If the state of FBS football — what the heck happened, Air Force? — around here has got you down, the Grading The Week crew’s got three words:
Buck up, buttercup!
Colorado is still a college hoops state. And the biggest four programs in the metro — CU men and women, CSU men and women — have spent the first three weeks of a long season planting flags. Oh, and taking names. Big names, too.
Colorado = College Hoops State, baby! — A
While Tad Boyle’s Buffs (4-1) are coming off a frustrating overtime loss to Florida State in Daytona Beach, Fla., CU’s got a great chance to right the ship against Iona (2-3) on Sunday, a game that’ll also serve as a tune-up for one of the more interesting Rocky Mountain Showdowns on the hardwood in years on Wednesday night.
And not just because CU is flashing a future lottery pick in Cody Williams. Or because the Rams are riding on the rainbow fumes of a colossal 21-point win over No. 8 Creighton in Kansas City on Thanksgiving Day — the program’s first win over a top-10 foe since January 1984. Or because it’s the kind of holy-cow pelt on the wall that can bump you up by an entire seed line come March. Or because CSU senior point guard Isaiah Stevens (20 points, seven assists vs. the Jays) is back for Year 5 with unfinished business on his mind.
CU was ranked 18th nationally by the Associated Press before its loss to FSU, while CSU was “unofficially” 44th with one point to prop up the back end of the “others receiving votes” club. There’s a chance both the Buffs and Rammies are ranked heading into the game, which hasn’t happened for a CU-CSU men’s hoops tussle this century, according to the website CollegePollArchive.com, which tracks every school’s all-time AP vote totals.
Oh, and the women? CU is a top 5 program with an LSU rout on its resume and No. 1 seed bona fides. Meanwhile, CSU might have the best collegiate player in the state, regardless of gender, in senior guard McKenna Hofschild.
The Nuggets and Avs, justifiably, take up so much oxygen in the room from November-March that the sheer swag of the college hoops coaches in Boulder and Fort Collins often get overlooked around here. It shouldn’t. And whether you’re a Buff or a Ram, you’re darned lucky to have ’em.
Hasselbach’s legacy — A
The Grading kids got some sad texts during the holiday week lamenting the too-soon passing of ex-Broncos defensive end Harald Hasselbach at the age of 56 after a battle with cancer. Hasselbach, a former Washington Husky standout, began his career in the CFL and is among only a handful of players to win both a Grey Cup and a Super Bowl.
Hasselbach notched two titles with the Broncos, back-to-back, as a key cog for the franchise’s repeat champions in the late ’90s. He started Super Bowl XXXIII, recording two tackles in Denver’s 34-19 victory over Atlanta. To players at Regis Jesuit, though, he was Coach Hasselbach, where he tutored the defensive line and helped his son Tarran rebound, emotionally and physically, from a brutal auto accident more than a decade ago. A tip of the cap and a post-Thanksgiving toast to No. 96, whom the GTW team will remember as a serial winner.
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