Colorado basketball’s wild ride through the Big 12 Tournament may have ended against Houston, but the Buffs’ season isn’t finished yet. Thanks to an invite to the inaugural College Basketball Crown, CU has one more shot at making some noise before the offseason.
And honestly? I love this.
This team has been through it. A brutal Big 12 schedule. Ups and downs. A 16th-place finish in the standings that had everyone counting them out. Then, just when we thought it was over, they flipped the script and made history in Kansas City, upsetting TCU and West Virginia to become the first program in nearly a century to reach the conference quarterfinals after finishing that low.
Sure, Houston ended the run—but that wasn’t exactly unexpected. The Cougars are a powerhouse, and CU still fought. Now, they head to Las Vegas for a new challenge, opening against Villanova on April 1 at 6:30 p.m. MT at the MGM Garden Grand Arena.
This is a chance to finish the season the right way.
Villanova is no slouch, even in a down year. They finished 19-14 and sixth in the Big East. If the Buffs can take them down, they’ll get either Tulane (19-14, fourth in the AAC) or a familiar past Pac-12 foe in USC (16-17, 12th in the Big Ten) on April 3.
CU has already proven they can play spoiler. Why not one more time?
The tournament runs from March 31 to April 6 and gives Colorado a rare opportunity to end on a high note. Boyle’s teams have made the postseason in 13 of the last 14 seasons, and even though this isn’t the Big Dance, it’s still another shot at meaningful basketball. The semifinals and championship will be played at T-Mobile Arena, so if CU gets rolling, we could be watching them play for a title in Vegas.
So we have another opportunity to watch Buffs basketball—and given how unpredictable this team has been, who knows what will happen?