3. 2022-23 (14-12, 6-9 Pac-12)
The Colorado men’s basketball team is limping to the finish line.
That isn’t breaking news to anyone who has followed the Buffaloes this season. Yet for a program that has improved between November and February more often than not in 13 seasons under head coach Tad Boyle, the idea that Buffs fans are playing out the string in order to turn their attention to spring football seemed inconceivable when the season tipped off on Nov. 7.
Certainly, there is time — and opportunity — to rewrite the script on 2022-23. CU faces two Quad 1 road games this week, first at Arizona State on Thursday (6 p.m., Pac-12 Network) and again on Saturday at No. 11 Arizona. CU generally has played much better at home, and a team that usually rises up to knock off at least one ranked foe in Boulder nearly every year still gets a shot at No. 4 UCLA on Feb. 26 at the Events Center.
Still, the writing on the wall is starting to set. A Buffs team that is just 1-8 in true road games and that has won more than two games in a row just once all season will have to completely break the trends formed through the first 27 games in order to make a run.
Falling short of the NCAA Tournament is one thing. Being so far beyond NIT consideration at this point is quite another. This year’s bunch isn’t the most disappointing team in the Boyle era. But, being on track to be just the third Boyle team to fall short of both the NCAA Tournament and the NIT, it’s in the conversation.
A look at the five most disappointing teams of the Boyle era: and King eventually were NBA draft picks. Yet the group never got on the same page, and was unable to win close games during a disastrous 0-7 start in Pac12 play. Two of those losses occurred in overtime. Three others were by a combined eight points. The Buffs rallied enough to land an NIT berth but exited quickly in the first round at Central Florida.
Maybe an NCAA Tournament run was too much to ask. But there is only one first-year player in the rotation (Javon Ruffin, a redshirt freshman) and there is far too much talent on the roster to reconcile what appears to be a likely bottomthird finish in the standings, barring a late and sudden turnaround. The Buffs have been dreadful at the free throw line for much of the season, hasn’t been able to win close games, and too many players counted on to make developmental steps have failed to do so. Early wins against Tennessee and
Texas A&M stirred hope from a program that generally has improved from November to February under Boyle’s watch. This one has not.