ASU Basketball: 2019 Pac-12 Week 13 Power Rankings
By Trevor Booth
10. Colorado Buffaloes (11-8, 2-5 Pac-12) LW: 10
At 2-5 in conference play, Colorado is the biggest disappointment in the Pac-12 not named UCLA or Oregon.
Predicted by some as a dark horse contender within the conference prior to the season, the Buffaloes continue to trend downwards after splitting a weekend on the road against California and Stanford.
In most cases, a split would be fine for CU.
But the Buffs showed little life against Cal, needing a 17-point, 14-rebound effort from sophomore forward Tyler Bey to edge the Golden Bears by nine. Thursday marked just the second time all year that Cal lost by single digits in what is now a nine-game skid.
At Stanford, the Buffaloes shot almost 10 percentage points worse from the floor, being handedly defeated by the Cardinal, 75-62. On a cold shooting night for sophomore forward KZ Okpala (five points), sophomore forward Oscar Da Silva picked up the slack with 21 points and seven rebounds.
The saving grace for CU is that it finishes the season with seven of its final 11 games at home, where the Buffs are currently 7-1. However, Colorado has not yet shown an ability to play up to its competition. In fact, it hasn’t won consecutive games since Dec. 11, the final victory of a six-game winning streak.
Colorado’s two Pac-12 wins are against California and Washington State, arguably the only two teams in the league weaker than the Buffaloes.
If Colorado is going to make a run down the stretch, it has to start at home. The Buffaloes resume play this week in Boulder against Oregon State and Oregon.