Heading into Thursday evening’s matchup between No. 16 Colorado and No.17 Oregon at the Matthew Knight Arena in Eugene, CU hoops junkies doubtless took some time earlier this week to think of a regular season game with larger implications this millennia.
That’s not a hyperbolic statement — Colorado entering this game sitting solely in possession of first place in the Pac-12 Conference this far into the season is something that’s never transpired under head coach Tad Boyle, now in his 10th season leading the Buffs.
In fact, you’d have to go back to early 1969 to find the last time the Buffaloes (who would go on to win the Big Eight Conference title that year) were leading their conference past January in a given season.