Colorado State's Rocky Mountain Showdown Win Guarantees Little

So the Colorado State football squad is in for a banner season following its season--opening 31-17 win in the Rocky Mountain Showdown?
Not so fast, Ram Nation.
As impressive as the comeback win was, it guarantees CSU very little going forward.
In fact, the last three seasons in which Rams beat the Buffs, they finished with losing records:

• In 2012, CSU followed a 22-17 season-opening victory over CU with six straight losses and wound up 4-8.
• In 2009, the Rams' 23-17 win over the Buffs was followed by two more victories, but a nine-loss tailspin ensued for a 3-9 finish.
• In 2006, CSU's 14-10 Rocky Mountain Showdown triumph gave the Rams a 2-0 record, but they proceeded to drop eight of their final 10 games to wind up 4-8.

As for the Buffs, a loss to the Rams most definitely doesn't bode well for the season to come.
Since the rivalry more or less resumed on a annual basis in 1983, CU has lost to CSU seven times. In those seven seasons, the Buffs have only gone on to post a winning season twice (7-5 in 1999 & 9-5 in 2002).
In the aforementioned 2006, '09 and '12 seasons -- which featured CU's three most recent losses to CSU prior to this year -- the Buffs finished an aggregate 6-30.

An Inequitable Tale of 3 Franchises

With Wednesday's news that former Minnesota Vikings' center Mick Tingelhoff is the Pro Football Hall of Fame Senior Committee's lone 2015 player nominee, I had to call an immediate time-out to do a little historical research.
As a six-time Pro Bowler and five-time All-Pro selection who never missed a start in 240 games, Tingelhoff certainly has HOF credentials, but whether or not he receives the required 80 percent vote next winter to earn enshrinement to Canton is actually sort of irrelevant for our purposes here.
Bear with me.
Here's a comparison -- a tale of the tape if you will -- of three franchises who entered the pro football ranks in the early 1960s:

• Seasons: Team A 54, Team B 54, Team C 53
• Regular-season win percentage: Team C .541 (431-365-10), Team A .526 (432-378-10), Team B .463 (376-436-8)
• Division titles: Team C 18, Team A 13, Team B 10
• Playoff berths: Team C 27, Team A 20, Team B 17
• Postseason win percentage: Team A .526 (20-18), Team B .483 (14-15), Team C .413 (19-27)
• Conference/league championship game appearances: Team A 9, Team C 9, Team B 8
• Super Bowl appearances: Team A 7, Team B 4, Team C 4
• Super Bowl wins: Team A 2, Team B 0, Team C 0
• Hall-of-Fame selections (primary contributors): Team C 12, Team B 9, Team A 4

Now here's a side-by-side-by-side snapshot of the same three franchises from 1983-98:

• Seasons: 16
• Regular-season win percentage: Team A .633 (161-93-1), Team B .535 (136-119), Team C .555 (141-114)
• Division titles: Team A 7, Team B 6, Team C 4
• Playoff  berths: Team A 10, Team B 9, Team C 9
• Postseason win percentage: Team A .636 (22-14), Team B .550 (11-9), Team C .357 (5-9)
• Conference championship game appearances: Team A 6, Team B 5, Team C 2
• Super Bowl appearances: Team A 5, Team B 4, Team C 0
• Super Bowl wins: Team A 2, Team B 0, Team C 0
• HOF primary contributors from this period: Team B 6, Team C 5, Team A 3

Your franchises revealed: A (Denver Broncos), B (Buffalo Bills) and C (you guessed it, the Vikings).
As for significance of the 1983-98 span, just call it the Elway Era.
And as for the point here, the above inequity between the numbers in categories 1-8 and No. 9 says all that needs to be said.

Preseason precursors for Broncos?

Some quick notes on the Denver Broncos' preseason history before the Orange & Blue kick off the 2014 exhibition season tonight against the Seahawks.

• In the 44 seasons since the 1970 NFL-AFL merger, the Broncos have had 21 winning preseasons. They followed those 21 with a winning regular season 15 times.
• Conversely, the Broncos have had 27 winning regular seasons during that span. They finished above. 500 in the preseason in 17 of those years.
• The Broncos have had four uneaten preseasons -- going 4-0 in 1982, 2000 and 2005. They were a combined 25-15 in those three ensuing regular seasons, notching winning records in two of the three.
• Since the merger, the Broncos have had eight regular seasons in which they've won six or fewer games. They had winning preseasons in half of those eight years.
• In the Broncos' seven Super Bowl seasons, they've had four winning preseasons and finished .500 or better in all seven exhibition seasons -- including last year's 2-2 mark -- going a combined 20-12 overall.
• Finally, the franchise hasn't experienced a winning preseason since 2006 -- easily their longest drought since '70.

What does it all mean? As you can see, not much.
These games are, after all, called exhibitions for a reason.

Nuggets & Spurs: A 20-year portrait

Back in the Bicentennial year of 1976, four American Basketball Association squads -- the Denver Nuggets, San Antonio Spurs, New York Nets and Indiana Pacers -- were absorbed into the NBA.
Over the ensuing 18 seasons, none of the four managed to reach the NBA Finals, but two -- the Nuggets and Spurs -- clearly emerged as the class of the quartet, sporting Hall of Famers such as David Thompson, George Gervin, Dan Issel, David Robinson, Alex English and  Artis Gilmore while missing the playoffs only a combined eight times in 36 total seasons.
But in the 20 years since, let's just say the paths have diverged rather dramatically for the Nuggets and Spurs. Here's a tale of the tape of what's transpired for the two franchises over the past two decades (Warning, Nuggets fans, this isn't pretty):

• Winning seasons: Spurs 19, Nuggets 10
• 50-win seasons: Spurs 18, Nuggets 5
• 50-loss seasons: Nuggets 4, Spurs 1
• Playoff berths: Spurs 19, Nuggets 11
• Division titles: Spurs 13, Nuggets 3
• Playoff games: Spurs 264, Nuggets 67
• Playoff games won: Spurs 163, Nuggets 22
• Playoff series wins: Spurs 35, Nuggets 2
• Western Conference titles: Spurs 6, Nuggets 0
• NBA titles: Spurs 5, Nuggets 0
• Head coaches: Nuggets 11, Spurs 2
• All-Star Game selections: Spurs 28, Nuggets 11
• Regular season head-to-head wins: Spurs 63, Nuggets 25
• Postseason head-to-head wins: Spurs 13, Nuggets 2
• Top-20 draft picks: Nuggets 10, Spurs 2
• Top-five draft picks: Nuggets 4, Spurs 1
• All-NBA players drafted: Spurs 3, Nuggets 1 

Hey, just sayin' . . . 

Denver Nuggets can strike gold outside draft's top 10

Been awhile -- you know: road trips, family reunions and all that lazy, crazy summer stuff -- but I thought I'd check in and offer some hope for the Denver Nuggets' fans out there who feel the upcoming NBA Draft will be an exercise in futility with their squad without a top-10 pick.
Yeah, sure, having a little lottery luck and a top-three pick never hurts, but there are gems to mined later in the draft. In fact, there are likely more than you think.
I examined the 20 NBA drafts from 1992 to 2011, and some quick and dirty research reveals that 37 players selected outside of the top 10 -- or not even drafted at all -- have either gone on to play in an All-Star Game or have been named to an All-NBA team. The list ranges from Marc Gasol (48th in  2007) to Ron Artest (16th in 1999) to Manu Ginobili (57th in '99) to Kobe Bryant (13th in 1996) to Steve Nash (15th in '96).
Six of those 37 --  including the likes of Ginobili, Rajon Rondo (21st overall in 2006), Tony Parker (28th in 2001) and Sam Cassell (24th in 1993) -- have even gone on to play significant roles in NBA title-winning seasons with the team which selected them or traded for their selection rights on draft day.
A future All-Star or All-NBA selection has been selected outside of the top 10 in 16 of those 20 drafts from '92 to '11, with '94, '97, '10 and '11 currently being the exceptions. You didn't need to have passed trigonometry to figure out that's nearly an average of two mid-to-late round finds per draft.
Even in the second round -- where the Nuggets slated to pick 41st and 56th this year -- there are future finds to be had with seven of the aforementioned 37 having been selected 41st or later.
So even if the Nuggets don't trade up or somehow swing a monster deal for Kevin Love, there are draft nuggets to be uncovered outside of the top 10.
Now it's up to GM Tim Connelly and Co. to find them.

Another NBA Finals & no Nuggets . . . so what's new?

So it's the Spurs and Heat in the NBA Finals.
No surprise. We've been there, seen that matchup before.
It is the NBA after all where the chalk and the same teams dominate the action seemingly season after season.
To wit: Over the last 30 seasons, including the current one, only eight franchises have hoisted the Larry O'Brien Trophy with five teams (the Spurs, Heat, Lakers, Pistons and Bulls) winning a whopping 24 of the 30 (80 percent) championships.
Only 18 franchises have made NBA Finals appearances during those three decades, and as you well know your Denver Nuggets -- who joined the NBA in 1976 -- ain't one of them.
The Nuggets, in fact, are missing the party for the 38th consecutive season as one of the the seven current NBA franchises who have never made it to the Finals. The others are the Los Angeles Clippers (who joined the NBA as the Buffalo Braves in 1970), New Orleans Pelicans/Hornets/Charlotte Hornets ('88), Minnesota Timberwolves ('89), Memphis/Vancouver Grizzlies ('95), Toronto Raptors ('95) and Charlotte Hornets/Bobcats ('04).
Expanding the view to include all four major U.S. pro sports leagues, the Nuggets are one of 17 current franchises (out of 122 total or 13.9 percent) never to have made it to their current league's championship series or game.
The others, outside of the aforementioned NBA seven, are as follows:

• NFL: Jacksonville Jaguars (joined in 1995), Houston Texans ('02).
• MLB: Washington Nationals/Montreal Expos ('69), Seattle Mariners ('77)
• NHL: Phoenix Coyotes/Winnipeg Jets ('79), San Jose Sharks ('91), Nashville Predators ('98), Winnipeg Jets/Atlanta Thrashers ('99), Columbus Blue Jackets ('00), Minnesota Wild ('00)

A quick survey of those left-out 17 reveals that only the Nationals/Expos (45 years) and Clippers/Braves (44 years) have endured longer droughts than the Nuggets.

Sigh.

Draft lottery odds -- or past luck -- not on Nuggets' side

The NBA Draft Lottery ping-pong balls will align themselves and reveal the winning combinations in only two days, and your Denver Nuggets are hoping to beat the odds and buck history to earn a top-three pick -- all in one random confluence of four digits.
Contrary to some prominent published reports, though, the Nuggets' odds are not as slim as you might think. The Nugs do own the rights to the New York Knicks' first-round pick (if it turns out better than their own), and the combined odds give Denver a 1.5 percent chance to earn the No. 1 overall selection and a 5.4 percent shot of garnering a top-three pick.
Hey, still not great by any means, but it's better than their singular 0.8- and 2.9-percent chances after finishing with the 11th-worst record in the league.
To further gauge the Nuggets' lotto chances, we've examined the past 20 draft lotteries -- dating back to the institution of the current four-digit, 1,000-combination system in 1994 -- and here's what popped up (pun intended):

• First, some good news as amazingly only two of the past 20 lotteries (2003 & '04) have seen the team with the best odds (i.e. worst record) actually retain the No. 1 selection.
• Similarly, only two of the lotteries (1996 & 2012) have failed to see a team slotted outside the top three crash the party and earn one of the top trio of selections.
• In the meantime, a full half of the 20 lotteries have been won by teams slotted outside the top three. (It's actually 11 of 20 because the Vancouver Grizzlies, coming off their third season, weren't allowed to retain the top pick they were originally awarded in '98 due to previously agreed-upon expansion by-laws)
• However -- and here's where it really pertains to the Nuggets -- no team slotted lower than ninth has ever "won" the lottery and the top pick since the '94 restructuring, and only one double-digit-slotted franchise -- the '99 Charlotte Hornets, who turned the 13th-worst odds into the third-overall selection -- has ever garnered a top-three pick.
• Those Hornets are only of four teams in this 20-year span with lottery odds lower than or equal to the Nuggets' current 5.4-percent chance to prevail over probability and grab a spot in the top three. The others were the 2000 New Jersey Nets, who were awarded the No. 1 pick with the seventh-best odds, the 2008 Chicago Bulls, who turned the ninth-worst odds into the top pick and the 2011 Los Angeles Clippers who moved up from the eighth to No. 1. Their No. 1-selection rewards, in case you've forgotten, were Kenyon Martin, Derrick Rose and Blake Griffin, respectively.

Still, despite the roughly 1-in-20 odds, it must be said -- using the old probability fallacy -- that the Nuggets are "due" for reversal of fortune Tuesday night.

The franchise has been a part of nine lotteries since the system's inception in the mid-1980s, but they've either retained their draft slot (6 times) or been bumped down (3 times) each time, selecting no higher than third overall (twice).

Moreover, each of the three times the Nuggets were bumped, they had entered the process with the best odds (after posting the league's worst record) or had tied for the best odds. In 1991, they were bumped from the top pick down to fourth; in '98 they dropped from one to three and in 2003, they drew the third pick despite matching the Cleveland Cavaliers for the league's worst 2002-03 record.

The Cavs, of course, got LeBron James, and the Nuggets were fortunate enough to still land Carmelo Anthony at 3, which brings us full circle to the here and now and Tuesday night's lottery.

Good luck . . . 

CU's slide reflected in NFL Draft decline

Putting a bow on the NFL Draft, here's a quick University of Colorado note.
CU's recent downturn in fortune -- no bowl appearances or winning seasons over the last six seasons (2008-13) -- is mirrored in its draft fortunes of late. During the corresponding span -- the 2009-14 drafts -- the Buffs only have had 10 total players selected, with only two first-round picks (OT Nate Solder and CB Jimmy Smith in 2011) and three overall in the top three rounds over that span.
WR Paul Richardson was the latest -- and the lone CU pick in last week's draft -- going in the second round to the defending-champion Seattle Seahawks.
Compare that with the Buffs' 23-season run of success from 1985-2007, which featured 18 bowl berths and only five losing seasons.
In the corresponding 23 drafts (1986-08), 90 total CU players were selected -- roughly four per draft -- with 11 first-round picks and 29 total selections in the top three rounds.
Times have most definitely changed -- and not for the better -- in Boulder.

Pro Bowls few, far between for Colorado college draft picks

Weston Richburg, Paul Richardson . . . welcome to the club.

According to Pro Football Reference, the Colorado State center (2nd round, 43rd overall, N.Y. Giants) and the University of Colorado wide receiver (2nd, 45th, Seattle Seahawks) on Friday night became the 306th and 307th players, respectively, from a Colorado college or university to be selected in the regular NFL Draft since the institution of the common draft in 1967.

CU, of course, easily boasts the most selections with 199, and is followed by CSU (75), Northern Colorado (9), Air Force (7), Adams State (5), CSU-Pueblo/Southern Colorado (4), Colorado Mesa/Mesa State (4), Colorado College (2), Fort Lewis (1) and Colorado Mines (1).

They also upped the number to 57 of Colorado products to be selected in the first two rounds since '67. Forty-eight of of those 57 high-round picks have hailed from CU, while CSU now has eight. UNC has the other in 2005 second-round pick Vincent Jackson.

But what would really separate Richburg and Richardson from the Centennial State pack is making the Pro Bowl.

Of the aforementioned 305 previous Colorado school draftees, only 19 (6.2 percent) have made it to the Pro Bowl. Former CSU running back Lawrence McCutcheon (3rd round, 1972, L.A. Rams) and CU center/guard Andre Gurode (2nd, 2002, Dallas Cowboys) top that pack with five Pro Bowl selections apiece.

Of the 74 CSU players previously drafted, only three -- McCutcheon, DE Al Baker (2nd, '78, Detroit Lions) and LB Joey Porter (3rd, '99, Pittsburgh Steelers) -- have earned Pro Bowl nods at the next level.

7 Denver Broncos Bar Bet-Settling Draft Facts

On the eve of the NFL's first May draft, here are seven Denver Bronco factoids, useful for impressing your friends, flaunting on Twitter and possibly winning a bar bet -- or seven.

Here goes . . .

• In their 54-year draft history, the Orange and Blue have selected seven Hall of Famers, but only two of them -- RB Floyd Little (first round, 1967) and TE Shannon Sharpe (seventh, '92) -- ever suited up for the Broncos. Four of the remaining five -- DT Merlin Olsen (first, '62), S Paul Krause (12th, '64), WR Bob Hayes (14th, '64) and LB Dick Butkus (second, '65) -- spurned the then-AFL upstarts to sign with the more established NFL, while the other (DT Curley Culp; second, '68) was traded away in training camp before ever playing a down for Denver.
• Thirteen players have played 170 or more games for the Broncos, but S Dennis Smith (184 games) is the only Denver first-round pick among the group.
• Speaking of lone first-round Broncos picks, LB John Mobley ('96) is the only one to hail from a non-Division I program in the Common Draft Era ('67- present) after starring for DII Kutztown (Pa.) State.
• Since '67, Florida, Houston and USC are the most common alma maters (12 apiece) for Denver draft picks.
• As for most popular positions, the Broncos have most frequently drafted running backs and linebackers (six apiece) in the Common Draft Era.
• Of the 64 wide receivers the Broncos have drafted in their history, only Vance Johnson (second, '85) and Brandon Marshall (fourth, '06) have recorded 300 or more catches while playing in the Mile High City. Johnson had 415 grabs in 11 seasons, while Marshall had 302 in his four years in Denver.
• We wrap things up by dropping some QB knowledge. The Broncos have drafted 35 quarterbacks in their history, but only Brian Griese (third, '98) and Jay Cutler (first, '06) have more career Bronco passing yards than Peyton Manning had in 2013 alone, when he threw for an NFL single-season record 5,477 yards. Griese had 11,763 yards in 53 games for the Broncos, while Cutler had 9,024 in 37 contests.

Careful, we've seen this before from the Colorado Rockies

Hey, I understand.

There's a lot to be excited about when it comes to your Colorado Rockies.

As of this morning, they're a full six games above .500 and in early contention in what looks to be a formidable NL West. Troy Tulowitzki is the reigning NL Player of the Month, Charlie Blackmon is one MLB's top come-ot-of-nowhere surprises and Justin Morneau and Jordan Lyles look like absolute steals of off-season additions.

But let's not get carried away.

It's still early, and the "it's a marathon, not a sprint" phrase gets thrown around an awful lot in spring MLB conversations, probably because there's a whole lot of truth to it.

Besides, we've seen this before from the Rocks.

Prior to this season's 16-12 April, the Rockies have emerged from the regular season's first month with a winning record seven times in their first 21 seasons.

But only once in those seven years has that hot start translated into a postseason finish. That came in the labor unrest-shortened 1995 campaign when the Boys in Purple finished April 4-1 en route to a 77-67 finish and a wild-card berth.

In fact, those seven above-.500 Aprils have only resulted in two above.-500 season finishes, with the last one coming a full 17 years ago in '97, when the Rockies started 17-7 and wound up 83-79.

Since then, Colorado's last five winning Aprils in 2001 (13-11), '03 (15-12), '06 (15-10), '11 (17-8) and '13 (16-11) have resulted in nary a winning season and, in fact, the club's final records in those campaigns was a combined 70 games under .500.

Flipping things around, the Rockies have had seven winning seasons in their history, but only two of those years -- the aforementioned '95 and '97 campaigns -- began with a winning record in April.

In the franchise's last two playoff seasons, '07 and '09, they got off to 8-12 and 10-16 starts, respectively, in April.

But what about the Rockies' torrid start at the plate, you ask? That's not likely to cool off as the season and weather heats up, especially with 2013 NL batting champ Michael Cuddyer having been sidelined and Carlos Gonzalez having been slumping for most of the early part of the season.

Hey, it wouldn't be a shock to see the Rocks stay atop the National League's offensive leaderboards, but, again, it's nothing new.

In their first 21 seasons, the Rockies have led the NL in batting average 11 times, but those 11 seasons have corresponded with only two postseason berths and five winning seasons.

Colorado also has led the NL in runs scored in six seasons, but only one of those years ('95) concluded in the postseason.
All that in mind, we'll label the Rocks' 2014 start encouraging, but it's far from unique or telling by any means.

Avalanche-Wild Game 7: By the numbers

It'll be Game 7 Wednesday night at the Pepsi Center as the Colorado Avalanche and Minnesota Wild decide their Western Conference quarterfinal series.
And, as promised above, here are those telling numbers:

4-5 -- Avs' all-time Game 7 record since moving to the Centennial State in 1995
4-2 -- Colorado's Game 7 home record during that span, with the last such contest coming on April 22, 2003 in a 3-2 overtime loss to the Wild -- current coach Patrick Roy's final game in net for the Avs. (Incidentally, the visiting team won five of the seven games in that conference quarterfinal series)
2-0 -- Minnesota's Game 7 record during the past 20 seasons, with both victories coming in 2003 and both coming on the road.
43-33 -- Overall Game 7 home record for NHL teams over the past 20 seasons. Fourteen of those contests went to OT, with the hosts and visitors each claiming seven wins apiece.
12-0 -- The Avs' all-time playoff series record when winning the first two games -- as they have in this series -- since relocating to Colorado

Denver Broncos' 2014 schedule: 7 need-to-know nuggets

In case you somehow missed it, the Denver Broncos' 2014 schedule was released Wednesday.
And in honor of Hall of Famer and NFL Network schedule-release show guest John Elway, here are seven need-to-know notables about the Orange and Blue's just-posted itinerary:

• The Broncos' Sept. 7 Sunday Night Football opener against the Indianapolis Colts will mark the fourth straight season -- each year of the John Fox era -- that they've kicked off the season with a prime-time, nationally televised home game. They fell to the Oakland Raiders on Monday night in 2011, beat the Pittsburgh Steelers on SNF in '12 (Peyton Manning's regular-season Broncos debut) and walloped the Baltimore Ravens on Thursday night a year ago.
• Incidentally, the Colts will be playing a regular-season contest in the Mile High City without Manning as their starting QB for the first time since 1993, when Elway and the Broncos battered Jack Trudeau and Indy, 35-13, in a Week 5 matchup.
• Of Denver's first eight opponents on the new schedule: each finished at least .500 or better in 2013, six finished with 10 or more wins, six qualified for the postseason and three of them -- like the Broncos -- made it as far as the NFL's Final Four (conference championship games).
• That rugged opening stretch is highlighted by the Broncos' Week 3 visit to Seattle to take on the defending-champion Seahawks in a rematch of Super Bowl XLVIII. The Broncos have faced the defending Super Bowl champ in nine of the past 20 seasons, winning four contests and losing five. As aforementioned, Denver routed the 2012-champion Ravens, 49-27, to open this past season.
• The NFL did the Orange and Blue no favors by slotting them in the first bye-week session (Week 4) of the season. It will be the earliest bye week for the Broncos in recent seasons and will match the 2006 and 1993 campaigns, when the Broncos also had Week 4 byes. That means  13 straight weeks without a break to end the regular season and possibly 16 consecutive weeks of action if they were to make it to the Super Bowl as a wild-card team. That's draining even writing about it.
• While the early half of the Broncos' schedule is demanding -- at least as we peruse it on paper here this spring -- the latter part is no cakewalk, either, with six of  the squad playing six of its final nine games on the road. That stretch kicks off with a run of three consecutive away games -- at New England (Nov. 2), at Oakland (Nov. 9) and at St. Louis (Nov. 16) -- the Broncos' first string of back-to-back-to-back road tilts since 2010 and the seventh such span since the regular season increased to 16 games in 1978. Aside from 2010 -- when they lost at Kansas City, Arizona and Oakland -- the Broncos went 1-2 on their three-game road trips in '97, '95, '94, '81 and '79.
• The Broncos' Dec. 22 game in Cincinnati will mark the final Monday Night Football contest of the season and the Broncos' 23rd straight season with a MNF appearance. The 1991 campaign was the last Denver season without a Monday night tilt.

Declining 21 wins, Nuggets' fall is 2nd-worst

Let's get this out of the way up front: The Denver Nuggets' 36-46 finish certainly wasn't a Laker-esque disaster (27-55, worst record since moving to L.A.), and it wasn't even one of the 10 worst single-season records in franchise history.
But the Nugs' first sub-.500, non-playoff season in more than a decade did mark the second-largest single-season decline in the franchise's 48 years.
In their history, the Nuggets have seen their win total drop 10 or more victories nine times from one season to the next. Only twice has the dropoff reached 20 or more wins, and in falling from a franchise-best 57-25 (.695) last season to 36-46, the 2013-14 squad's 21-game fall checks in solidly at No. 2 on the list.
The worst?Try Paul Westhead's lowlight of a debut season in the MIle High City as his 1990-91 crew finished 20-62 (.244) on the heels of a 43-39 (.524) campaign the year prior.
Ouch.
Still, Brian Shaw's injury-addled team wasn't far behind, losing 23 of its final 35 games to post the franchise's worst mark since the 17-65 embarrassment of 2002-03.
Those Nuggets wound up missing out on the LeBron James sweepstakes that summer but did wind up with the third overall pick in the draft and some cat named Carmelo.
These current Nugs should be so lucky.

Recent history not on Avs' side

Hey, kudos to first-year coach Patrick Roy and the Colorado Avalanche.
They just capped off one of the greatest regular-season turnarounds in modern NHL history by improving a full .277 in points percentage (.406 to .683).
By estimations, that's the fifth-highest points percentage improvement the league has seen since 1980, with only the 1993-94 San Jose Sharks (+.345), 1981-82 Winnipeg Jets (+.300), 1992-93 Quebec Nordiques (+.294) and 2006-07 Pittsburgh Penguins (+.286) gaining more ground during a single season.
But now comes the hard part: Turning that turnaround into playoff success.
And, simply put, recent NHL history isn't on the Avs' side.
Since 1980, 15 NHL squads have improved by at least .200 in points percentage from the previous season. But here's how they fared in the playoffs:

• 10 of the 15 lost their first postseason series, with eight of those 10 failing to take advantage of home ice and falling to lower-seeded teams
• One squad won its first playoff series before falling in the ensuing round
• Three of the 15 won at least two postseason series before falling in the conference finals
• One team ( the 2005-06 Carolina Hurricanes, who improved .220) capped its Cinderella-esque season by hoisting the Stanley Cup

So will the Avs buck the trend and become the second team on this list to make it to the Stanley Cup Finals? Or will they fail to win even a single postseason series, as a full two-thirds of their most-improved compatriots have done?

The answer will start to take shape Thursday night when the Avs host the Minnesota Wild in Game 1 of the Western Conference quarterfinals.

Avalanche still chasing '92-93 Nordiques

So this current edition of the Colorado Avalanche -- which has gone from second worst in the league to challenging for the best record in the Western Conference and is a win away from matching the all-time franchise single-season record -- is easily the most improved team in franchise history, right?
Not so fast.
In fact, make that a "possibly."

Avs' turnaround turning heads

With six games remaining, the Colorado Avalanche are on the verge of making the biggest one-season turnaround in Colorado pro sports history.
We judge this by the teams' overall place in their respective league standings, and a year ago, the Avs were well on their way to compiling the second-worst record (16-25-7, 39 points) in the NHL. This year, Patrick Roy's kiddie crew currently owns the fifth-best mark (49-21-6, 104 points) in the league -- a whopping 24-place improvement.

Franchise tale of the tape: Rocks vs. Fish

Since joining the National League as expansion cousins in 1993, the Colorado Rockies and Miami Marlins have been linked.

So 21 years later -- and in the midst of their season-opening four-game series -- what better time to examine a 16-item tale of the tape (covering the 21 seasons spanning '93 through 2013) and see who's ahead: Rocks or Fish?

Bear with me through this longer-than-usual post . . . 

All-time win percentage: Rockies .472 (1,575-1,765), Marlins .468 (1,566-1,768)

Notable: Real close with Colorado owning nine more wins and only three fewer losses.

Advantage: Slightest of edges to Rocks

Split personality for Rox

Some basic, need to know three-year splits (2011-13) and the corresponding ranks among the 30 MLB teams for your Colorado Rockies on the eve of their season opener in South Beach:
Overall record: 26th at 211-275 (.434). Only the Marlins (.418), Cubs (.407), Twins (.401) and Astros (.333) have been worse.
Runs scored: Sixth with 2,199 (4.52 per game), trailing the Red Sox (2,462), Rangers (2,393), Yankees (2,321), Cardinals (2,310) and Tigers (2,309).

Nuggets' streak halted

So for the first time since 2003, your Denver Nuggets will not be participating in the NBA Playoffs.
The Nuggets were eliminated from postseason contention earlier this week, ending a 10-year playoff run. Of course, that run didn't amount to much -- nine first-round exits and a trip to the Western Conference Finals in 2009 -- but then again would you rather have the run of eight straight seasons without a playoff game, as the Nuggets endured from '96 to '03?

Left out (again)

Another NCAA Division I Basketball Tournament Sweet 16 tips off tonight, and once again the Centennial State will be a no show.

Since the tourney expanded to 40 teams in 1979, no Colorado school has made it to the regional semifinals. That's no Buffs, no Rams, no Falcons, no Bears, no Pioneers -- again.

And, as near as can be determined after scouring the 36 Sweet 16 fields in that span, Colorado is one of 11 U.S. States without a regional semi rep since '79. The others are (in alphabetical order of course):

Buffs on wrong side of history

The Colorado men's basketball team made NCAA Tournament history last week, but for all the wrong reasons.
The Buffs' 77-48 loss to Pittsburgh goes down as the worst loss by an eighth seed in the round of 64, eclipsing the dubious distinction held by the 2003 LSU Tigers in an 80-56 loss to ninth-seeded Purdue. And to put that in full perspective, there have been 144 8-vs.9 matchups since the tourney expanded to 40 teams in 1979.