Since the announcement more than a year ago, Colorado has been looking forward to joining the premier men’s basketball conference in the nation.

Apparently, the rest of the Big 12 is eager to see the Buffaloes, as well.

The Big 12 released its men’s basketball preseason coaches’ poll on Thursday, with the new-look Buffs landing at No. 15 in the 16-team league.

Since accurate records of the league’s preseason polls began with the 1996-97 season, the first year the former Big Eight expanded to the Big 12, it is the lowest CU has landed in terms of the raw number, but not in relation to the size of the league. The Buffs were projected last (12th) in the Big 12 four straight years, beginning in 2006 through the 2009 preseason poll — the final four seasons before head coach Tad Boyle began a tenure now heading into its 15th season.

The Buffs were projected lower than seventh just twice in the past 13 preseason media polls in the Pac-12. The Buffs were picked 10th in the 2011 Pac-12 preseason poll, winning the league tournament later that season, and were also picked ninth ahead of the 2017-18 season.

Boyle referenced his first CU team, which was picked ninth in the 2010-11 preseason Big 12 poll, when the Buffs were on their way to the Pac-12. The Buffs earned the fifth seed at the Big 12 tournament that season and turned a snub from the NCAA Tournament into a run to the NIT Final Four.

That CU squad featured the program’s co-all-time leading scorer (Cory Higgins) and an eventual first-round NBA Draft pick in Alec Burks. This year’s team doesn’t go into the season with the same firepower, but the Buffs will boast a similar chip on their shoulders to prove their new rivals wrong.

CU finished with 37 points in the poll, nine behind Oklahoma State and seven ahead of last-place Utah.

“We’ve been in the Big 12 before. Our first year in the Big 12, they picked us (ninth). We finished fifth,” Boyle said. “They’re going to pick us 15th. One from the bottom. Where are we going to finish? That’s for these guys to decide. Will I use it as a rallying cry? Hell yeah. Will I use it as a sign of disrespect? Hell yeah. But if we’re the 15th-best team in the Big 12? We know the Big 12 is good. It’ll be really, really good. Because I think we have a good team that has plenty of talent to compete in this league.

“Now, how quickly can we get up to speed? That’s going to be the big question. For me, I’ve always felt like you want to be playing your best basketball in late February and early March. If we can do that, we’ll be OK.”

Kansas, the leading candidate to top the Associated Press preseason top 25 next week, led the preseason poll with nine first-place votes and 215 points, four ahead of runner-up Houston. Iowa State (194 points), Baylor (185) and Arizona (179) rounded out the top five.

The Buffs also failed to land any players on the Big 12’s preseason all-conference squad. Kansas big man Hunter Dickinson was named the preseason player of the year and was joined on the first team by Arizona’s Caleb Love, Iowa State’s Tamin Lipsey and the Houston duo of LJ Cryer and J’Wan Roberts.