BUFFS CONTINUE UPWARD TRAJECTORY
CU now No. 21 in latest AP Top 25
The 2021-22 Colorado women’s basketball team was a good story.
It was a program that had been down for years rising up to snag the No. 5 seed in the conference tournament, making a run to the semifinals and then a long-awaited return to March Madness.
Then, after their first NCAA Tournament appearance in nine years, the Buffs lost three multiyear starters to graduation. That included Mya Hollingshed, a two-time first-team All-pac-12 performer and a first-round pick in the 2022 WNBA Draft.
In the fall, Pac-12 coaches and media picked the Buffs to finish eighth.
With four games remaining in this regular season, however, the Buffs (20-5, 11-3 Pac-12) are on the verge of clinching a topthree finish. And, on Monday, they vaulted to No. 21 in the Associated Press Top 25 — the program’s highest ranking since December of 2016.
“I think we’re playing great basketball,” CU head coach JR Payne said after Sunday’s 6543 rout of Washington. “What I love most about it is we knew that we had all the pieces we need to be successful. We knew that.
“You could argue that on paper we lost as much as anybody in the conference (after last year). For us to be able to do what we’re doing speaks volumes to who we have on our current roster, the type of development that they’ve poured into themselves.”
Seniors Quay Miller and Jaylyn Sherrod have taken their games to a higher level this year. So has junior Frida Formann, who is shooting as well as she did two years ago but contributing more than ever beyond her shooting.
Aaronette Vonleh, a transfer from Arizona, has been arguably the most improved player in the conference, while the Buffs continue to get nightly contributions from a variety of players.
“They’re all really maximizing in the absence of some (key players from last year),” Payne said. “I’m really proud of us for that. We, from day one, believed in ourselves; with no hesitation, believed in ourselves. And we also know that if we don’t maximize our effort and all that stuff, then you’re gonna lose. But, we’re doing the damn thing, as they say.”
Doing their thing has put the Buffs in line for their best conference finish in nearly 20 years.
The top four teams in the regular season standings earn a bye for the first round of the Pac-12 tournament. Since joining the conference in 2011, the Buffs
season make it more likely CU will slip, not surge, in the standings.
CU is just 1-8 in true road games and begins a two-game trip through Arizona on Thursday night against Arizona State (6 p.m., Pac-12 Network). The final three games of the regular season at home will be against the current fourth-ranked team in the nation (UCLA) and two others likely to be battling for their postseason fate (USC, Utah).
That grit the Buffs generally have displayed will be put to the test down the stretch. Between the disastrous Dec. 31 loss at Cal and Saturday’s loss at Utah, CU was in position to post wins in each road game. The Buffs led frequently during the first half of a Jan. 5 loss at Oregon and led by a point at halftime two nights later at Oregon State.
CU led by two at halftime at USC on Jan. 12 and had an upset bid brewing at UCLA before the Bruins pulled away down the stretch.
CU generally has played well at home, but a poor showing this week in Arizona might be cause for alarm regarding that competitive spirit if there is little to play for in the season’s final weeks.
“It’s just hard to keep trying to come back when we dig ourselves a hole,” CU guard KJ Simpson said. “We can’t sit here and dwell on a loss. It’s too late in the season to sit here and dwell on something that we should’ve or would’ve won. Watch film, move on, get better in other aspects and get ready for our next opponent. That’s the best way.”