Sorry, But I Don't Think Colorado Has a Target On Its Back
The biggest storyline to come out of Colorado basketball media day was that the Buffaloes will be expected to make the NCAA Tournament this year and therefore are under a lot of pressure.
Which, sure. Expectations create pressure. Yes.
But I have to take exception to this idea: "the Buffs all of the sudden are one of the Pac-12 teams boasting a big target on their collective backs."
There is no target on Colorado's back. This program hasn't even been to the NCAA Tournament since 2016 and hasn't made it to the Round of 32 since 2012. It hasn't won a regular-season conference championship since Tad Boyle was six years old.
I don't think the teams at the bottom of the conference are looking at Colorado like a trophy buck. And I really don't think the likes of Arizona and Oregon are seeing it that way.
That's not to say CU doesn't have pressure on it this year, and that's not to say that pressure doesn't create a new dynamic.
"I don’t look at it as pressure," Boyle said. "I look at it as an expectation level and a standard that we’ve set for this program. And our players understand it as well. But I think it’s really important that for our team. You forget you’re dealing with 18-, 19-, 20-, 21-year old kids, that we don’t put pressure on them. You guys can. That’s what the media sometimes can do. But it’s important to us internally, both as a coach and our players, that we don’t play with pressure. We’ve got to play with a standard and expectation we have of ourselves, but not pressure. I don’t feel any more this year than in years past.”
The expectations of making the NCAA Tournament will have to be managed all year by Boyle and his staff. But if the Buffaloes are thinking they're somehow now "the hunted" in the Pac-12, they can probably relax.
