Pursuit of excellence has Buffs back in Sweet 16
As far as Quay Miller is concerned, it was pretty much a foregone conclusion that the Colorado women’s basketball team would win at Kansas State on Sunday, because the season wasn’t supposed to end just yet.
“Statistically, we’re on track to make it to at least the Elite Eight because every time we go to the tournament, we go further and further each year,” Miller joked after the Buffaloes knocked off host K-state 63-50 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Sunday.
“Since we like to follow the numbers, we’re going to make it back and I’m just happy that we just get another chance to be in the Sweet 16 again.”
Miller, of course, doesn’t take it for granted that the Buffs are back in the Sweet 16 for a second season in a row.
Seeded fifth in the Albany 2 region and ranked No. 17 in the country, the Buffs (24-9) will face Iowa in the Sweet 16 on Saturday in Albany, N.Y.
To Miller’s point, though, the Buffs continue to take forward steps as a program.
In 2021, CU went to the Women’s NIT, snapping a four-year postseason drought. In 2022, they got to the NCAA Tournament, but lost in the first round. Last year, they won twice in March Madness and reached the Sweet 16 for the first time in 20 years.
With a dominating defensive effort Sunday against the Wildcats, the Buffs earned their way back into the Sweet 16.
“To the program it means everything,” said CU head coach JR Payne, who is in her eighth year and took over a program in 2016 that was last in the Pac12. “We’re really fortunate, we have a veteran group and most of those players came to Colorado when we were not good. We were in last place in the conference and sort of believed in a vision and dream to help us be great. Through the pursuit of excellence every single day when we were not winning, they continued to work to be great. That’s how we’re in this position.”
Senior Maddie Nolan didn’t join the Buffs until last summer, but it was that pursuit and that determination to be great that drew her to Boulder.
Nolan played four seasons at Michigan, going to the Elite Eight once and the Sweet 16 another time. With a bonus year of eligibility because of the COVID-19 pandemic, however, she chose to enter the transfer portal. Watching CU’S run in 2023 made an impression.
“I remember watching Colorado last year in the Sweet 16 game (against Iowa), and I was like, ‘Wow, the toughness and the tenacity … that they play with on defense is amazing, and that’s going to win a lot of games and get you far, especially in a tournament like that,’” Nolan said.
“So I think now to be a part of it has been a lot of fun and something that we definitely emphasize and (associated head coach Toriano Towns) does a great job of making sure we’re on that every day.”
It was that toughness and tenacity on defense that led CU past Kansas State.
The Wildcats took a fourpoint lead 30 seconds into the third quarter, but CU responded with a 19-5 run. K-state, which ranked 24th nationally in field goal percentage (.458) this season, hit just 6-of-27 shots (.222) in the second half, had 11 turnovers and scored only 15 points.
“The whole second half?” CU’S Jaylyn Sherrod said in amazement when hearing that number. “That’s what we do. I think if you ask (Towns), he would say he’s been waiting for that all season, but that’s what we do and that’s what we’re about and at the end of the day, that’s what we hang our hats on.”
Because of that, the Buffs have also grown accustomed to winning, while remaining grateful for the opportunity in front of them.
“We’re really, really excited to be moving on,” Payne said.
“I’m just beyond proud of our team for that. You know, going into the Sweet 16 is awesome. We are super excited and I’m kind of like (center Aaronette Vonleh said), it hasn’t really sunk in yet but I’m mostly proud of how they have pursued that excellence every day for the past four or five years.”