At the start of the season, B12H.com ran a "Five Questions For..." segment asking the five most pressing questions of each team. In our continuing review of the season, here are the answers to those questions.

Five Questions For... Colorado basketball

1)       Now that Jeff Bzdelik is in his third year, can he bring a winning season to Boulder?

Technical answer: no. Emotional answer: yes. Though the Buffs ended their season 15-16 overall and 6-10 in conference play, CU was not the push over they have been in years past. Taking KU to overtime, winning on the road for the first time in 3 years, beating Baylor, Beating Oklahoma... all of these brought a winning attitude back to Boulder.

2)       If not, how much longer will the CU AD go on with the Bzdelik experiment?

By low, sell high. That's what Coach Bz did since the season has ended, parlaying a winning attitude into a promotion out east at Wake Forrest. So, even though CU AD Mike Bohn didn't end the Bz Experiment, the Bz Experiment was ended after last season.

3)       Can Cory Higgins perform up to his 08-09 level, when he placed fifth in the conference in scoring?

He can and he did, finishing the season as the conference's third leading scorer and upping his average 1.5 ppg to 18.9, even though he was now asharing the ball with another pro prospect, Alec Burks.

4)       Who else steps up for the Buffaloes?

Alec Burks, a freshman from the Kansas City area, who was passed over by both Missouri and Kansas, lit up the league for 17.1 ppg and 5 rpg. The Burks-Higgins-Marcus Relphorde trio was one of the best in the conference last season, and with all three coming back it will be some Must See TV this fall and winter.

5)       Will the Buffaloes improve upon last season's 1-15 conference record?

They will! In fact they will win 6 times more games this season than last.

Now that the college basketball season is officially over, we're going to take a look back at each Big 12 school to discuss their season. The rundown will go in order of conference standing. See the complete schedule after The Jump.

What Went Right: When you're predicted to finish last in conference and you finish any higher, the season might be considered a success.  But what about a team that is predicted to finish last in conference and finishes 8th? Well that is mind numbly amazing. Not only did CU accomplish that feat, but they won as many conference games -- 6 -- this year as the three previous seasons COMBINED. They also took conference champion Kansas to overtime, a moral victory, and won on the road against a D1 foe for the first time since December 22, 2007.  Repeat 2007. And they were tremendously fun to watch. Cory Higgins, Alec Burks, Marcus Relphorde all averaged double digits and turned CU from a half court, slow tempo (read as: SNOOZE) style to a more up-tempo style. So, yes, Buff fans will gladly take a 6-10 record knowing that the foundation is there to build upon.

What Went Wrong: Well, truth be told, moral victories can only go so far. And while the Buffs were entertaining and while they did win 6 games, at the end of the day they did go 6-10 in conference. Before they got their sea legs they also lost some horrific games to a terrible Oregon St team and at in-state rival Colorado St. So with all the fan fare they received a sub .500 overall record of 15-16 is still what will go into the history books.

Team MVP: There wasn't a single MVP, but rather once the tandem of Burks and Higgins got going, fans could no longer automatically mark down a CU game as an easy W. Their combined 36 ppg were the reason CU was who they were in 2009-10 and neither would have succeeded on that level without the other.

Key Losses: As I write this reports are swirling about the loss of Buff coach Jeff Bzdelik's departure. I am torn as to what to think on that one. On one hand coach Bz likes the slow tempo style, and might limit the games of Burks, Higgins and Relphorde. On the other hand, he did an all right job with them last year, so who knows.

Outlook Next Year: With the team they have in Boulder, I can see the momentum shifting upwards and see the Buffs as a middle of the pack team next year, moving up for their 8th slot this season, but not quite cracking the top tier... probably 6th or so in conference. 

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Former Wyoming coach Steve McClain reacts during the second half of a game against Air Force during the 2007 Mountain West tournament. Wyoming won 67-62.

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Mark Allan Peterson
Managing Editor
editor@big12hoops.com 

Former Wyoming head coach Steve McLain, the current Associate Head Coach at Colorado, will coach the Buffs tonight against Arkansas-Pine Bluff. The game starts at 7 p.m. CST at the Coors Events Center.

Jeff Bzdelik will at least miss tonight's season opener after the Colorado coach was called out of town early this morning due to an undisclosed family emergency.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with Jeff and his family," CU athletic director Mike Bohn said.  "We are fortunate to have a veteran former head coach with a great deal of experience and previous success like Steve McClain to lead our team while Jeff is out of town."

It's not known at this time if Bzdelik will be able to return in time for CU’s next game Monday against Coppin State.

McClain, the former University of Wyoming head coach from 1998-2007, brings over 27 years of coaching experience to the CU bench. He averaged 18 victories in nine years at Wyoming and led the team to post-season births in four of his first five seasons, three NIT bids and one trip to the NCAA Tournament.

BOULDER – University of Colorado men’s basketball head coach Jeff Bzdelik announced Wednesday that senior Dwight Thorne II and junior Cory Higgins were named captains for the upcoming 2009-10 season. Both earned the honor for the second straight year.

Thorne II, the lone senior on the team, enters his senior campaign coming off his best season-to-date finishing second in team scoring (12.0 ppg.), steals (35), made field goals (128) and made free throws (70). He was the team leader with 45 3-pointers.

Thorne, a native of Arlington, Texas, was also selected one of 10 NCAA Division I student-athletes to participate on an Athletes In Action (AIA) team last summer against teams in Poland and Germany.

Higgins, originally from Danville, Calif., also enters the new season after a stellar sophomore campaign that earned him an All-Big 12 Conference third team selection. Higgins was also associated with elite company last year as one of 13 players nationally ranked first or second on their team in five major statistical categories (points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks). He was the only sophomore on that list.

Sharpe was a standout at Centennial High School in California where he averaged 17.9 points, 7.9 rebounds, 7.7 assists and 3.2 steals per game in 2007-08 helping Centennial to a 27-5 record during his senior season.

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Big hit for the Buffs

Mark Allan Peterson

Big12Hoops Managing Editor

Colorado freshman guard Shannon Sharpe, a 6-1 guard from Corona, Calif., will miss the coming season according to Buffs head coach Jeff Bzdelik.

"Shannon’s injury has been difficult for all of us to deal with because our strong feelings for him as a terrific young man and for what he would have meant to our effectiveness as a team for this season," Bzdelik said. "However, he will come back even stronger for next season and that bodes well for our future. It is now up to others to contribute more, and I strongly believe in my players to rise to the occasion."

Sharpe will undergo micro-fracture surgery after injuring his left knee during one of the team's pre-season workouts.

The Buffs, picked to finish near or at the end of the Big 12 standings by most pre-season sources, begin the season Nov. 13 in Boulder against Arkansas-Pine Bluff. Tip-offf is 7 p.m. CST.

In a recurring piece leading up to the start of the basketball season, we will examine the top 5 questions surrounding each Big 12 basketball team.

Today, the top 5 questions for the Colorado Buffaloes.

1)       Now that Jeff Bzdelik is in his third year, can he bring a winning season to Boulder?

2)       If not, how much longer will the CU AD go on with the Bzdelik experiment?

3)       Can Cory Higgins perform up to his 08-09 level, when he placed fifth in the conference in scoring?

4)       Who else steps up for the Buffaloes?

5)       Will the Buffaloes improve upon last season's 1-15 conference record?

Check back tomorrow when we will ask Five Question For... Iowa State basketball.
Also check out Five Questions For... Missouri, Kansas

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BOULDER – Former University of Colorado basketball and baseball student-athlete Ron "Wrigs" Wrigley passed away on Sunday, Sept. 27 after a three-year battle with cancer. He was 55.

Wrigley played for CU on the varsity basketball team for three seasons from 1972-1975 where he was a standout post-player under legendary head coach Sox Walseth.

Although he only averaged 1.7 points and 1.1 rebounds in 22 games as a sophomore, Wrigley played a contributing role during his junior and senior seasons, playing in all 26 games both years.  He averaged 5.3 points and 4.8 rebounds per game as a junior in 1973-74.

It was his senior season where he shined, finishing third in team scoring averaging 11.3 points per game and leading the Buffaloes in rebounding with a 7.2 clip.  In his last collegiate game, Wrigley recorded a 21-point and 11-rebound performance in CU’s 106-97 victory over Missouri on March 8, 1975.

During his freshman season, Wrigley averaged 12.7 points per game.

An outstanding baseball player as well, Wrigley, also lettered for CU in 1974.

Prior to enrolling at CU, Wrigley earned basketball and baseball letters at St. Augustine High in San Diego, Calif.  He was also awarded All-City honors in both sports.

Wrigley was once selected by the San Diego Padres in the baseball draft, however opted to attend college first. 

"Ron was much-loved by the entire CU community and was successful in every sense of the word," said longtime friend and college roommate Ed Shoen, who lettered at CU in football from 1972 through 1974.

Wrigley is survived by his daughter, Alex, who lives in Phoenix. (CU SID)

Could Ralphie be soon roaming the sidelines during Mountain West Conference games? (Brian Bahr/Getty Images)

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By Evan Pfaff, Big12Hoops.com Missouri Beat Writer

The cover story of last week's Newsweek was entitled "The Case For Killing Granny." The article talks about the high cost of health care and whether "Killing Granny" is better in the long run, economically, socially and emotionally.

Reading it, I started thinking about the need to resuscitate some struggling Big 12 schools.  There are some programs out there who seem content just going through the motions... not making waves of any sort. One of these programs is the University of Colorado.

Would it be the worst thing to "let" CU move away from the Big 12 and in to, say, the Mountain West Conference?

I know this is a basketball blog, but briefly let me first discuss football that underscores the larger argument, well at least the brand that CU claims to be football.

In the years 2006-2008 CU has won a total of eight conference football games, out of a possible 24.  This year they lost at home to in-state rival Colorado State and then at Toledo.  They did beat Wyoming at home, but that is the same Wyoming team that squeaked by Weber State in the first game of the season (former Mizzou offensive coordinator, Dave Christensen, we know better times are ahead for you and the Cowboys).

On the hardwood, CU hasn't fared any better. Over the same time frame, CU basketball brings with them a 25% conference winning percentage, having won 16 of the 64 conference games they have played since the start of 2005-06 season.  And last year they saw an average of 4,262 come out to sit in the 11,064 seat Coors Event Center, ranking them last in the Big 12 in attendance.

CU doesn't field a baseball team and isn't particularly competitive at any non-running sport.  To its credit though, CU has brought home 9 conference championships since the start of the 2004 academic year, registering 8 in cross country and one in men's outdoor track.

Geographically, Boulder is the outpost of the conference.  It remains the only Big 12 school in the Mountain time zone and the closest Big 12 city to "The People's Republic of Boulder" lies in Lincoln, Nebraska, some 7 hours drive away.

Conversely, there are six Mountain West schools that are within an 8-hour drive of Boulder, two of which reside in the state of Colorado. Colorado State University in Fort Collins and the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs are 1 and 1.5 hour drives, respectively, from Boulder.  The University of Wyoming, the University of New Mexico, BYU and the University of Utah also all fall within the 8-hour drive.

And just because CU would transfer to a non-BCS conference doesn't mean they would be the big, bad bully.  As shown already this year, CU couldn't defeat MWC middling CSU on the grid iron in the "Rocky Mountain Showdown."  They probably wouldn't fare any better against national powerhouses in BYU, TCU or the Utah Utes.

In terms of MWC league basketball, CU would face the tough challenge of having to face Utah, UNLV and BYU on a regular basis.  Other schools may give CU stiff competition, however those are the preeminent MWC hoops powerhouses.

So what now?  Would there be another mis-numbered conference (yeah, I ‘m looking at you, Big Ten)?  Nonsense!

Right now the MWC has 9 teams, CU would even them out to ten.  The logical step is to accept the University of Arkansas into the conference.  Arkansas is a sub 4-hour drive to either Oklahoma school and already has a rival in Austin.  Hell, I had a groomsman in my wedding from the city that would relish the rivalry most, Texarkana.

Sharing a border with Missouri also brings another rival. In fact Arkansas and Mizzou have a storied history of battling over recruits and despising each other's existence.  (One of the best stories from the Mizzou heckling group, the Antlers, involves dangling a hog's head off a fishing pole in front of the Arkansas team bus as they pulled into the Hearnes Center for a 1992 match-up.)

Now, realistically this would never happen because of fiduciary concerns.  CU is already in a tough spot because of nearly $13 million in cuts in state funding, so the loss of Big 12 money would devastate an already tight financial plan.

Not being in a BCS conference means a substantial loss of money.  The 2009 BCS bowls paid out $17.5M to each conference.  Since the Big 12 is a BCS conference, they are guaranteed to land at least one of these slots (they got two in 2009).  The MWC, however, isn't guaranteed and needs substantial help to get a coveted slot.  Besides the BCS games, the Big 12 has football contracts that could put up to 8 teams into bowls.  The MWC doesn't have this luxury.

And in terms of hoops, the Big 12 generally gets about half its members into March Madness each year.  The MWC generally sends two teams.  Again, less money to be split amongst conference schools.

So like everything else in sports (and in the world) the decision to keep CU in the Big 12 will come down to the all mighty dollar.... which is good news for any Big 12 team looking for an easy W.

Follow Evan on Twitter at http://twitter.com/MizzouHoops/