Colorado men’s basketball coach Tad Boyle opened his NCAA tournament after the game Monday night by addressing the mass shooting that took place several miles from the school’s campus in Boulder, saying the tragedy was “a void.” in his stomach let win or lose.
‘First, before we talk about this basketball game, before the game in the locker room, I thought about how the events in Boulder, Colorado, took place today – and I have no other details than to know it was a tragic, tragic situation. ” Boyle said after the Buffaloes’ 71-53 NCAA Tournament in the second round against Florida State. ‘It puts basketball in its right place.
“And tonight winning or losing, I just felt an emptiness in my stomach.” Another senseless act of violence that we have experienced many, many times as a country. And that puts this game in perspective. It definitely puts lost in perspective.
“But even if we had won this match and celebrated the celebration of the Sweet 16, it would have put a damper on it. So my heart goes out to the families who have been affected and those who have lost their lives.”
The shooting at the King Soopers supermarket left ten people dead earlier Monday, including the police officer who was the first reaction to the scene, authorities said.
Police have arrested a suspect but did not disclose his name or details of the shooting at a news conference.
Colorado has been away from Boulder and in Indianapolis for the NCAA men’s basketball tournament since last week. Boyle said some members of the Buffaloes had received warnings on their phones about the shooting about an hour before they arrived at the arena, but he said he had not spoken to his team about the tragedy before the shooting.
“I talked about it with some of my assistants and we felt it would probably be better – we had no details,” he said. “There was really nothing to talk about, and I talked about it again in perspective after the game.
“But your team’s mental attitude when they prepare for a game, it’s sometimes fragile. I did not want to complicate their minds too much, because we had to go play the game. We are not going to play the game. So I decide to to wait until after the game to address it with them, and I have. ‘
Boyle said he did not believe the shooting during the match kept his team’s head in mind, but added: ‘I could be completely wrong and not on that basis. The one thing I’m not going to do is sit here and make excuses for how we played. I’m going to take responsibility for that. ‘
Guard McKinley Wright admitted that what he was doing was in his heart.
“I thought about my life and my growing up years and what I went through and saw these people,” he said after scoring ten points in the loss. “And what they have to go through now is very difficult. I am very sorry and I am going to pray for their families.
“Basketball is just a game; people have lost their lives. It’s very difficult. It’s hard to put into words at the moment by playing my last game here at CU and the tragedy in Boulder, it’s just awful. “
Boyle calls Boulder “a safe place I have ever felt and lived in my life.”
“So if it can happen, it can happen there, it can happen anywhere,” he said. “But we have to find a way to stop these things. I do not know what the answer is, but we just have to find a way.”