Want to know if the University of Colorado men’s basketball team is any good? You’ll find out soon enough.
On Saturday, the CU opened a very, very difficult stretch, facing then-No. 17 (now No. 16) Arizona. Sure, they held their own in the 82-73 defeat, but a loss is a loss. Also, the game was only the first in a three-game stretch against ranked opponents.
Next up will be UCLA on Thursday, who are ranked No. 4. The Bruins have been trouncing opponents. Their only loss of the season was by two at Oregon on Dec. 28. Other than that, they have run the table. In fact, only two other games have been within single digits, and one of those was a win over Kentucky in Lexington.
After the meeting with UCLA, the Buffs will face off against USC, who is currently ranked No. 25. Sure, the Trojans have lost two out of their last three games, but those are their only two losses on the season.
CU coach Tad Boyle thinks his team may just have a fighting chance.
“We’ve got a competitive toughness on this team,” Boyle said. “We’ve seen it. We certainly saw it against (then-No. 13) Xavier back in December. But we’ve also seen where we get our heads hanging low and we start acting like we just lost our puppy. We can’t have that kind of attitude against UCLA. It’s got to be, ‘Hey this is an opportunity of a lifetime. Let’s attack it and compete from start to finish and let the chips fall where they may.'”
Working in the CU’s’ favor is that both of their next two contests are at home. It would still be difficult to call them the favorites in either. We’ll see just how brightly the competitive fire burns in these Buffs.
