Colorado Basketball: 2021-22 season preview and outlook for Buffaloes

LYNCHBURG, VA - NOVEMBER 17: The Colorado Buffaloes logo on pair of shorts during the quarterfinals of the Paradise Jam college basketball tournament against the Quinnipiac Bobcats at The Vines Center on November 17, 2017 in Lynchburg, Virginia. The Buffaloes won 70-69. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** /

4 of 5

Colorado Basketball Albert Cesare/IndyStar via USA TODAY Sports /

Schedule outlook

Coach Boyle didn’t make things easy at all for Colorado basketball as they open their season (at least against a Division I opponent) on Oct. 31 against the Nebraska Cornhuskers. The Buffaloes will surely get all they can handle in that one before a trio of home games against Montana State (Nov. 9), New Mexico (Nov. 13), and Maine (Nov. 15) before taking off for the Paradise Jam in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands.

Colorado opens the Paradise Jam against Southern Illinois (Nov. 19) then face Duquesne/Northeastern (Nov. 20) depending on results and will close things out on Nov. 22 in a field that also features Creighton, Bradley, Colorado State, and Brown.

The Buffaloes will get a slight taste of Pac-12 basketball action with a game against Stanford (Nov. 28) and then a road trip against UCLA (Dec. 1) that should test the team’s early resolve in December.

Five more home games close out the non-conference slate but at the beginning and end of that stretch lies Tennessee (Dec. 4) and Kansas (Dec. 21). With Eastern Washington (Dec. 8), UW-Milwaukee (Dec. 10), and CSU-Bakersfield (Dec. 18) in between that stretch, those two games could tell the test of what type of identity Colorado basketball has heading into conference play.

Colorado will jump to Oregon (Dec. 30) and Oregon State (Jan. 1) to kick things off in the Pac-12 basketball schedule. After that, it’s two home games against Washington State (Jan. 6) and Washington (Jan. 9) before two road contests against Arizona (Jan. 13) and Arizona State (Jan. 15).

They’ll return home on Jan. 20 against USC then there’s a rubber match against UCLA to follow up their matchup from December. Road games against Washington (Jan. 27) and Washington State (Jan. 30) close out the month.

They open the month of February with three home games, squaring off against Oregon (Feb. 3), Oregon State (Feb. 5), and Utah (Feb. 12). Then two road games with California (Feb. 17) and Stanford (Feb. 19) get them to the final three games of the regular-season conference slate.

Two home games against Arizona State (Feb. 24) and Arizona (Feb. 26) before going into March on the road against Utah on the 5th.

Home/Colorado Buffaloes