BASKETBALL, MEN’S
After last season’s strong finish, which included a Pac-12 Championship and an upset win in the NCAA Tournament, the Buffs are set up for another stellar season. Despite losing last season’s leading scorer, Carlon Brown, the Buffs bring back one of the Pac-12’s premier big men in Andre Roberson (11.6 points, 11.1 rebounds per game in 2011-12). A strong recruiting class will help, as four-star recruits Wesley Gordon, Josh Scott and Xavier Johnson headline an incoming freshman class ranked 20th nationally by BleacherReport.com. — MJ
BASKETBALL, WOMEN’S
Having lost only one senior from a 2011-12 team that won its first 12 games, head coach Linda Lappe may have high expectations for the Buffaloes in her third year at the helm. CU returns leading scorer and all-Pac-12 first teamer Chucky Jeffery, along with talented contributors Jen Reese, Lexy Kresl, Meagan Malcolm- Peck, Jasmine Sborov and the Wilson twins, Brittany and Ashley. The Buffs have a little extra incentive to make the NCAA tournament, as Coors Events Center will host first- and second-round games in March. — MS
CROSS-COUNTRY
Having two Olympians running for your team as a sideshow to their focus sport was more than just a fringe benefit for the CU women’s cross-country team last season. Graduate Emma Coburn and senior Shalaya Kipp, both primarily steeplechasers focusing on the track and field season, helped the 2011 crosscountry women finish 11th nationally. The men did even better, notching a third place finish nationally behind eighth-place individual winner Richard Medina. Medina, now graduated, will not return next season, but the team brings back a strong core, including Joe Bosshard, who finished 24th at the NCAA Championships. — MJ
GOLF, MEN’S
It wasn’t quite Tad Boyle and his men’s basketball team sitting shocked around a TV after they found out they weren’t getting an NCAA tournament bid in 2011, but Roy Edwards and his golfers were pretty disappointed after not being selected to the 80-team field. However, they did get something of a consolation when the NCAA selected Derek Fribbs, a senior on this year’s team, to compete in the tournament as an individual (80 teams are named along with the 32 best golfers on teams that didn’t qualify). Fribbs and fellow seniors Beau Schoolcraft, Jason Burstyn and Johnny Widmer look to lead the Buffs this spring. — MS
No schedule released
GOLF, WOMEN’S
It will be difficult for head coach Anne Kelly and her CU women’s golf team to top their 2011-12 season — the most successful in the program’s history. Colorado made the NCAA tournament and advanced past the regional round (held in Erie) to the finals in Nashville, Tenn., where they finished 18th. The Buffs lose their three best golfers: Emily Talley and Jessica Wallace to graduation and Alex Stewart to a transfer. Twins Jenny and Kristin Coleman return after successful sophomore seasons. — MS
No schedule released
SKIING
Historically one of the greatest collegiate skiing programs in the nation, CU put together another fantastic season in the winter of 2012. The 2010-11 national champs started off with a bang early in 2011-12, finishing second in three major invitational tournaments (CU, Denver and Alaska-Anchorage). More impressively, the Buffs finished second in the Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association Championships and third at the NCAA Championships. The Buffs are expected to be a powerhouse once again and will look to contend for a 19th national title. — MJ
No schedule released
SOCCER, WOMEN’S
A youth movement — 12 of the team’s 29 spots are held by freshmen — will be key for new coach Danny Sanchez and his Buffs as they attempt to rebound from a weak 2011 campaign. The Buffs managed only one Pac-12 win and four overall wins on the season in 2011, a total they will hope to exceed this fall. Sanchez and his small group of upperclassmen (including last season’s second- and third-leading scorers Annie Stuller and Amy Barczuk) will have a critical role in grooming an impressive crop of freshmen. The Buffs must take advantage of some early-season in-state matchups before entering the gauntlet of the Pac-12 conference schedule.— MJ
TENNIS, WOMEN’S
The 2011-12 season was a tough one for CU women’s tennis. With a highly difficult conference schedule (notice a theme here?), the Buffs could not pull out a win against any of their Pac-12 foes. However, the Buffs did win seven non-conference matches, including the all-important rivalry match against Colorado State. Rising junior Winde Janssens, a singles and doubles threat who led her team with 27 match wins last season, will lead CU into the 2012- 13 season. Keep an eye on incoming freshmen Julyette Steur and Mazy Watrous as the Buffs head into their first tournament of the year. — MJ
TRACK AND FIELD
CU’s indoor and outdoor track and field teams will look to improve on a mediocre 2012 season, one that featured a plethora of individual talent but little team success. Olympic qualifier Shalaya Kipp tore up the outdoor track, winning an NCAA title in steeplechase, while Jessica Tebo finished third in the NCAA 5,000 meter championship. On the indoor side, Richard Medina placed third in the 3,000 meters at the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Indoor Track and Field Championships. The bad news? CU finished ninth and seventh (in men’s and women’s, respectively) at the Pac-12 Outdoor Championships, and only one CU athlete placed at the Indoor NCAA Championships. The good news? Olympians Emma Coburn, Kipp and Tebo will be back next season, and 25 talented incoming freshmen will help CU’s cause. — MJ
No schedule released
VOLLEYBALL
The women’s volleyball team is coming off a 2011 season in which they won only one Pac-12 match, and the Buffs will not find wins any easier to come by in 2012. Last year’s final Top 25 rankings included six Pac-12 teams, and the conference should be one of the toughest in the country once again this fall. The Buffs did, however, nab two star recruits in local Nicole Edelman, a 6’0” setter who played on the 2011 USA Girls’ Youth National Team and Houston’s Alexis Austin, also a member of the Youth National Team. Four non-conference tournaments early in the season will provide much easier competition than CU will face once the Pac-12 schedule begins on Sept. 19. — MJ
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