Bzy's Buffs

With Jeff Bzdelik’s return just more than a week away, I rolled up to Boulder for the Colorado-Colorado Christian game on Tuesday night to check out the former Air Force coach’s new team.

Initial impressions of the Buffs?

• They’ve got more athletes and more size than the Falcons – but what else is new?
• Colorado Christian gave them more of a fight than they probably wanted in the first half, though the Buffaloes put the game away early in the second half.
• Marcus Hall is a pretty nice player. The 6-foot-1 senior guard made 8 of 11 shots, including 4 of 6 3-pointers, and scored a team-high 21 points. He seemed like the best player on the floor.
• Senior Richard Roby looks like he’s regressed, big time, from his sophomore year. Roby considered going pro after that season but came back for last year’s strange, lame-duck campaign under Ricardo Patton. He averaged 16.0, 17.0 and 17.3 points in his first three seasons. This year he’s averaging 13.2 and he just looks a little lost.
• Part of that might be because he and his teammates haven’t quite picked up on the offense Bzdelik has implemented. Sophomore guard Dwight Thorne told me as much after the game. Air Force’s new players are having the same problems at the academy.
• Levi Knutson – a player Bzdelik recruited to come to Air Force – made his first start and played fairly well: nine points on 4-of-7 shooting.
• On paper – though certain people at CU will tell you differently – the Buffaloes seem to have an edge. But the game will be at Clune, and something tells me the Air Force players will be up for it.

Plenty more thoughts on the CU-Air Force game to come.

Hope everyone who checks in on the blog has a happy Thanksgiving. I’ll check in from Spokane, Wash., on Friday.