Colorado men’s basketball coach Tad Boyle kept the term “perspective” as he tried to get through it His postgame news conference on Monday.
Boyle’s buffalo was eliminated from the NCAA tournament by Florida State, but he knew the result was beyond a secondary concern. Trainers and players learned before moving to the Indiana Farmers Coliseum in Indianapolis that a mass shooting took place on Monday afternoon in Boulder, where the CU campus is located. They later saw and heard the details: Boulder police said at least 10 people, including a city police officer, were shot and killed in a local supermarket.
“I felt an emptiness in my stomach,” Boyle said of his pregame mentality. “Another insensitive act of violence that we as a country have experienced many times.
“It puts this game in perspective,” he said. “It certainly loses in perspective, but if we had won this game and gone to the Sweet 16, it would have been a loss. My heart goes out to the families who were affected and who lost their lives.”
Boyle said that he and his staff decided to wait until after the game to deeply address the incident with the players.
“We didn’t have any details (before the game). There was nothing, really, to talk about,” Boyle said. “I talked about this with them after the game, again from perspective to perspective. The mental mentality of your team, as they prepare for a game, is sometimes fragile and I find their minds a lot more complex. Didn’t want to, because we had to go play. Game. “
Boyle said that CU’s refusal to play was not considered.
“We were not going to play the game,” he said.
Buffalo senior guard McKinley Wright felt the weight of the news and the end of his college career as he spoke to members of the media.
“It’s a privilege to play this game, but we have to realize that life outside of basketball is real,” he said. “Many people lost family members today. Some of the cowards went into shooting King Soopers. He is worthless.
“For me, from where I come (Wright grew up outside of Minneapolis) that happens often and I see it a lot. I’m just hurt and devastated for the families who have to experience it. It’s useless.”
“It was in my mind a little bit, and I thought about my life and grew up and all that I’ve done and am seeing these people and what they have to do now.”
Now the buffalo will return home and try to scramble with every other Boulder resident.
Boyle said, “We’re going to work through this as a community. Boulder’s place is as safe as I’ve ever felt and am living in my life, so if it can be there, it’s Can happen anywhere. ” “We’ve figured out a way to stop this stuff. I don’t know the answer but we need to find a way out.”
Wright’s vision went elsewhere.
“Life is much bigger than basketball,” he said. “Basketball, it’s just a game.”
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