CU Buffs hoops will be center of attention this week

Thanksgiving week is one of the best times of year for college hoops as teams from around the country travel to neutral sites to take on some of the best—and this year the Colorado Buffaloes will be at the center of the basketball world.

In Monday’s AP poll both the Men’s and Women’s teams moved up big time. The women jumped from No. 5 to No. 3 and the men went from No. 25 to No. 18.

Last week JR Payne’s Buffs entered the top 10 for the first time since December of 1995 and now have their highest AP ranking since the end of the 1994-95 regular season. The black and gold

Both former No. 2 Iowa and former No. 4 Utah lost last week while CU won its lone game against SMU. Only South Carolina and UCLA are ranked higher than the Buffs, the Gamecocks have won 45 of their last 46 games with the one loss coming to the Hawkeyes in the Final Four after Iowa beat CU last year. Meanwhile, the Bruins will meet the Buffs twice this season with the first matchup coming on Jan. 19—and for good measure, Stanford whom CU will meet in Pac-12 play is No. 4.

The latest poll sets up CU for the best game in college basketball this week, as they’ll face No. 10 NC State at Paradise Jam on Saturday at 11 a.m. Aaronette Vonleh is pacing Payne’s crew with 19.5 points a game and is tied for the team lead in rebounds at 6.5 a game with Quay Miller. Jaylyn Sherrod is throwing 6.8 helpers a game and nabbing 2.8 steals as well for the 4-0 Buffs.

The men’s team is also at a neutral site taking on big schools, as they kick off the Sunshine Slam’s off-campus portion on Monday. The Buffs face Richmond and then whoever gets the same result as them from UNLV against Florida State on Tuesday.

Boyle’s team’s first true test will come on Dec. 10 in Brooklyn when they square off with the Miami Hurricanes. The 3-0 men’s team is seeing some of the best guard play in the nation from KJ Simpson at 19 points and 5.7 helpers a game, while the Buffs starting lineup seems to be pacing above some of the past team’s in the Boyle era, filled with future NBA players.

Only UConn, ranked No. 5 for men and No. 6 for women have two programs with a combined lower ranking than what you can see now at the CU Events Center.