The Colorado Buffaloes 2026-27 men’s basketball non-conference schedule is starting to take shape. Colorado will be playing in the 2026 Acrisure Series in November. The event will take place in Palm Springs, California.
Colorado Facing Old Pac-12 Rivals in 2026 Acrisure Series
Colorado is one of 12 teams that will be participating in the 2026 Acrisure Series according to CBS Sports college basketball insider Jon Rothstein. Here are the 12. The matchups are still TBD.
Colorado Buffaloes
Utah State Aggies
Oregon State Beavers
Washington State Cougars
USC Trojans
Saint Louis Bilikens
South Carolina Gamecocks
Stanford Cardinal
Arizona State Sun Devils
Grand Canyon Antelopes
Nevada Wolfpack
Santa Clara Broncos
Looking at this list, many of these teams used to play Colorado on a regular basis back in their days when they were members of the Pac-12 conference: Oregon State, Washington State, USC, Stanford, and Arizona State.
Colorado was a member in the Pac-12 from 2011-2024 with all of these former (and now some current) Pac-12 schools before conference realignment ran rampent across college sports a few years ago. The Buffaloes are now in the Big 12 along with Arizona State. Stanford is now in the ACC. USC made the move to the Big Ten.
Then there is Oregon State and Washington State. In basketball, their temporary home was in the WCC from 2024-2026. The Pac-12 has since been revived, adding teams across different conferences, so now the Beavers and Cougars will be playing in the new-look Pac-12. Colorado has yet to make a NCAA Tournament since leaving the Pac-12 for the Big 12.
The Buffaloes have missed the NCAA Tournament in each of the past two seasons. In 2025-26, they got out to a hot start at 8-0. The struggled mightily in Big 12 conference play. The Buffs ended up going 7-11 in league play and finished the regular season with an overall record of 17-14. They lost in the first round of the Big 12 conference tournament to the Oklahoma State Cowboys.
Colorado was invited to the 2026 College Basketball Crown. They lost in their first matchup to the Oklahoma Sooners in the quarterfinals to finish the season with a record of 17-16.
Tad Boyle Entering 16th Season With Buffaloes
Tad Boyle entering year 16 as Colorado coach. Since taking over at the helm, Boyle has an overall record of 329-220, which is a winning percentage of 59.9. Boyle has led the Buffs to the NCAA Tournament six times. They have yet to make it past the second round under Boyle.
Life won’t be easy for the Buffaloes to win in the Big 12 this season. The Big 12 is widely considered to be a top 2-3 conference in the country with elite programs like the Houston Cougars, Kansas Jayhawks, Arizona Wildcats, and Iowa State Cyclones just to name some of them. Colorado didn’t fare well against these top four teams in the league in 2025-26.
They went 0-4 against those teams, losing to each of them in their only meeting.
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