Following Colorado’s 79-70 win over Kansas State on Wednesday night, Buffaloes head coach Tad Boyle went off on the pace of college basketball that continues to be bogged down by reviews.
Boyle said, “I hate them. I hate replay. I hate it. I hate it. Just play the game. The game’s played by humans. It’s coached by humans, it’s officiated by humans. I hate replay. Hate it. I hate the challenge, right? It’s just our game has become so technology-driven. And that’s what’s great about sports: sports has nothing to do with technology. Play the damn game. Officiate the game. Bunch of hogwash.”
Here’s the video.
Boyle also knows that stoppages at home can be a disadvantage for Colorado, as teams have time to rest up when playing at altitude.
“It sure helps them,” Boyle said. “When you got four reviews for flagrant fouls and then you got, you know, we challenged one and lost it. I mean, yeah, plus you got nine timeouts, media timeouts, four in the first half, five in the second. You got four timeouts from video reviews. What’s that, 13? You got three timeouts by each team. That’s 19? Who the hell wants to watch that?
“At home on TV? I’ll tell you what they’re doing. They’re flipping the damn channel. We probably had some fans here tonight wishing they were home and flipping the channel, because it’s no fun to watch. It’s no fun to coach, it’s no fun to play. And we do lose our homecourt advantage, without a doubt.”
College basketball games are scheduled for two hours, however they often run 2:10 to 2:15, and cut into the game scheduled after it, which also hurts TV viewership.
Boyle and Colorado’s Remaining Schedule
Colorado has now won two in a row and is 16-12 overall and 6-9 in Big 12 play. They have not appeared on a bubble watch yet, but there’s still time if they finish strong with three games remaining against Houston, Utah and Arizona. If Colorado can pull off the unthinkable, they are likely back in the NCAA Tournament conversation ahead of the Big 12 Tournament in Kansas City. But that’s a tall task for a team that has had more downs than ups this season.
