Despite a now 21-win campaign, Colorado has mostly been pushed aside in the national conversation of who should make the NCAA Tournament.
Yes, the Buffs suffered a few ugly losses earlier this season, but upsetting the second-ranked team in the country and finishing fourth in a Power 5 conference should merit more than just whispers when debating their March Madness worth.
Soon after Colorado’s 80-69 win over Oregon in Thursday’s Pac-12 Quarterfinals, head coach Tad Boyle shared his theory on why the Buffs have gotten so little NCAA Tournament consideration (h/t Matt Prehm of 247Sports):
I think there’s a big bias with East Coast and, quite frankly ESPN. They’re talking about Virginia Tech, they got one Quad 1 win — we got three. They’re squarely on the bubble. We’re not even in the conversation. I hope the committee is smarter than the people that are putting that thing together. But, look, I can’t sit here and pound the table for Colorado because we lost to Southern Illinois, we had 10 losses. But we have a young team. And if you look at the Colorado team today relative to where we were in November or December, if you don’t think we’re one of the top 68 teams in the country, you’re sorely mistaken.
While Pac-12 men’s basketball season didn’t exactly meet expectations, the 10 p.m. ET tipoffs certainly didn’t do the Buffs any favors in attracting the ever-important “East Coast” attention.
However, another win over No. 2 Arizona in Friday’s Pac-12 Semifinals and the tournament selection committee should have a clearer choice when it comes to Colorado, at least in my opinion.
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