The Colorado Buffaloes men's basketball team represents the University of Colorado Boulder. The team competes in the Big 12 Conference of NCAA Division I. They are currently coached by Tad Boyle.
The Buffaloes have competed in 16 NCAA Tournaments, most recently appearing in 2024. Colorado made it to the Final Four in 1942 and 1955. Colorado has played in 13 National Invitation Tournaments, winning the tournament in 1940 and making the semifinals in 1991 and 2011. The Buffs won the Pac-12 conference tournament in 2012, their first season as a member.
Team history
The Silver & Gold become Buffaloes The Colorado Men's Basketball team was initially known as the Silver and Gold, and began play on January 10, 1901, beating State Prep School 34–10. While unaffiliated their first few seasons, the school joined the Rocky Mountain Conference in 1909. From 1902 to 1935, the school racked up a 200–151 record.
In 1934, the Silver and Gold became known as the Buffaloes. CU students rented a buffalo calf to cheer the team on for the final football game that year, and the nickname has remained with the school.
The Frosty Cox era The first coaching star for CU was Forrest B. "Frosty" Cox. Cox spent thirteen years on the sidelines from 1936 to 1950. In his second season with the school, the Buffaloes joined the Mountain States Conference, where they would proceed to win four MSC titles. Under Cox, the Buffs had quite a bit of success—both individually and as a team. Cox had four All-Americans during his time with the Buffs – Jack Harvey (1939 & 1940), Jim Willcoxon (1939), Bob Doll (1942), and Leason McCloud (1942). Cox led the team to three NCAA tournament bids and two NIT bids while in Boulder.
Arguably the greatest team in CU Basketball history was the 1940 squad, which was not only invited to the NCAA tournament but also to the NIT tournament. The Buffs won the more prestigious at the time NIT Tournament, which leads some to claim that the 1940 team were National Champs. In 1942, the Buffs lost in the Final Four to the Stanford Cardinals, which tied for the school's all-time best finish in that tournament.
In 1947, the Buffs left the Mountain States Conference and joined the Big Seven Conference. When Cox concluded his CU career, he had the best win–loss percentage (62.3%) of any CU coach who coached for at least three seasons.
"The Big Burd" rules the court After Cox left CU, Horace "Bebe" Lee took over as the Buffs' head coach. He led the school to two NCAA Tournament bids, including a third-place finish in the 1955 NCAA tournament. However, the star of this era was Burdette "Burdie" Haldorson. Also known as "The Big Burd," Haldorson was arguably the best player in Colorado Men's Basketball history. An All-American whose number (#22) is retired at CU, Haldorson was named to the All-Big 7 Conference team two times and is also a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame, the University of Colorado Athletic Hall of Fame, and the Pac-12 Basketball Hall of Honor. He also won two gold medals with USA Basketball (1956 & 1960).
In 1955, Haldorson led the Big 7 Conference in scoring with 23.9 points per game as he led the Buffs to a third-place finish in the 1955 NCAA Tournament.
"Sox" Walseth leads the way In 1956, CU named former player Russell "Sox" Walseth as their head coach. Walseth graduated from CU in 1948 as a three-time letterman in both basketball and baseball for the Buffaloes, and came back to coach after stints at High School (Bakersfield, California) and South Dakota State. "Sox" led the team to three Big 8 titles (the school joined the conference in 1958) and three NCAA tournament bids. In both the 1961–62 & 1962–63 seasons, the Buffs reached the second round of the NCAA tournament before being eliminated by Cincinnati.
"Sox" had two All-Americans while at CU—Ken Charlton (1963) and Cliff Meely (1971). Another key performer on the successful 1961–62 team, which beat Kansas to take the Big Eight Conference title before proceeding to the NCAA tournament, was Wilky Gilmore. Charlton and Gilmore were both named to the All Big-Eight team that year.
Somewhat later in Walseth's tenure as coach, another standout at Boulder was Scott Wedman – a sharp-shooting forward from Denver's Mullen High School. Wedman made a huge mark on the CU record books as he led the team in scoring and rebounding for two seasons, free throw percentage for one season, and field goal percentage all three years he played at CU. Those numbers placed him seventh in career scoring, sixth in rebounding, and eighth in field goal percentage in CU history at the time he left the school. He also was the highest draft pick in school history, going 2nd overall in the ABA Draft to the Memphis Sounds (he was also drafted 6th overall in the NBA draft by the KC-Omaha Kings). Wedman went on to play 12 years in the NBA.
When he retired after twenty seasons, "Sox" was the all-time winningest coach in CU history with a 261–245 record. Four years later, he came back to coach the women's team to a 77–21 record, including an incredible 43–0 home record, before retiring again. In 1996, the CU Event Center basketball court was named after him, so the Buffs all play on "Sox Walseth Court" now.
Cliff Meely The star of the program under "Sox" Walseth was undoubtedly Cliff Meely. Walseth often called Meely "the most complete player" he had ever coached, and Meely set sixteen school records while playing for the Buffaloes and eight Big 8 Conference records.
Meely is the school's all-time leader in points and rebounds per game, and was named an All-American during the 1971 season. The list of accolades he received while in Boulder is numerous, but along with being an All-American, in 1969, he was named both Big 8 Player of the Year and Big 8 Sophomore of the Year. In fact, all three years he was at Colorado, he was named to the All-Big 8 First Team. Because of his dominant play, he was not only named to the 1970s Big 8 All-Decade First Team, but in 1996 he was named to the AP's All-time Big 8 Conference Basketball first team along with Wayman Tisdale (Oklahoma), Danny Manning (Kansas), Jo Jo White (Kansas) and Rolando Blackman (Kansas State).
Colorado has retired the #20 that he wore while in Boulder.
Individual talents lead the way
The lackluster results of Walseth's latter tenure would become the norm for Colorado over the next two decades. From 1977–78 to 1995–96, the Buffs would only have four winning seasons, and only once would they even get to .500 in Big Eight play.
While the Buffs struggled record-wise in the '80s and early '90s, they did have a few individual standouts that brought the team national attention. From 1980 to 1984, the Buffs were led by Jay Humphries, an exciting guard who made his mark all over CU's record book in just those three seasons. On offense, he became the school's all-time assist leader and also finished fourth all-time in scoring. Even with that, Humphries was best known for his defense. Humphries is the school's all-time leader in steals and led the nation in steals in 1982–83 with 115. Humphries was twice named Honorable Mention All-American (1982–83 & 1983–84) before being drafted by the Phoenix Suns with the thirteenth pick of the NBA draft. A teammate of Humphries in high school and at Colorado was post player Vince Kelley. Kelley also played with the Buffaloes from 1980 to 1984 and finished third all-time in career rebounds at CU. Kelley graduated in 1984 and played professionally in Australia and Portugal.
After starting out the '80s with talent like Humphries and Kelley, the Buffs found a way to round the decade out with two more stars to lead the team. Shaun Vandiver was a transfer from Hutchinson CC who only played three years in Boulder, but when it was all said & done, finished as the school's all-time leader in field goal percentage and was the school's second leading scorer & rebounder in history. For his work, he was named Honorable Mention All-American in 1989–90 and was named Big Eight tournament MVP from a losing team after leading the 8th-seeded Buffs to the Tournament Championship game before falling short – the first eight seed to ever make the championship game.
Vandiver wasn't alone on the team, though, as he had guard Stevie Wise there to help lead the way. Wise played 119 games for the Buffs, the fifth most in school history. He was known for being one of CU's all-time great 3-point specialists, and he has held numerous CU shooting marks. He finished his time as the number three scorer in school history and is still in the top 10 for assists in school history. Wise & Vandiver led the team on their run to the 1991 NIT Final Four. It was the school's first postseason appearance since 1969, and when it was said & done, they got to cut down the nets in front of a standing room only crowd at the Events Center before heading to the NIT Final Four in NYC, where they ended up third.
The next player to make his mark on the record books was Donnie Boyce. The Illinois product spent four years at CU, and when he left, he was the school's all-time leading scorer with 1,995 points. He was the first Buff to lead the team in scoring all four years at CU, and only the second Buff to ever do it. While Boyce was lighting it up, the team struggled. It appeared that Boyce was finally going to get to play in a postseason tournament in 1995, but he broke his leg in the opening round of the Big Eight tournament against Oklahoma. The team went on to earn an NIT bid–their first postseason bid of any sort since 1969–but he was unable to play.
The Chauncey Billups years Chauncey Billups, is usually the first person that people think of when they think of Colorado basketball. The three-time winner of Colorado's Mr. Basketball award and a member of the McDonald's All-American team his senior year, the Denver native could have gone anywhere in the nation to play college ball. Even though it was obvious he wouldn't be staying for the entire four years due to a pro career calling his name, he had no shortage of suitors. With all of that, he decided to stay close to home and enroll at CU.
In his first year at Colorado, he set a school record for points scored by a freshman and was named to the Big 8 All-Freshman team as well as the All-Big 8 Conference Second Team and the Kansas City Star Big 8 team—an honor that was voted on by the players themselves. Unfortunately, Chauncey's first year in Boulder was filled only with individual accolades as the team underperformed and head coach Joe Harrington was relieved of duties. In his sophomore year, however, Chauncey was able to get the team going. Behind new head coach Ricardo Patton, and in a new conference (the Big 12 Conference), Chauncey at one point had led the Buffs to a 14–3 record and the #18 ranking in the nation. This team would make the Buffs' first NCAA Tournament appearance in 28 years, and notched their first winning conference record in 24 years. They would upset Indiana in the first round before losing to North Carolina in the second round. For his work, Chauncey was named not only to the All-Big 12 Conference First Team, but was named an All-American as well. Chauncey declared for the NBA draft, where he was picked third overall by the Boston Celtics, and he went on to play 17 years in the NBA.
The Buffs enter The Big 12