INDIANAPOLIS — KJ Simpson plopped a blue NCAA name tag in his lap and a goal on the table.
“How good could this CU roster be next year,” I asked Simpson after his season ended with an 81-77 loss to Marquette in the second round of the Big Dance, “if everybody’s back? Or just about everybody?”
No hesitation.
Not even a blink.
“Final Four,” the junior CU point guard replied.
I raised an eyebrow.
“Seriously?” I wondered.
“I’m serious, too,” Simpson countered. “Like I said, nobody was excited to play us. They knew it wasn’t going to be easy.
“I’m just happy to be a part of this team. This was a special one, for sure.”
How special will CU be next winter? That probably depends on Simpson himself.
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Sunday stung. The season didn’t. The Buffs (26-10) closed the books on their Pac-12 Era by breaking the program’s single-season record for victories, tying its best-ever record in March (7-2) and racking up two wins in the Big Dance for the first time since 1955.
(And heck, yes, First Four games in Dayton “count.” Just like CU having to win only one tourney game in 1969 to reach the Sweet 16 “counts.” Or the way that one Buffs tournament victory was needed to reach the Elite Eight in ’62 and again in ’63 also “counts.” Different brackets. Different times. Same stage.)
But coach Tad Boyle is staring at a crossroads now, on several fronts. CU is slated to rejoin the Big 12 on July 1. And while that move has all kinds of upside for Deion Sanders and Buffs football, it’s setting up to be a royal kick in the teeth for Team Tad.
Arizona notwithstanding, the Pac-12 went out with a whimper on the men’s hoops front. Meanwhile, nearly 20% of the teams that reached Bracketville’s Round of 32 — CU, Iowa State, Baylor, The ‘Cats, Houston, Kansas — are d/b/a Big 12 rivals this fall.
The Big Ten poached teams the last 28 months with an eye on the College Football Playoff in December. Big 12 commish Brett Yormark, meanwhile, renovated his league with an eye toward March and April.
“I mean, (expletive), I’m already over (Sunday),” CU center Eddie Lampkin Jr., almost as much of a delight for the scribes to talk to as he was for Buffs fans to watch, offered after a 13-point, seven-board afternoon against Marquette.
“We were right there. But you can’t be hard on yourself, because there’s always another opportunity. Somebody had to lose and we just came (up) short. We’ve got to go in the lab and go grind.”
The Buffs are hopping from the “Conference of Champions” to a Conference of Chainsaws. They could really use grinders such as Lampkin, a 6-foot-11 TCU transfer and a senior with a year of COVID-19 eligibility left to play with.
When Simpson’s trey in transition pulled the Buffs to within 47-44, Eagles coach Shaka Smart called timeout. Lampkin responded as only Lampkin could, of course, running over to the gaggle of CU fans in the Fieldhouse’s southwest corner and releasing an imaginary arrow from a pretend bow, Jamal Murray style.
“That’s about as good of a 10 seed as I’ve ever seen in my life,” Smart said after the game. “We started watching tape a couple days (earlier) and we said, ‘Who made these guys a 10 seed?’ No disrespect to anyone.”
None taken, coach. CU did the seed thing to itself, in hindsight, although injuries turned this ride into more of a roller coaster than anybody would’ve pegged last October. Even Boyle admitted that it would’ve been one of his most profound disappointments if a team with this much talent, from Lampkin and Simpson (20 points, seven assists, 8 of 19 shooting) to Tristan Silva (17 points, five boards) and future NBA lottery pick Cody Williams (12 points off the bench), had missed the Big Dance entirely.
And make no mistake: These Buffs had Smart edgy from the start. Shaka was a trip to watch on the sidelines whenever CU had the ball, pounding the floor, crouching into a defensive stance, or waving his arms maniacally as if trying to hail a taxi from about six blocks away.
Speaking of active hands, Marquette followed its coaches’ lead on the happy-pokey-slappy front. At the 11:36 mark of the first half, CU had piled up four turnovers and five field-goal makes, which is the kind of ratio that usually gets your Bracketville Pass revoked early. Eagles’ runouts off steals fueled a 10-2 run that pushed its lead to 22-11 midway through the opening stanza. The Buffs were outscored 9-5 in points off turnovers and 9-3 in fast-break points over the first 20 minutes of the contest.
“(Marquette) has got super-good guards, (and) they’re well-coached,” said Buffs guard J’Vonne Hadley, who notched seven points but contributed to one of those killer giveaways early. “So when you turn the ball over like that and (have) empty possessions, it’s hard to beat a team like that.”
CU’s going to see more of those types of teams in the Big 12 going forward. Mind you, a Buffs core of Simpson, Hadley and Lampkin would be a pretty nice weapon to bring into those exotic, hoops-mad locales such as Ames, Lawrence and Stillwater.
“Yeah, for sure,” said Hadley, who’s also got a COVID year to play with and is also weighing his options. “For sure. That’s what we’ve got to figure out. It’s another what-if. For sure.”
What say you, Eddie?
“Don’t know,” Lampkin replied. “I’ve got to sit down with Coach (Boyle) and we’ve got to talk. And I’ll talk to my family. I hope (to be back). But yeah, you never know what can happen — who’s coming back, who’s not coming back. So I just say everybody’s got to just stay together. We’re a family, so at the end of the day, anybody — even Cody could come back, you just never know. I would say we’re all blessed to be in this position. And whatever’s next is next.”
Lampkin told me he wants to make a decision quickly. With Simpson, though, the future could well depend on the NBA Draft combine in May. The young man took a long, reflective postgame pause to sit at the scorer’s table Sunday, letting a bonkers week of three NCAA tourney games in six days finally sink in.
“Yeah,” Simpson explained later, “I just didn’t really want to go.”
Nobody in Boulder wants to see you go, either, my friend. Seriously.
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