Heading into the start of the 2017-18 basketball season, the Colorado Buffaloes graduated Wesley Gordon, Xavier Johnson, Josh Fortune, and Derrick White, who was drafted in the first round of the NBA Draft by the Spurs. Also, Bryce Peters and Thomas Akyazili transferred out of the program.
Colorado suffered another couple of hits when they lost of pair of big men. True freshman Evan Battey was deemed ineligible by the NCAA before the season, and Tory Miller-Stewart suffered a broken foot injury in non-conference play.
The Buffs started the season 7-0, which included a Paradise Jam Tournament championship, but suffered four losses before the start of conference play, and then Colorado had double digit losses to the Pac-12 Oregon schools.
At 8-6 with a pair of top 15 teams coming to the Coors Event Center, the 2017-18 basketball season seemed to be trending towards a lost one for the Buffs.
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But then Colorado head coach Tad Boyle worked his magic and the Buffs got hot. Despite the poor play earlier in the season and all of the players CU has lost, Colorado pulled off its best two game regular season stretch in school history.
In knocking off No. 4 Arizona State and No. 14 Arizona, it was the first time the Buffs defeated AP Top 15 teams in back-to-back games.
"It’s crazy," freshman guard McKinley Wright said. "Nobody expected to win these ones except for the people in our locker room and our fans. All that matters is that we believe. We don’t care what any of the outsiders think. We saw them pick us to finish ninth in the Pac-12 so we’re here to make a statement."
This Colorado team has taken a complete 180 -- from a team that was blown out by the Oregon schools to a team that had back-to-back court storming wins.
"The difference between our team now and a week ago is that we believe," Boyle said following the 80-77 win over Arizona on Saturday. "Number two, we’re playing together and we’re playing with great energy."
If we've learned anything so far in the Pac-12 conference, it's that the league is wide open. UCLA has been the best team thus far with a 12-4 (3-1 Pac-12) record, but it's anyone's conference to win at this point.
And Colorado proved to the conference -- and the nation -- that they can play with anyone.
"If we play the way we are capable of playing, we can play with anybody in this league," Boyle said. "We still have to prove that on the road -- that’s the next challenge for this team. We get an opportunity to do that in LA against USC on Wednesday night. That’s the statement that we’ve made and I believe in this group and I want them to continue to get better. They’re a joy to coach."
