March Madness: Colorado’s resurgence relies on grit, no fear

BOULDER, Colo. — Senior Jaylyn Sherrod’s emotion-filled post-game interview after Colorado upset Duke reminded Buffaloes coach JR Payne of the time her point guard was interviewed after a 104-46 blowout at Oregon in Sherrod’s freshman year. “This is probably the most excited we’ve been going into any game this season.” Sherrod tearfully told the broadcast crew on Monday night that Colorado was the only Power Five program that offered her a scholarship coming out of high school, so never once has she thought of jumping into the transfer portal. “But I think just hearing somebody who’s been through that and having her see that we have the potential, it really ignited the fire under us and was like OK, we have potential to do what they did, and we can do this.” The Buffs have gone from a non-tournament team three years ago to one that’s won 47 games over the last two seasons. “There are so many firsts that we’ve done, winning at Oregon, winning at Oregon State, winning in the NCAA tournament, going to the Sweet 16,” Payne said. “My whole life I’ve been dreaming of moments like this,” Sherrod said, “because, like a lot of my teammates, we weren’t five-stars, we weren’t McDonald’s All-Americans.