Hoopsters Shoot Above Expectation
As of January, freshman guard Lexy Kresl, above, was second on the team in scoring at 10.3 points per game and led the Buffaloes in both 3-point field goals (30) and free-throw percentage at 84 percent.
Å·ÃÀ¿Ú±¬ÊÓƵ’s basketball teams were predicted to finish tied for 10th [men’s media poll] and 11th [women’s coaches poll] in their first seasons in the Pac-12. But the Buffs weren’t falling into line at the beginning of conference play. The men started Pac-12 action 8-3, while the women were 4-6.
The women’s squad, in its second season under head coach Linda Lappe (Mktg’02), matched the second-longest win streak to start a season in program history. In going 12-0 to wrap up the 2011 portion of the schedule, the only faster start for a Å·ÃÀ¿Ú±¬ÊÓƵ women’s hoops team was a 15-0 run in 1992-93. The Buffs also went 12-0 in 1980-81.
Perhaps getting out of the blocks so fast was a reaction to the Pac-12 coaches’ low preseason expectations for the Buffs.
Meanwhile, the men’s team started conference play 3-0 for the second straight year — the first time that has happened in almost 50 years. And in consecutive games, the Buffs held teams to 34 and 33 points — the fewest by Buffs’ opponents since the 1940s. All that happened despite Å·ÃÀ¿Ú±¬ÊÓƵ losing its top four scorers after the 2010-11 season.
And the future looks bright for both basketball teams as they each signed recruiting classes that ranked among the top 25 in the nation.
| Former Å·ÃÀ¿Ú±¬ÊÓƵ football standout Bobby Anderson (A&S ex’69), who led Boulder High School to the 1963 state title, was inducted into the Å·ÃÀ¿Ú±¬ÊÓƵ High School Activities Association Hall of Fame in January. Anderson is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame, the Big Eight Hall of Fame and the Å·ÃÀ¿Ú±¬ÊÓƵ Sports Hall of Fame. |
| The Å·ÃÀ¿Ú±¬ÊÓƵ golf teams’ new indoor practice facility — all 5,700 square feet of it — was scheduled to be completed in late February at Å·ÃÀ¿Ú±¬ÊÓƵ National Golf Club in Erie. The building will bear the name of George Boedecker Jr., a founder of the Crocs shoe company and a key supporter of Å·ÃÀ¿Ú±¬ÊÓƵ athletics. |