Tad Boyle weighs the balance of pride, disappointment in Colorado's NCAA Tournament
The Colorado Buffaloes NCAA tournament run is over. Colorado came up just short of making it to the Sweet Sixteen after losing to Marquette in the round of 32.
The year was filled with plenty of ups and downs for the Buffaloes, so finding the right words to explain the feelings surrounding the year might be difficult. However, their head coach, Tad Boyle, did just that after the game as he balanced his disappointment on how the season ended with the pride he feels towards his player’s overall achievements.
“It’s a combination of both. You can be proud of your guys and still — like, ah, this was a great opportunity that we let slip away because we gave ourselves chances,” said Boyle. “Again, I told our team in the locker room after the game, we had chances to win that game — had good looks, good wide-open looks, just didn’t make them. Sometimes that happens. Sometimes basketball becomes a make-miss game.”
“I just keep going back to the 62 percent field goal percentage defense. And again, credit Marquette, they run their stuff, they run it with pace. They’ve got good players. They’ve got good one-on-one players, and they’ve got good actions that they run.”
Colorado had to scrap just to get a seat at the table as they found themselves in a First-Four matchup against Boise State for the right to be in this year’s field of 64. The Buffaloes went on to defeat their fellow Midwest foes 60-53, earning a date with the red-hot Florida Gators in the opening round. Florida stayed true to its nature in the back half of the season, putting up 100 points in the first-round matchup. However, Colorado was slightly better, winning the game 102-100. Unfortunately, in their final game of the season, the Buffaloes could not overcome the No. 2 in the South Region, falling to Marquette 81-77.
“Our guys competed, and the way they came out in the second half, you saw it, we’ve done that before,” Boyle explained. “We’ve come — we were down 16 at — USC came back and won. We were down to a really, really good Marquette team tonight, came back and took the lead twice, but we couldn’t ever string together enough stops to really — when we took the lead to expand on it.”
“But we had looks. We had looks. That’s all you can ask for as a coach and as players. Again, I’m proud of these guys. Their competitive spirit and effort is second to none,” said Boyle
In the end, Colorado was able to finish the regular season with a respectable 26-11 mark and 13-7 in Pac-12 conference play, led by a potential lottery pick in the 2024 NBA Draft, wing Cody Williams. The season may have had its highs and lows for the Buffaloes, but there is one thing for certain — Boyle had plenty to be proud of in his team after making it to the second round of March Madness and nearly upsetting their region’s No. 2 seed.