The Buffs Stop Here

I feel for you Boulder, I really do. You were my home for the last five months, and one of the most laid-back towns in the US no doubt. Sure, most of you Boulderites (or is it Boulderans...?) have better, more outdoorsy things to do like hike or ski or go see live music a Connor Oneill's, than to spend time following a perennially disappointing basketball team like the CU Buffaloes.  However, I know there were plenty (20 or so people could be considered "plenty" right?) of CU faithful that were left speechless following the announcement of the 68 team NCAA tournament field on Sunday night, where the Buffaloes were nowhere to be found.  The stars seemed to be aligned for Colorado to make its first tournament appearance in years. Anchored by the strong offensive play of standout sophomore guard Alec Burks (who's averaging a gaudy 20ppg and 6.5rpg) and a slew of wins over the RPI top 50, including 4 big wins down the final stretch (Nebraska, Texas and two vs Kansas St) this looked like a team that would assuredly be Dancin' in March, apparently the selection committee thought differently.  In what was in my opinion the biggest snub of this year's tournament and one of the biggest snubs in recent tournament memory,  Colorado will have to shake off the stench of defeat and hope for a better outcome next season.  Hey, if it's any consolation, at least they were awarded the #1 overall seed in the NIT...yea...

I can definitely see the reasons this team was left out of the tournament, and any other year I think the reasons would hold true.  The Buffs had a terrible non-conference schedule and dropped early season games to the likes of Harvard and San Francisco, but hey, who doesn't have a couple of throwaway losses on their schedule?  Even the 2nd seeded Florida Gators dropped games early against the likes of Jacksonlille(at home) and UCF and they're still sittin' pretty so where does one draw the line?  Just as things appeared to be getting better for the Buffs (They managed to rattle off 13 wins in 14 games between Nov 30 and Jan 13 including wins over then #8 Missouri and then #20 Kansas State), they could not keep the momentum going, losing their next four games, and six of seven overall.  The only win came against a bad Iowa State team.  At this point, nobody expected them to make any noise come March, but something special seemed to happen inside that locker room.  Even when nobody believed in them, the Buffs held strong, determined to state their case for inclusion in this year's big dance.

Unfortunately, it just wasn't enough...UAB had a prettier record on paper, as did VCU, although in an expanded field, I just don't understand how one includes these kinds of teams. VCU didn't even finish in the top 3 in their own conference, the not-exactly-mighty Colonial Athletic Association (Go Mason, though). Their "best" wins came against George Mason late and a struggling UCLA team.  Same goes for UAB.  The Blazers didn't beat a single ranked team this season and lost in their Conference tournament to a lowly ECU team.  I don't know if the selection committee was trying to be fair by including teams from mid-major conferences or what, but it just doesn't make sense to leave out a couple of quality teams from major conferences.

The second biggest tournament snub this year would have to go to Virginia Tech and the beloved Hokies.  Poor Seth Greenberg.  For the past four seasons, Tech has made the bubble their permanent residence, keeping fans sweating till the very end and this year was no different.  After beating then No. 1 ranked Duke at the end of February, everyone was calling for VT to be a lock come March, and why not?  Seth Greenberg deserved it.  He's had a competitive team in a competitive conference every year for the last four years.  The Hokies even had the most ACC wins last season and were STILL snubbed from the tourney.   Seth Greenberg thinks it a conspiracy and I don't blame him. How is this possible?  Maybe its because they dropped their final two regular season games to fellow bubble teams Clemson(who got in) and Boston College, but come on, they did enough in the ACC tournament, with wins over Georgia Tech and Florida State to solidify a tournament berth.  There was no shame in losing to Duke in the semis, i don't think anyone expected them to win that game.

Unfortunately there is nothing that can be done for the few teams left on the outside looking in.  These teams (sorry, but that includes you, Boston College and Alabama) are just going to have to hold their heads high and look to the only achievable goal of winning the NIT, carry the momentum and hope for a tournament berth next season.  The bubble was soft this year and these teams had their chances, and can you really be that mad for getting snubbed when your team had double digit losses?  I guess you can, but maybe the goal for next season should be winning the games that you are supposed to win.  A couple less ugly losses on that resume and both Colorado and VT would be Dancin'.  It's a shame that isn't the case, you know I would have penciled both teams in for a couple of early round victories but hey, maybe these other teams that everybody is writing off will make some noise...probably not though.