The 1996–97 Colorado Buffaloes Men's basketball team represented the

University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, University of Colorado Denver, and the University of Co ...

in the 1996–97 season. Led by first-year head coach

Ricardo Patton Ricardo Maurice Patton (born October 23, 1958) is an American college basketball coach who most recently served as senior advisor to the head men's basketball coach at Vanderbilt University. On March 9, 2011, NIU announced that Patton would not re ...

, and sophomore Guard

Chauncey Billups Chauncey Ray Billups (born September 25, 1976) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who is the head coach for the Portland Trail Blazers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played 17 seasons in the NBA. Afte ...

, the Buffaloes made the NCAA tournament despite only having won nine games the previous year. Billups, was particularly impressive this particular season. Billups earned Big 12 Player of the year honors as well as all-American honors. Following this season, Billups would declare his eligibility for the NBA draft, being selected third overall in

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

. Following his career end, Billups' number would be retired by the Buffaloes. As Head Coach of the Buffaloes, Patton had been appointed after having been named interim head coach the prior season. Patton would stay head coach of the Buffaloes until 2007.

Roster

Schedule and results

, - !colspan=9 style=, Non-conference regular season , - !colspan=9 style=, Big 12 Regular Season , - !colspan=9 style=, Big 12 Tournament , - !colspan=9 style=, NCAA Tournament

Postseason Schedule

Big 12 Tournament
Quarterfinal Vs. Oklahoma, Kemper Arena, Kansas City, MO - L, 41-55
NCAA Tournament
First Round Vs. Indiana, Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Winston-Salem, NC - W, 80-62
Round of 32 Vs. North Carolina, Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Winston-Salem, NC - L, 56-73

Rankings

Awards and honors

– First-team All-Big 12, Consensus Second-team All-American

Team players in the 1997 NBA draft

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1996-97 Colorado Buffaloes men's basketball team Colorado Buffaloes men's basketball seasons

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...