Buffaloes don’t see themselves as villians
CU just wants to keep winning its games
The Colorado women’s basketball team could be viewed as the villain this week, and several of the Buffaloes were asked Tuesday about playing that role.
In a way, the description fits because the Buffs’ opponent for Saturday’s Sweet 16 showdown in Albany, N.Y., is top-seeded and No. 2-ranked Iowa and its superstar Caitlin Clark — who is one of the biggest attractions in all of sports at the moment.
The fifth-seeded Buffs (24-9) could break a lot of hearts — including at the TV networks looking to capitalize on Iowa going as far as possible — by upsetting the Hawkeyes (31-4), who have national title aspirations after finishing as runner-up last year.
Certainly the attention will be on Clark and Iowa on Saturday (1:30 p.m., ABC), but to put the Buffs in the villain role would diminish the fact that they, too, are an elite basketball team with title aspirations.
“Honestly, I think we’re just really excited to play one of the best teams in the country,” CU head coach JR Payne said. “I think that’s what it comes down to. I think a lot of people outside of our locker room will talk about Caitlin and what that would look like and what that would mean (to beat her). We will not be talking about that. We will talk about coverages, game plan, scheme, discipline, execution.”
The Buffs play their best basketball when they are that focused, and they’ve proven time and again that they aren’t fazed by names on other jerseys or the star power across the court.
“For us, it’s the same whether it’s the first exhibition game of the season, or LSU on the opening night, or Stanford, or Iowa in the Sweet 16,” Payne said. “The opponent doesn’t really play a role as far as our verbiage and the things that we’re focused on.”
This is the same core group of Buffs who got to the Sweet 16 a year ago by knocking out a favored Duke squad on its home court. A week later, they pushed Clark and Iowa to the brink, trailing by just four with 80 seconds to play before falling 87-77.
This season, the Buffs opened in Las Vegas as a heavy underdog against defending champion and preseason No. 1 LSU, which is loaded with star power. The Buffs won going away, 92-78.
The Buffs have a win against USC, the No. 1 seed in the Portland 3 region, and its superstar Juju Watkins. The Buffs have a win against Stanford, the No. 2
seed in the Portland 4 region, and its superstar Cameron Brink.
“I think we do a pretty good job of not getting caught up in who we play,” CU point guard Jaylyn Sherrod told Buffzone in a recent interview.
Sherrod said the Buffs would have confidence against anyone, even topranked and undefeated South Carolina, because of what they’ve experienced in previous games.
“Playing somebody at that magnitude isn’t very new because we did it,” she said. “We played the flashiest team of them all in LSU. I don’t think nobody can really shock us at this point. Who could you throw in front of us that we couldn’t be like, ‘Oh we’ve seen this before or we’ve played against this before’?”
That includes Clark and Iowa, which didn’t have any easy time knocking out the Buffs a year ago. Eight of the nine Buffs who played in that game are back, and CU has added Maddie Nolan, a Michigan transfer who faced Iowa several times, even beating them once.
If they are viewed as villains or underdogs this week, the Buffs don’t mind. In fact, they’d rather be viewed that way. But, they are eager to remind everyone that they’re an elite basketball team, too.
“Being the villain, being the underdogs, having our backs against the wall are all things that lead to success for the Buffaloes,” said senior Quay Miller, who had 12 points and 14 rebounds against Iowa last year. “Everybody is good. You have to show up on every night, or else the other team is going to come out with the win. So I think that we’re just excited for another opportunity to play. It doesn’t matter who’s getting put in front of us. We’re just happy to keep playing basketball.”