Buffs should be salivating over Northern Colorado

Let's try this again.

CU heads South for the equivalent of a "gimme" win earlier this week and gets its' pants pulled down at the dance, falling to North Carolina Wilmington, a defenseless bunch who somehow looked like the in-state big brother Tar Heels.

So, let's scale back the competition a little, shall we, and try on Northern Colorado for size.

See, they too have a daunting record at 1-4, beating only Colorado Christian, which I think might be a high school.

There are two players to watch for the Bears: first, 6-foot-3 junior guard Sean Taibi from Pueblo, who averages a team-best 14.1 points per game on 52 percent shooting from the floor; stretching the defense with his 49 percent accuracy from three-point range and the other player to look for is 6-foot-9 junior center Kirk Archibeque from Cortez, who goes for 11 points and five rebounds a game while converting on 58 percent of his shots from the field.

Lose this game and CU coach Ricardo Patton goes the way of Dan Monson, who resigned from Minnesota after his team started poorly and got blasted by Clemson in his final outing.

The Buffs not only need to win this game they should be expected to look good doing so, as in executing, playing a crisp, dominating brand of orange.

Rumors are swirling that Patton is putting a choke hold on offense, preferring the Buffs settle for jumpers at the exclusion of attacking the basket, while also exploding at every mistake, yanking players, destroying their confidence.

Like I said in an earlier post, allegedly.

Patton seems on edge and the end is near. How near is the question.

That might not be answered today but with Pepperdine and Colorado State coming to town in the next week, Patton is being tested and will need to have answers soon.

NC Wilmington was a pitiful team, Northern Colorado won't scare anyone, Pepperdine is awful, the Rams are, well, the Rams.

The Buffs, youth no excuse, need to string some victories together, starting today. Expect defense, get out and run, pass the ball and attack the basket. No disjointed, defensively disinterested, blindfolded basketball, please.

Richard Roby and Jermyl Jackson-Wilson are two names that come to mind who should dominate against UNC. Dominate.

Dominque Coleman should excel.

Freshman point guard Kal Bay should feel like he's back in high school, playing freely and with confidence.

Xavier Silas and Jeremy Williams (pictured) should be aggressive on both ends of the court.

And Patton should turn down the heat, make the game fun again and find a way to weave this team's sufficient talent into cohesive, winning basketball.