Colorado definitely came out better than their previous road losses, but still couldn't get its first crucial road win as they lost to Arizona 71-57. The Buffaloes kept up with the Wildcats till the latter part of the second half, when Arizona was able to pull away. Colorado couldn't stop Arizona's inside presence and committed way too many lazy fouls. Andre Roberson had 12 points and 11 rebounds and Carlon Brown added 11 points for the Buffaloes. However, Colorado was unable to stop the inside presence of Jesse Perry and Solomon Hill who combined for 33 points. Overall, it was an expected rough game for the Buffaloes, and they will need to be able to rebound with a win against Arizona State to stay near the top of the Pac-12 conference.

Things the Buffaloes did well: The Buffaloes shot the ball well from inside the three point line and didn't come out in the second half and completely fall apart like their games at UCLA and at Stanford. Andre Roberson had a good game and was the only bright spot defensively. There just wasn't any consistent play for the Buffaloes as they couldn't beat Arizona's strong defensive and were unable to hit any three pointers early to spread the floor.

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16-7, 8-3 NR (AP) NR (Coaches Poll)

February 9th, 2012 7:00 p.m. MT Who: Colorado Buffaloes vs. Arizona Wildcats Where: McKale Center - Tucson, AZ TV: ESPN Radio: 760 AM Satellite Radio: Sirius 91 Line: CU +7 Arizona Blog: Arizona Desert Swarm Follow @RalphieReport on Twitter

16-8, 7-4 NR (AP) NR (Coaches Poll)

Welcome to the Ralphie Report as the Colorado Buffaloes prepare to take on the Arizona Wildcats in Tucson, Arizona. Colorado will be live on national television tonight for a huge road test against a Wildcat team that has been surging of late. Get the sweep! Go Buffs!

For more on tonight's game, check out the game notes from CUBuffs.com...

Throw all your comments about today's game below and let's get this thing rolling. If you don't have an account, sign up here for free and enjoy all that our site has to offer.

Join our Twitter, Facebook, and Google+ pages! Go Buffs!

Colorado's football recruiting class has now been officially complete for a week, though effectively for longer than that. You've had the chance to digest things, and now you're wondering, "what about that conference we're in? How did they do?"

Pac-12 Recruiting Recap: A Comparative Grid

If the college football offseason is like settlers journeying along the Oregon Trail, then recruiting is the food and water supply you've brought with you. You hope it will carry through the trip, and you're about to eat the last of the beef jerky.

In the spirit of examining Pac-12 Recruiting, we'll now take a closer look at how our state-mandated rivals fared on National Letter of Intent Day, and also Utah. One of them did well, and the other did... not so well.

If you were wondering what our conference-mandated rival Utah fans think of their class, look no further than Block U:

Block U: Utes Land Best Class In Program History

Make the jump to see Utah and CSU's recruits listed individually, and to see the rest of the hardtack disappear...

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The Colorado Buffaloes and second year head coach Tad Boyle sit at a crossroads heading into tonight's game against the Wildcats in Tucson, Arizona. Win a road game against a high-quality opponent for the first time since beating Kansas State in January of 2011 and the Buffs will no longer be ignored as a legitimate threat to win the Pac-12 regular season. That win, combined with a home win for Oregon over Washington tonight would leave the Buffaloes tied with the Huskies and Golden Bears for first place, with the tie-breaker with UW and a home game against California that would even the slate. A win would give the NCAA Tournament Committee the validation that they need to consider Colorado as one of the two or (hopefully) three teams that head to the tourney from the Pac-12 conference. A win would announce that this team isn't just building for the future, it's built for the now.

Brooks: Buffs Tough, But Road Tough Is The Objective

But let's not get too far ahead of ourselves (as if I haven't already). A loss does not taint this year's progress. Win or lose, the next two games, on the road against Arizona State and Utah are absolute must wins for this team and getting both may actually be more important to the teams tournament chances. No matter what happens tonight, the Buffaloes still have a 4-game gauntlet to close the regular season, home games with Stanford and Cal before hitting the road to take on both Oregon schools.

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Welcome to our weekly look at Pac-12 basketball. We take a quick look at what happened in the past week and breakdown the best games in the week to come.

Top 3 upcoming games: This week will make the Pac-12 race much more clear as four of the top five teams face off and California faces a tough road match-up against UCLA. The two games on Thursday night is the best combo that the league has had all season. For as much good as a win in Tucson would do for the Buffaloes, a loss against Arizona State would pretty much derail any hope CU has for making the NCAA Tournament without win the conference tourney.

Colorado Buffaloes at Arizona Wildcats, Thursday, 7:00 p.m., ESPN: This is the biggest game of the year so far for the Buffs. A national television audience will watch a CU team that has won five of it's last six games, but is primed to hit the road for five of their last seven in the regular season. The Wildcats did last week what no one else has been able to do this season in winning at both California and Stanford and has been playing much better since their loss in Boulder.
Washington Huskies at Oregon Ducks, Thursday, 9:00 p.m., Root Sports: The Huskies have been on fire of late, winning eight of their last nine to take over the top spot in the conference. Now they have to head to Eugene to face a Ducks team that is still reeling from a controversial, last second loss in Boulder.
California Golden Bears at UCLA Bruins, Saturday, 2:00 p.m., Fox Sports Prime Ticket: The Bruins have been playing better lately, but haven't been able to get over the hump as they fell in some tough, close losses. California needs to make up for a home loss to Arizona in LA.

A look at each team after the jump...

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Recapping Colorado Buffaloes Basketball & Athletics News, Links, and Stories

AllBuffs - Covering The University of Colorado Athletics - This Week In BasketBuffs - 2/6/12

Huge week ahead for both teams. Sound familiar? I'm starting to think I can just copy & paste the opening paragraph every week. I know there's been casual talk about making the tournament for the men's team this year, but if there's ANY chance of it happening, we have to win at Arizona on Thursday.

Steal a win there and suddenly dreams of dancing can enter the equation. Arizona is starting to look like the team that made them a popular pick to win the PAC-12 in the pre-season... ...Statistically, there aren't many weaknesses on the Arizona team.

As for Arizona State, they suck. There is zero excuse for us to lose to them in Tempe on Saturday, and that's what terrifies me. They're 221st in the KenPom rankings. The USC team that we took behind the woodshed in LA a few weeks ago is 202nd. So ASU is bad. Here's hoping the Buffs don't have a let down after the Arizona game.

Buffs sitting in right position - Buffzone

On the road to (March) madness? Colorado has put itself in position to win the Pac-12 regular-season title with a 7-0 record against its new conference foes at the Coors Events Center. This is the first time the program has been in contention this late in a season since 1996-97 when Chauncey Billups was a sophomore at CU.

The surprising 2012 championship chase began with a laugher against Utah (73-33) and continued with a dramatic last-second win over Oregon (72-71) on Saturday night in front of 11,052 believers. The Buffs (16-7, 8-3) have now played everyone in the Pac-12 and are currently tied with Cal for second place, one game behind a Washington team they buried 87-69 in Boulder.

"I don't think there is any team we can't beat," second-year CU head coach Tad Boyle said after improving his remarkable home record to 31-3. "But I don't think there is any team we can take for granted either. I think the whole key for us is you take the next task at hand and we have to beat a quality opponent on the road." CU will have a chance to do just that on national television against Arizona on Thursday (7 p.m., ESPN).

Spring Forward " CU At the Game - A CU Football blog by Stuart Whitehair

The lack of running backs is matched by the lack of fullbacks on the roster. Red-shirt freshman Nick Plimpton, an invited walk-on, is the only fullback who returns from last season. Enter true freshman Clay Norgard, a member of the recruiting Class of 2012, who enrolled early and will be available for spring practices. Come August, the running back corps will not be so depleted, with three freshmen running backs added to the roster, to go with another fullback.

Donta Abron, Davien Payne, and Terrence Crowder will join the team as tailbacks, with Christian Powell joining Norgard at fullback. (Injury Update: Crowder was injured five plays into his senior season, and underwent surgery last September. His rehabilitation is going so well that he expects to run track this spring, and be 100% ready for drills this August).

Pressing Questions -

1) Will Tony Jones be able to build upon his strong finish to his freshman campaign, staking out a claim for the No. 1 tailback position come September?;

2) Will Clay Norgard be able to adjust from high school football to the college game quickly enough for Colorado to have confidence to install the pro-style offense head coach Jon Embree and offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy wish to run?

Follow the jump for irrefutable proof that the world will end in 2012...

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