Only one more week of Buffs basketball and then we can put this season away. It would be hard for me to believe that Colorado will get another win this season as Kansas State and Texas A&M will both be fighting for an NCAA tournament bid. Tough thing for the Wildcats and Aggies is a win against the Buffs still kills their RPI and strength of schedule. I am not going to spend a lot of time on yesterday's game at Baylor but, once again, the Buffs find a way to be competitive and then the youth, lack of talent, turnovers, poor rebounding, etc. kicks in. This is all you really need to know about the game:

After trailing 26-24 at halftime, the Buffs took their largest lead of the game at 42-38 when Thorne hit a three-pointer with 11:20 remaining. With 8:50 to play, Casey Crawford hit a trey to give the Buffs a 50-48 lead. Curtis Jerrells answered with another three-pointer at 8:14 to ignite a 17-0 run for the Bears (17-11, 5-9).

If you want to submit yourself to more CU basketball heartache, here are some other links:
The Denver Post - Another Unbearable Defeat For Colorado
The BDC - Bzdelik's Buffs Collapse in Second Half

On to other things:

TBO.com, affiliated with the South Florida Bulls, says that Buffs secondary coach Greg Brown has interviewed for the defensive coordinator position but is still undecided. Like I said yesterday, the writer makes the big point that Brown will likely get an $80K raise but another point is that he will probably get job security as well, something that CU cannot match either. I would be shocked if Brown doesn't jump at this. South Florida has some talent, has been a decent team over the past couple of years and you can never underestimate the power of money, even if Brown has strong Colorado ties. Neil Woelk of the BDC hopes those ties keeps Brown here.

This story has been floating around for a while now (and Nebraskasux beat me to it on the fanpost, today) but according to Kyle Ringo at the BDC, Miami (OH), a 2009 opponent of Colorado, is trying to get the Buffs off their schedule to play a game against Kentucky at Paul Brown Stadium. The game vs Kentucky would probably result in a bigger payday for Miami than playing Colorado. The problem right now for the Red Hawks, who have a very hard out of conference schedule, is finding a viable replacement within the MAC that would appease ESPN. Colorado wants this game on ESPN. If Miami can't find a suitable replacement, they will owe CU $750,000, something in this economic time period that is hardly affordable. According to Ringo, the MAC maybe reworking a ton of schedules within the conference to free up a "higher echelon" team like Toledo or Bowling Green. Right now, Akron is the only MAC school that has a free date but that doesn't seem to be a viable option for television. Personally, I would love to get the $750,000 but who knows if the athletic department would get all that, you never know with the Colorado administration. I would also like to not have to play a FCS school so I am hoping that worse case scenario the Buffs are playing another MAC team or another FBS school. It would be great if this ends up being a home game for obvious financial reasons and a competitive advantage. I don't know enough about this situation but that should be a demand of Bohn if Miami is trying to get out of this game. Let's not go to Toledo!

I would love to know the terms and conditions of the deal. For example, can the Buffs hold Miami (OH) to the game and make them play us? Does Colorado have to approve the opponent and the location of the game now (from Ringo's article it sounds like the Buffs do have some say, especially to make it appealing for television)? Can CU just demand the $750,000 and find a new team themselves (easier said than done)? It is obvious Miami is changing the game for financial reasons, the Buffs should be able to act in the same way unless all the power lies with Miami since the contract was a home and home.

Other replacement teams that have been thrown out there are Ole Miss, Rutgers and Louisville.

I have to give a shout out to one of the best athletes to ever come through Colorado in track star Jenny Barringer. A 2008 Olympic qualifier, Barringer, competing at Indoor Track and Field Championships Saturday, added another record to her esteemed collegiate career:

            Barringer won the mile in a time of 4 minutes, 25.91 seconds, which is the fastest recorded in the world this indoor season. The previous best time was run by Lindsey Gallo (Team USA) at 4:27.90 on Feb. 7.

            The time was a collegiate record, as well as a Big 12 Conference, Gilliam Track & Field Stadium and CU record. The former collegiate best mark was 4:28.31, run by Vicki Huber (Villanova) on Feb. 5, 1988. Sara Vaughn had previously held the CU record at 4:40.02, which she set almost a year ago.

            "This is a new level and I have definitely taken a huge step," Barringer said. "To think that I can step out onto a track and run 4:25 with little help is still coming to me."

This is also extremely impressive:

       Barringer has only run in three races this season and all three times have been CU records. (She is the current CU record holder in the mile, 3k and 5k as well as the 3,000-meter steeplechase outdoors.) Two of those races, the 5k and mile, have resulted in collegiate records.