James GordonColorado basketball coach Ted Boyle began his press conference Monday night by discussing the mass shooting that took place a few miles from the Boulder High School campus. He said the tragedy left a void in his stomach, win or lose.
First of all, before I start talking about this basketball game, I was in the locker room before the game and I was thinking about the events that happened today in Boulder, Colorado – and I don’t have any details, but I know it was a tragic, tragic situation, Boyle said after Buffalo State’s 71-53 loss in the second round of the NCAA Tournament against Florida State. He puts the basketball back in its place.
And whether you win or lose tonight, all I felt was an emptiness in my stomach. Just another senseless act of violence that we have seen so many times as a country. And that puts this game in perspective. This puts the loss in perspective.
Avalanche: We are all deeply saddened by today’s events in Boulder. Our thoughts and prayers go out to those affected by this terrible act.
Broncos: Our thoughts are with the innocent victims, the employees of the convenience store and the families of the victims of the shooting at King Supes in Boulder, Colo. We are grateful to the law enforcement and medical professionals who responded courageously to yet another senseless tragedy.
Speed: We are deeply saddened by today’s events in Boulder. Our thoughts are with those affected by this terrible act.
Rock: The Colorado Rockies are still recovering from today’s senseless tragedy in Boulder. Our hearts break for this needless loss of life and our thoughts are with everyone affected by this shooting. We are grateful for the brave heroes and pioneers who acted quickly.
But even if we had won that match and gone through to the last 16, it would have been a blow. Therefore, my heart goes out to the families who have suffered and those who have lost their lives.
A shooting at a King Soopers supermarket killed 10 people Monday, including a police officer who was first on the scene, authorities said.
Police arrested the suspect, but did not release his name or details of the shooting at a news conference tonight.
As of last week, Colorado is no longer in Boulder and Indianapolis for the men’s NCAA basketball tournament. Boyle said some members of the Buffalo had received a gunshot warning on their phones about an hour before they arrived at the arena, but he said he did not tell his team about the tragedy until the shooting began.
I talked to two of my assistants about it, and we felt it was probably best to leave – we didn’t have the details, he said. There really wasn’t much to say, and I talked about it again when I stepped back after the game.
But the mental attitude of your team as they prepare for the game is sometimes fragile. I didn’t want to shake them up too much because we had to play the game. We had no intention of not playing the game. So I decided to wait until after the game to discuss it with them, which I did.
Boyle said he didn’t think the shooting would affect his team’s spirit during the game, but added: I could be completely wrong and wrong. The one thing I’m not going to do is sit here and make excuses for the way we played. I take responsibility for that.
Goalkeeper McKinley Wright admitted he was very concerned about what happened.
I thought about my life, how I grew up, what I went through and how I saw these people,” he said, scoring 10 points in the loss. And what they’re going through right now sucks. I am very sorry and I will pray for their families.
Basketball is just a game, people died. This sucks. It’s hard to find the words after my last game here at UCLA and the tragedy that happened in Boulder, it’s just awful.
Boyle said Boulder was the safest place I have ever felt and lived.
So if it can happen, it can happen there, it can happen anywhere, he said. But we have to find a way to stop it. I don’t know the answer, but we’ll have to find a way.
James Gordon
