Copyright Boulder Daily Camera
Daily Camera sports writer Pat Rooney takes a look at three topics surrounding Colorado Buffaloes athletics as football enjoys its second and final bye week, while basketball season warms up. Offseason shuffle Given the change in play-callers and a promise from head coach Deion Sanders of changes this offseason, the Buffaloes are trending toward having their third full-time offensive coordinator in four seasons under Sanders. Finding the right fit — be it Byron Leftwich or someone else outside the program — has never been more critical thanks to Julian Lewis. The latest shift in play-callers, from Pat Shurmur to Brett Bartolone, was the second in-season change in play-callers in three seasons under Sanders. And for Sanders, it was the fourth time he’s made that move in six seasons as a head coach. That reeks more of grasping at straws than searching for answers. Still, finding the right fit with Lewis will be the most important piece of the puzzle in the Buffs’ quest to return to Big 12 relevancy. Shurmur and Sean Lewis before him worked with a fully trained grown man with Shedeur Sanders running the Buffs’ offense. Shedeur was a finished product that the coordinators simply had to point in the right direction. That’s not the case with JuJu Lewis, whose impressive performance during his first career start in a loss at West Virginia no doubt gives Buffs fans a reason to be intrigued about tuning in to the end of a lost season. Finding the right mentor to unlock Lewis’ vast potential has to be the most important transaction of the offseason. Historical lows The CU men’s basketball team has started 2-0, but a loss is all but on the way unless the Buffs can correct their porous defense. The Buffs had won just 11 times in 63 games in which the opposition had shot at least 52%. Then, in last week’s opening win against Montana State, the Bobcats finished just under that mark, at .518. CU then outlasted Eastern Washington in overtime on Saturday, with the Eagles finishing with a .597 mark. That shooting performance by Eastern Washington was the sixth-highest by a CU opponent in coach Tad Boyle’s tenure, now in its 16th season. It marked the highest opposing field goal percentage in a Buffs win under Boyle. Boyle promised an intense film session on Sunday — “I’m going to let the film do the talking,” Boyle said after Saturday’s win. “Because the film don’t lie. And they won’t like what they see.” CU won’t have much time to fix the defensive struggles with a Friday visit from Providence, coached by former Boyle assistant Kim English. The Friars profile similarly to the Buffs so far, having let their first two opponents shoot a combined .465, with Providence posting a .471 mark. Providence also is coming off a wild shootout, finishing on the wrong end of a 107-101 decision against Virginia Tech. Turn it up While Tad Boyle has always been a defense-first coach, full-court pressure hasn’t generally been a big part of the Buffaloes’ defensive arsenal under his watch. But the Buffaloes unleashed a little full-court pressure during the first half of Saturday’s win against Eastern Washington. Given the combination of improved length and depth on the roster, along with the Buffs’ desire to push the pace, particularly at home, and pressure might be a bigger part of the game plan this season. “I can’t emphasize this enough — the pace of play for us in this building is so critical,” Boyle said. “And when we can get that ball going up and down, up and down, and high possessions, it’s our advantage because we’re playing at altitude. So, we want that pace good. That full-court pressure helps that. It also tries to wear their guards down, hopefully, as the game goes on. Rather than just let them walk it up. “We want to maximize the possessions. And the way you do that is to speed the game up, and full-court pressure helps with that.”
