The college basketball offseason is here, and we decided to have some fun over the next few months, ranking ALL 364 teams in D1. Number 92 is Colorado basketball.
Before you say we’re crazy – or that all of this is up for debate, let’s go over the very intricate process of how we came to this conclusion. We took a very statistical approach – with the help of Chat GPT – taking into consideration everything from March Madness wins and finishes, to AP Poll appearances, to conference players of the year. And then, a good friend of ours, Scott Blanchard, took our approach to the MAX.
Click here to visit the FIRST article, which explains how the formula works!
Here’s the breakdown of Colorado basketball!
NCAA Tournament Success
- Championships: 0
- Finals appearances: 0
- Final Fours: 2
- Elite Eights: 6
- Sweet 16s: 5
- NCAA wins: 13
- Bids: 16
Consistency Over Time
- Wins per season: 11.9
- Bids per season: 0.13
- AP Polls: 57
Player Quality & Talent
- All-Americans: 3
- NBA players drafted & played: 22
- Conference Players of the Year: 2
Conference & Other Success
- Conference regular season titles: 19
- Conference tournament titles: 1
- NIT titles: 1
- Other tournament titles: 0
Overall scoop on Colorado basketball
In the Big 12 and Pac-12, Colorado basketball really hasn’t been great, making the NCAA Tournament just eight times since 1997. In that span, they’ve also never made it out of the first weekend. But you do have to give some credit to head coach Tad Boyle for going 329-220 and counting. While they haven’t really been a top-tier team in either of their Power 5 leagues, Boyle has at least kept them competitive. In fact, it’s a little surprising to know that the Buffaloes have had 20-win seasons 10 times in Boyle’s 16 seasons. But in recent seasons, he’s done a great job of making more out of less, with college stars like McKinley Wright and KJ Simpson.
They’ve also produced some solid NBA players in the current era, including Spencer Dinwiddie, Andre Roberson, Derrick White, and Alec Burks.
But the greatest Colorado basketball player historically was Hall of Famer Chauncey Billups. As a senior, he led them to the round of 32 as a 9-seed and went on to have a fantastic NBA career, developing the nickname, Mr. Big Shot. Of course, Billups has been in some legal trouble lately, so we’ll see what the future holds for him there.
But if we’re going to look at why Colorado got ranked here, we have to look much further back. The Buffs were a tough out in the early stages of the NCAA Tournament, often going on some deep runs (in shortened fields):
- 1940: Elite 8
- 1942: Final Four
- 1946: Elite 8
- 1954: Sweet 16
- 1955: Final Four
- 1962: Elite 8
- 1963: Elite 8
- 1969: Sweet 16
In 1940, the Buffaloes won the NIT, which was certainly considered a major tournament, if not the major tournament in college hoops. It doesn’t officially count as a natty, but Buffs fans have a case to claim it as one.
So for a 30-year span, thanks in part to some 8-team fields, Colorado basketball reached the Sweet 16 and Elite 8 a bunch of times, with Final Fours in 1942 and 1955. And the coach for the first three runs? Frosty Cox! A pretty unforgettable name, to say the least. Later on, Bebe Lee and Sox Walseth led the way, as Colorado led the charge for Western college basketball teams on the national stage.
Obviously, the game has changed, and Colorado hasn’t been on that level for a while, but keeping it competitive is all you can ask for because in the age of NIL, all it takes is one season, and CU could be back on top!