crawford will make his debut for the Buffs this season. At 6'9'', 230 pounds, Crawford is going to be relied on to produce for this extremely young team. Even though he has three years of eligibility left, Crawford will be looked on as a veteran. Like the other CU bigs, he is very versatile and should be a good inside out player. The coaching staff has done an outstanding job with this class in molding them to fit Bzdelik's Princeton style offense.

continue reading after the jump to see the CU season outlook...

This season is going to rely heavily on the few returning players that CU actually has. This team is freakishly young. They have 10 players on the roster that are freshmen or sophomores. The guys that everyone is going to be looking up to is sophomore Cory Higgins, junior Dwight Thorne II, and lone senior Jermyl Jackson-Wilson. These three will probably be joined by two freshman (Veal and Tomlinson) in the starting lineup. Higgins and Thorne are both guards who will have to replace the scoring of Marcus Hall. Jackson-Wilson is a steady but small forward at 6'6''. Higgins has to be the guy this year. As a freshman last year he had some flashes of excellence. He started all 32 games for Bzdelik and was the fourth leading scorer on the team with nine points a game.

Looking at the Buffs' schedule, they really face no team that is light years better than them. The staff realized that they have one of the youngest teams in the nation and they'll need to get their feet wet before you throw them in the deep end of the Big 12. They play Stanford but this is a very, very winnable game and should be a game that dictates the rest of the season for CU. If they win that game, the rest of the non-conference sets up that they could have an excellent record heading into conference play. Like we have seen with CU this year, they tend to toil in mediocrity so if they lose to Stanford don't be surprised if they have some losses to teams like Harvard and Prarie View A&M. Luckily the Buffs play in the Big 12 north which is noticeably easier than the Big 12 south...sounds like football. Kansas should win the North this year but they are a team that many don't even have in their top 25's (myself included). The South has three very solid teams that I like a lot. Oklahoma is the class of the conference this season with Griffin and Warren. Texas is always solid under the direction of Rick Barnes and Damion James may be my favorite player not in a Gonzaga uniform. I also love Curtis Jerrells and Baylor, they are a major sleeper this season. The schedule sets up for the Buffs to go over .500 but it remains to be seen what kind of team will show up on the floor.

Look for the starting lineup to go something like this: It's probably going to have to be a three guard lineup so I give the nod to Tomlinson at the point, with Higgins and Thorne at the other two guard/wing spots. Down low you will probably see another freshman starting in Toby Veal. He'll be joined by Jermyl Jackson-Wilson.

It's hard to project any type of season results for this team because of the youth that is present. They have the talent to be a mid-level Big 12 team but this season is going to have some ups and downs. I don't think they will be at the bottom of the Big 12, hopefully that team is Iowa State or Texas Tech. They should be a very fun and fresh team to watch this season. Bzdelik finally has some guys that he recruited and will be able to fit them into his system very easily. The young core of Higgins, Veal, and Tomlinson should be very fun to watch for the next three years.

		#1 Nate Tomlinson Sophomore Guard 6-3 \| 185 Sydney, Australia Tomlinson started all 28 games in which he participated. He missed three games due to injuries; averaged 7.4 points, 3 assists, 2.6 rebounds and 33.6 minutes per game; finished in 16th place on CU's freshman points list with 206; became the first freshman since Chauncey Billups to lead the team in assists and finished seventh on the school's all-time freshman assists list; shared scoring honors with 18 points at Stanford on 8-of-12 shooting; and led CU in assists 14 times. Tomlinson had five games with five or more assists and 18 games with at least three; a season-best seven assists against Texas A&M; six rebounds vs. Iowa State; four steals at Texas Tech; an assist in 27 of 28 games; and nine games with 10+ points. He finished seventh overall in the Big 12 in minutes played; played 35+ minutes 13 times; grabbed four or more rebounds nine times; made two free throws with 6.6 seconds remaining, clinching CU's 65-62 win over Louisiana-Monroe; and was the first freshman point guard since 2002-03 to start a season opener.

		#3 Rick Higgins Senior Guard 6-1 \| 175 Danville, Calif. Higgins transferred to Colorado from Cal Poly to play with his brother, Cory. He sat out of the 2008-09 season due to transfer rules and lost a year of eligibility because he already had redshirted at Cal Poly, where he played in 43 games, with two starts in two years, and averaged 1.2 points per game.

		#11 Cory Higgins Junior Guard 6-5 \| 190 Danville, Calif. Third Team All-Big 12 (2009) Big 12 Player of the Week (12/08/09) Higgins was one of 13 nationally ranked players who were first or second on their team in the five major statistical categories (points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks) and the only sophomore nationally on that list. He was first statistically on the team in points, rebounds, steals, defensive and total rebounds, free throws and attempts, free-throw percentage, field goals made and attempted, and minutes played; second in assists and blocks; third in 3-point field goals made; and among CU players with a minimum of 200 shots taken was second on the team in shooting percentage Higgins tallied three nationally ranked categories: 64th in steals, 77th in free-throw percentage and 93rd in points per game. He scored 538 points, finishing 13th all-time at CU for most points scored in a single season. Those 538 points rank third all-time among CU sophomores and seventh all-time among CU guards for a season. Higgins led the team in scoring 18 times, steals 16 times, rebounding 15 times, assists 10 times and blocks 8 times; scored double digits in 28 of 31 games, 20+ points 12 times and 30+ twice; owned the team's top two scoring games with 34 points vs. Texas and 33 points vs. Colorado State; made 11 field goals in a single game twice, also a team best; achieved a perfect 12 of 12 at the free-throw line twice; had two double-doubles; was second both in CU seasonal minutes and conference minutes played; was named to the Rainbow Classic All-Tourney team, leading the Buffs in scoring every game; scored a CU 13-year conference high with a personal-best 34 points against Texas; also performed the same feat against Texas A&M with 27 points; was the first player at CU to lead the team in rebounding and assists the first two games of any season since the 1973-74 season; played 35+ minutes 24 times; had six games over 40 minutes; posted six or more rebounds 15 times; grabbed three or more steals 13 times; dished out four or more assists eight times; had 13 games with at least six or more made field goals; and tallied five CU Athlete of the Week awards.

		#12 Dwight Thorne II Senior Guard 6-3 \| 185 Arlington, Texas Thorne was selected as one of 10 NCAA Division I student-athletes to participate on an Athletes In Action team for a one-week, competitive international tour against teams in Poland and Berlin, Germany. He is a three-year captain who started every game; was the team leader with 45 made 3-pointers; was second in team scoring, steals, made field goals and made free throws; was third in assists with 52, minutes played and fourth in rebounds; finished the season ranked in three Big 12-only categories; played 1,035 minutes and made 128 field goals, surpassing his previous two-year total of 53; made a 3-pointer in 23 of 31 games and had 12 games with at least two treys; scored in double digits 22 times, netted 20+ three times and scored a career-best 30 points vs. Kansas State on 8-of-12 shooting, with a personal-best five 3-pointers, nine free throws made and 11 attempts; scored a trio of 20+ point efforts; led the team in scoring eight times; recorded five or more rebounds nine times; made three or more 3-pointers five times; logged 35+ minutes 16 times; and played 30+ minutes 24 times. Thorne is a cousin of Acie Law IV, the former Texas A&M star who plays for the Atlanta Hawks.

		#14 Javon Coney Junior Guard 6-3 \| 210 Chicago, Ill. Coney played in 23 games, with one start; averaged 8.8 minutes, one point and 1.3 rebounds per game; started his first career game against Oklahoma State; had a career-best six rebounds, one blocked shot and 27 minutes played against the Cowboys; played a career-best 27 minutes against Kansas State, with four points and four rebounds; grabbed five defensive rebounds at Nebraska; tallied a season-best five points with five rebounds against Missouri; recorded 20+ minutes four times and multiple rebounds eight times; and is a non-scholarship student-athlete.

		#24 Levi Knutson Junior Guard 6-4 \| 200 Littleton, Colo. Knutson played 30 games, with one start, and averaged 3.8 points, 1.7 rebounds and one assist per game. His lone start came at Baylor, with seven points, three rebounds and two assists in 33 minutes. He led the team in scoring with a career-high 19 points on 8-of-13 shooting, and a team-high four assists and two steals, against Oklahoma State; grabbed a career-best six rebounds at home against Nebraska; shared team-high honors with six rebounds against Nebraska and Texas in Oklahoma City; went 3 of 3 from the field in a home win against Iowa State; had a career-best two steals at Texas Tech and Oklahoma State; played nine games of 20+ minutes and netted three games in scoring double digits; and has played 62 career games, with two starts.

		#33 Austin Dufault Sophomore Forward 6-9 \| 230 Killdeer, N.D. Dufault was named one of three CU Sports Performer of the Year finalists in the Male Freshman Athlete of the Year Award category; started all 31 games, averaging 30.7 minutes, 8.2 points, 3.7 rebounds and one assist per game; scored 254 points, ranking 11th among CU freshmen, and his 115 rebounds ranked 12th among all CU freshmen; was third in team scoring, rebounding and defensive rebounding, and fourth overall in minutes; He was one of three on the team to have started all 31 games; was fifth among all conference freshmen in scoring and rebounding; led CU in scoring twice, with a season-best 21 points on 9-of-14 shooting vs. Louisiana-Monroe. His 15 points and five rebounds against Missouri led CU in both categories for the first time. Dufault had a season-best seven rebounds at Iowa State and at SMU, as well as a Big 12-best 13 points at Oklahoma; played a season-high 42 minutes against Texas; recorded 12 games in double digits and 12 games shooting 50 percent or better from the field; led the team in rebounding six times, had five or more rebounds 13 times and played 35+ minutes seven times; logged 30+ minutes 20 times; adds size and versatility to the roster; and brings a high basketball IQ with a great shooting touch from long range.

		#34 Casey Crawford Junior Forward 6-9 \| 245 Overland Park, Kan. Crawford played in 25 games, with four starts; averaged 5.5 points, 1.7 rebounds and 14.2 minutes per game; was fourth on the team in 3-pointers made, and fifth in steals and points per game. During the last five games of the season, the transfer from Wake Forest averaged 8.6 points and 2.6 rebounds per game, and led CU with eight 3-pointers. He had a career-best 18 points with four treys in a win over Harvard. The 18 points were the most points off the bench to lead the team in scoring since Javon Coney scored 15 points in a reserve role at Nebraska. Crawford scored a Big 12 season-high 16 points on 5-of-11 shooting against Texas A&M, and also played a season-high 30 minutes; and came off the bench to score 14 points, tying a career-best four 3-pointers against Oklahoma State. Eight times he had three or more rebounds in a game, and had five games with five or more field goals made. He netted 14 points in his CU debut, tying Jermyl Jackson-Wilson’s debut of 14 back in 2006-07. The 14 points is a CU high by a transfer or freshman in a debut over the last four years. Crawford scored in double digits six times, led the team in scoring twice and played 20+ minutes six times.

		#55 Trey Eckloff Sophomore Forward 6-10 \| 235 Englewood, Colo. Eckloff played in 26 games, averaging 10.1 minutes, 2.2 points and 1.8 rebounds per game; logged a season-high 25 minutes with six rebounds against Kansas; also had 23 minutes and four rebounds at Stanford; had a season-best two steals against the Cardinal; scored a season-best seven points on 3-of-4 shooting at Oklahoma; grabbed five rebounds at Missouri; played 15+ minutes in six games; scored four or more points seven times; recorded multiple rebounds 13 times; and was the second-youngest scholarship player in the Big 12 (teammate Ryan Kelley was the youngest).

		#2 Shannon Sharpe Freshman Guard 6-1 \| 200 Corona, Calif. Sharpe will miss the 2009-10 season after having season-ending knee surgery, Bzdelik announced Oct. 28. As a senior at Corona Centennial High School, Sharpe averaged 17.9 points, 7.9 rebounds, 7.7 assists and 3.2 steals per game; helped the Huskies to a 27-5 record during his senior season; tallied four top-five Mountain View League finishes in points, assists, steals and rebounds; recorded five triple-doubles during his senior season; and was named Mountain View League and Triple Crown Tournament most valuable player, and also named to the Inland Empire and Corona all-tournament team. Sharpe was on the Division 2 All-California Interscholastic Federation and All-Riverside County first team his senior year, and was a member of 2007 All-California Interscholastic Federation championship team. He helped Corona to the 2007 and 2008 Mountain View League Championships. In 2008, his AAU team was ranked No. 3 nationally.

		#5 Marcus Relphorde Junior Forward 6-7 \| 220 Chicago, Ill. Relphorde averaged 10.6 points and 4.2 rebounds per game as a sophomore at Indian Hills Community College, helping the Warriors finish with a 30-3 record. He was an All-Region honorable mention; shot .487 from the floor and .722 from the free-throw line; averaged 14 points per game; and scored in double figures in 12 of the team's last 13 games. Relphorde originally signed with Saint Louis under then-head coach Brad Soderberg. As a freshman with the Billikens and under head coach Rick Majerus, he averaged 4.3 minutes in 21 games; scored 22 points with 10 rebounds; and made 5 of 7 shots against Houston Baptist en route to 14 points and a team-high seven boards.

		#10 Alec Burks Freshman Guard 6-6 \| 185 Grandview, Mo. Burks was the 2009 Gatorade Player of the Year in the state of Missouri. During his senior year at Grandview High School, he averaged 23 points per game, in addition to 6.8 rebounds, 3 assists and 1.6 steals per game. He also was named The Kansas City Star and Metro Sports Player of the Year during his senior year. Burks helped his team to a 29-2 record during his senior season; scored a season-high 38 points; and received first-team all-Suburban Mix Six League honors as a junior after averaging 19.9 points and 4.8 rebounds per game. Rivals.com listed Burks the No. 31 point guard in the Class of 2009. He was the career leader, in points scored, in school history and participated on the Mo-Kan All-Star game.

		#13 Shane Harris-Tunks Freshman Forward 6-11 \| 225 Liverpool, Australia Harris-Tunks was a member of Team Australia, which placed fourth at the 2009 FIBA U19 World Championship; played in eight games, averaging 2.5 ppg; represented Australian U/19 at the Albert-Schweitzer Tournament in Germany and a third-place finish, and also was named captain; and was an Australian Institute of Sport scholarship recipient.

		#35 Keegan Hornbuckle Freshman Forward 6-7 \| 205 Westlake Village, Calif. As a senior at Campbell Hall High School, Hornbuckle averaged 12.2 points, 4.8 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.3 steals per game, helping his team to 19-9 record. He was a three-time first-team All-Olympic League selection and a three-time All-California Interscholastic Federation second-team selection. Hornbuckle was rated as the No. 34 small forward/shooting guard by Scout.com; helped Campbell Hall to a 31-5 record as a junior and a No. 39 national ranking by Rivals.com in 2007-08; was a member of a pair of state championship-winning teams in his sophomore and junior years; had a four-year prep record of 101-29; and was a member of the Valley All-Star and academic all-American All-Star team.

SB Nation - Dwight Thorne II

Preview: Colorado Buffaloes Take On the Gonzaga Bulldogs In the Maui Invitational

Full Maui Invitational Field Overview

First Round

Chaminade Silverswords

Second Round

Vanderbilt Commodores

Cincinnati Bearcats

Third Round

Colorado Buffaloes

Gonzaga Bulldogs

Arizona Wildcats

Wisconsin Badgers

KNOW THY ENEMY: Colorado Buffaloes

The Coach

The Departures

The Veterans

The Redshirt

The Newcomers

The Analysis

Projected Starting Lineup

Projected Top Reserves

The Final Verdict

Previously on KNOW THY ENEMY...

2009-10 Team Previews: Colorado Buffaloes

Colorado: Know Your Rival

vs Big 12Colrorado: 1-10

Keys to the Game

Prediction

Buffs Lose Tough One Again, Higgins Continues to be a Bright Spot

ISU 70, CU 42

A KenPom Preview: Colorado #1

Opening Thoughts

The Background

The Offense

The Defense

The Players

The Keys

Concluding Thoughts

Game Preview: Lafayette Leopards @ Colorado Buffaloes

VS.

Colorado Buffaloes

Lafayette Leopards

Breaking Down the Home Team: Buffs Basketball

vs Big 12
Colrorado: 1-10