A History of Colorado Buffaloes Men's Basketball

The Colorado Buffaloes men's basketball team, representing the University of Colorado Boulder, boasts a rich history dating back to the early 20th century. As a competitor in the NCAA Division I, currently within the Pac-12 Conference, the team has experienced periods of great success alongside challenging times. This article will explore the significant figures, achievements, and milestones that have shaped the program's identity.

Early Years and the "Frosty" Cox Era (1901-1950)

The program began on January 10, 1901, with the team then known as the Silver and Gold securing a 34-10 victory over State Prep School. While initially unaffiliated, the school joined the Rocky Mountain Conference in 1909. In 1934, the Silver and Gold officially became known as the Buffaloes.

Forrest B. "Frosty" Cox became the first coaching star for CU, leading the team for 13 years (1936-1950). In his second season, the Buffaloes joined the Mountain States Conference (MSC) and proceeded to win four MSC titles. Under Cox, the Buffs achieved considerable success, both individually and as a team. He coached four All-Americans: Jack Harvey (1939 & 1940), Jim Willcoxon (1939), Bob Doll (1942), and Leason McCloud (1942). Arguably, the greatest team in CU Basketball history was the 1940 squad, which received invitations to both the NCAA tournament and the NIT tournament.

The "Bebe" Lee and "Burdie" Haldorson Era (1950-1956)

In 1947, the Buffs transitioned from the Mountain States Conference to the Big Seven Conference. After Cox's departure, Horace "Bebe" Lee took over as head coach, guiding the team to two NCAA Tournament bids, including a Third Place finish in the 1955 NCAA tournament. The standout player of this era was undoubtedly Burdette "Burdie" Haldorson.

Known as "The Big Burd," Haldorson is considered by some to be the best player in Colorado Men's Basketball history. An All-American whose number is retired at CU, Haldorson earned All-Big 7 Conference honors twice and is 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.

The "Sox" Walseth Era (1956-1976)

In 1956, CU appointed former player Russell "Sox" Walseth as their head coach. Walseth, a three-time letterman in both basketball and baseball for the Buffaloes, returned to coach after coaching 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.

During his tenure, Walseth coached two All-Americans: 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. 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). 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.

The star of the program under "Sox" Walseth was undoubtedly Cliff Meely. 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.

Individual Standouts in the '80s and Early '90s

The lackluster results of Walseth's latter tenure would become the norm for Colorado over the next two decades. 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 though, Humphries was best known for his defense. Humphries is the school's all-time leader in thefts 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.

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. 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 holds 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.

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The Donnie Boyce Era

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 Chauncey Billups Era

The most beloved player in school history, Chauncey Billups is usually the first person that people think of when they think 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. 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. 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.

The Ricardo Patton Era

Once Chauncey left, the Buffs were faced with a rough conference slate, but still managed to have some success behind head coach Ricardo Patton. Players such as Jaquay Walls (Big 12 All-Newcomer Team) and Jamahl Mosley helped lead the team to back-to-back NIT bids, but things started to improve once David Harrison showed up on campus for the 2001-02 season. Harrison was named to the Big 12 All-Freshman team and lead the school in scoring, while also setting a school record with a field goal percentage of 63.8% - good enough for third nationally. Harrison had help though in the form of Stéphane Pelle. Pelle was the first player in 11 years to average a double-double, putting up 12.8 points and 10.8 rebounds per game in the 2001-02 season. The next season, with Harrison & Pelle down low and Michel Morandais coming in to form on the wing, the Buffs won 20 games and capped it off with an NCAA Tournament bid.

The Richard Roby and Cory Higgins Era

Richard Roby stepped on the CU campus in 2004 and became the first freshman since Chauncey Billups to lead the team in scoring and he ended up joining Donnie Boyce as the only Buffs to lead the team in scoring all four years on campus. In his sophomore season, Roby & the Buffs won twenty games and ended up in the NIT Tournament, while also being named to the All-Big 12 First Team. Unfortunately, he was faced with a freshman-laden team the next season, as there were eight first year players (a school record) on the 2006-07 squad. But it is a record that is shared, because during his senior year, he shared time on the floor with a freshman named Cory Higgins who would one day tie him as the school's all-time leading scorer. Higgins was more than just a scorer though as during his sophomore year he was one of only 13 players nationally to lead or finish second on his team in five major statistical categories-points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocked shots. Higgins also found a way to rank nationally in steals, free throw percentage and scoring as well. For his junior year, Higgins got some more help with the arrival of freshman guard Alec Burks.

The Tad Boyle Era (2010-Present)

Tad Boyle was named the 18th coach in University of Colorado men's basketball history on April 19, 2010. In his first season in Boulder, Boyle led the Buffs to a school-record 18 home wins and their highest Big 12 finish (t-5th) since 2005-06. CU ranked first in the Big 12 and fifth nationally in free throw percentage (77.8) for the 2010-11 season. Boyle earned National Coach of the Week honors (Hoops Report, Jan. 10-16) after leading the Buffs to a 3-0 conference start, including wins over No. 9/8 Missouri and No. 21/20 Kansas State. The win over the Wildcats gave CU its first road win over a nationally ranked opponent since defeating No. 20 Texas Tech in January 1997. For the season, CU defeated four ranked teams, including a comeback of 22 points down (ranking second all-time in school history) to upset No. 5/5 Texas, 91-89. Despite having a very solid season and getting to the semi-finals of the conference tournament, Boyle and the Buffs were snubbed of a bid in the NCAA tournament.

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In his second season at the helm Tad faced an uphill battle, losing 4 starters, 78% of the scoring and most notably Alec Burks to the NBA (#12 overall pick to the Utah Jazz). He was able turn all of this into his second 24 win season in a row, a Pac-12 tournament championship and a trip to the NCAA Tournament as a #11 seed where CU advanced to the round of 32 for the first time in 15 years after beating #6 seed UNLV 68-64 in Albuquerque. The Buffaloes have competed in sixteen NCAA Tournaments, most recently appearing in 2024. Colorado made it to the Final Four in 1942 and 1955.

All-Time Men's Basketball Team

The users on AllBuffs.com had a vote in the summer of 2012 to decide who they considered to be the members of the "All-Time Men's Basketball Team" at the University of Colorado.

Conference Tournament History

The Buffs went 4-20 in the Big Eight Conference tournament in their time in the conference. Their best performance came in the 1990 season when they became the first #8 seed to make the conference championship game before falling to Oklahoma in the championship match. In their fifteen seasons in the Big 12, the Buffs managed to go 9-15 in Conference tournament play. Despite not winning a conference championship, they do have two successful claims to fame during their time. The first one was in 2008 when the Buffs became the first #12 seed to upset a #5 seed as they beat Baylor in the opening round. The Buffs won their first conference tournament championship in 2012, their first year in the Pac-12 conference.

Postseason Appearances

The Buffaloes have appeared in the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) 13 times. Their combined record is 14-12. The Buffaloes have appeared in the College Basketball Invitational (CBI) one time. Colorado has appeared in the College Basketball Crown once.

CU Events Center

The CU Events Center is an 11,064-seat multi-purpose arena on the Boulder main campus of the University of Colorado. The arena opened in 1979, and is home to the Colorado Buffaloes men's and women's basketball teams and the CU volleyball team. The CEC opened in 1979 and the first game played there was the CU Men's Basketball team hosting the USSR basketball team. The largest crowd ever to witness a game was on December 5, 2012, when 11,708 people watched CU play CSU (CU won the game 70-61). The facility was originally named the CU Events/Conference Center and cost $7.7 million to build. In September 1990, it was renamed the Coors Event Center to honor a $5 million gift from the Adolph Coors Foundation. In the fall of 2011, the school opened the doors on a brand new practice facility that is located right next to the CU Event Center. This provides locker rooms and practice courts for the men's & women's basketball teams as well as the women's volleyball team. The facility is 43,000 square feet and cost $10.8 million, all from private funds. Each of the two practice courts are 11,000 square feet and are exact replicas of the CU Event Center-down to the lines and logos. The facility is also one of two athletic facilities to be given LEED Platinum Certification, which is the highest possible by the internationally recognized system developed by the US Green Building Council. The student section for CU Basketball is referred to as the C-Unit.

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