Operation toughen the (heck) up is underway for the Colorado men\u2019s basketball team.<\/p>\n
The Buffaloes returned to practice in Boulder on Tuesday with a single agenda on the mind of head coach Tad Boyle: Get his club tougher, before the promising early wins get completely nullified by the mediocrity of a .500 record.<\/p>\n
For the first time since the start of the regular season more than two weeks ago, CU (3-3) will have an opportunity to practice intensely multiple days in a row. Boyle intends to take full advantage of that opportunity as the Buffs get ready for a Sunday home date against Yale (1 p.m., Pac-12 Network).<\/p>\n
\u201c(Tuesday\u2019s) practice was one of the more physical that we\u2019ve had,\u201d Boyle said. \u201cWe went on that road trip, and we got one decent day of practice because you were playing so many games in such a short period of time. The way you get tougher is you challenge kids. You show them on film how they\u2019re getting punked. Like we got punked against Boise.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve got to piss your players off. It\u2019s OK for them to be pissed at the coach. If they\u2019re not pissed at me, I\u2019m probably not coaching them hard enough. All three losses, we physically got punked. So you show them that on film. You challenge them. You piss them off. You do whatever you can to light a fire under them and say we\u2019re not going to let this happen again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Boyle criticized his team\u2019s lack of toughness on Sunday night following a defeat against Boise State that left the Buffs with a 1-2 mark at the Myrtle Beach Invitational and a 2-3 record during the long road trip \u2014 despite posting wins against a pair of ranked foes in Tennessee and Texas A&M. He attempted to quantify that lack of toughness with a look at a few of his players\u2019 rebounds per minute, a metric he turns to the most frequently when measuring rebounding productivity.<\/p>\n
For instance, leading rebounder J\u2019Vonne Hadley, who has missed the past two games due to a shoulder injury, is averaging .371 rebounds per minute (14.9 per 40 minutes). Two players lagging in that department are 6-foot-9 forward Tristan da Silva (.125 per minute, 5.0 per 40 minutes) and 6-foot-5 wing Jalen Gabbidon (0.75 per minute, 3.0 per 40 minutes).<\/p>\n
\u201cNot having J\u2019Vonne Hadley against Boise \u2014 he\u2019s our best rebounder, he\u2019s our toughest player. Getting punked, J\u2019Vonne Hadley helps with that,\u201d Boyle said. \u201cBut J\u2019Vonne was out. No excuses, next man up. Next man up wasn\u2019t ready. We have a 10-man rotation, and the fact of the matter is Tristan da Silva is our eighth-best rebounder (per minute). Jalen Gabbidon is our 10th-best rebounder. Physically speaking, those guys should be better rebounders.\u201d<\/p>\n