With only three games remaining in the regular season and a March run unlikely, the offseason is fast approaching for the Colorado men’s basketball team.

After what arguably was the worst season in 15 years under head coach Tad Boyle, it will be a critical offseason in the quest to establish relevancy in the Buffaloes’ new-old conference home in the rugged Big 12.

An inexperienced team across nearly the entire rotation, the Buffs have been too small and one-dimensional in the backcourt, while also being physically overmatched in the frontcourt. Rarely is that a winning combination.

A wealth of personnel decisions await Boyle and the Buffs after the Big 12 tournament, which begins March 11 in Kansas City, Mo., with the presumptive last-place Buffs taking on the No. 9 seed. Going into the final three games of the regular season, CU will clinch last place with one more loss, or with one more win by Arizona State. The Buffs can’t finish better than 15th, although even that would require three straight wins by CU alongside three straight losses by ASU.

Following Sunday’s date at Kansas State (2 p.m., ESPN+), the Buffs play at No. 10 Texas Tech on Wednesday before completing the regular season at home against TCU on March 8. Five seniors will be honored at their final home game — four-year guards Julian Hammond III and Javon Ruffin; graduate transfers Andrej Jakimovski and Trevor Baskin; plus walk-on Jack Pease.

Of note regarding that list is Ruffin, who still has a year of eligibility remaining after a recurring knee issue limited his first three seasons at CU, including a redshirt year as a true freshman in 2021-22. Also, the list of senior day honorees doesn’t include center Elijah Malone, a graduate transfer who arrived at CU assuming it was a one-year situation. However, the NCAA earlier this year granted a one-year waiver for an extra season of eligibility for all former junior college athletes. The waiver includes former NAIA athletes as well, and Malone was a two-time NAIA All-American at Grace College in Indiana.

That doesn’t mean Malone is certain to return, as both he and Boyle told BuffZone last month it’s a decision that will be made following the season. But the door is open for the 6-foot-10 post player to return.

Like Baskin, a former NABC All-American at Division II Colorado Mesa, Malone has at times struggled to adapt to the increased level of competition.

“Certainly that jump is big,” Boyle said. “Elijah actually has another year, and that’s going to serve him well. Because it was an adjustment. There’s no doubt about that. It was an adjustment for Trevor. I think the biggest thing with the transfer portal is you have to do a good job of evaluating transferrable skills. I never want to say just because maybe it didn’t work out for one kid or another kid, doesn’t eliminate you from thinking, ‘Oh, that doesn’t work.’ Because I think it’s all dependent on the kid.”

The Buffs are set to have at least four open scholarships — Hammond, Ruffin, Jakimovski and Baskin — while welcoming five freshmen. Although the math doesn’t add up at the outset of March, it likely will in a few weeks, given inevitable transfer portal losses. Additionally, roster limits are set to be expanded from 13 to 15 in 2025-26.

“I do think this about the transfer portal,” Boyle said. “You’re going to have two types of kids. You’re going to have overvalued kids, and undervalued kids. And there’s going to be a hell of a lot more overvalued kids than undervalued. We’ve got to find the undervalued.”