Colorado is walking into the 2026-27 season with a fresh set of questions and a pretty harsh preseason reality check from Jon Rothstein.
The CBS Sports college basketball insider slotted the Buffaloes No. 14 in his Big 12 power rankings for the upcoming year, putting only Kansas State and Utah behind them in the 16-team league. For a program trying to find its footing in its third season back in the Big 12, that’s not exactly the kind of respect the Buffs were hoping for.
Rothstein had Arizona at No. 1, and it’s easy to see why. The Wildcats swept the Big 12 regular season and tournament titles last season, then pushed all the way to the Final Four in the NCAA Tournament, their first trip there since 2001.
Colorado, meanwhile, is coming off a better year than the one before it, but still not the kind of season that changes the conversation. The Buffs finished 17-16 overall and 7-11 in Big 12 play in 2025-26, tying for 11th with Arizona State. That was a clear step up from 2024-25, when they went 14-21 overall and 3-17 in conference play and finished alone in last place.
The bigger issue is the drought. Colorado has now gone two straight seasons without making the NCAA Tournament, and its last appearance came in 2023-24, back when it was still in the Pac-12.
Tad Boyle is entering his 17th season in Boulder, and the numbers on his résumé still matter. Since taking over in 2010, he has gone 329-220 at Colorado and has taken the Buffaloes to the NCAA Tournament six times. The question now is whether this group can get him back there for a seventh.
The roster turnover is a big part of the story. Colorado lost guard Isaiah Johnson, forward Sebastian Rancik, and forward Bangot Dak, three of its four leading scorers from last season. All three moved on through the transfer portal, with Johnson heading to Texas, Rancik to Florida State, and Dak to Vanderbilt.
To replace them, the Buffs added three forwards of their own: David Gomez, Noah Feddersen, and Justin Neely. 247Sports rated all three as three-star transfers.
Gomez arrives from Charlotte after averaging 5.0 points and 3.5 rebounds per game. Feddessen comes over from North Dakota after posting 9.3 points and 5.0 rebounds per game. Neely was the biggest scorer of the group last season, putting up a team-high 17.9 points per game for UNC Greensboro.
Those newcomers will join Colorado’s top returning piece, guard Barrington Hargress. Last season, Hargress averaged 14.7 points, 2.2 rebounds, and 4.5 assists per game.
Now the Buffs have to prove they belong higher than the bottom tier of the league. Whether they can do that is the question hanging over Boulder heading into the season.
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