It wasn’t quite spring break yet. But with the season seemingly over, Trevor Baskin indulged in a personal trip as soon the Colorado men’s basketball team was eliminated in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Conference tournament.

Baskin headed west to visit two former teammates from Colorado Mesa — former CU walk-ons Owen Koonce and Isaac Jessup — as they completed the season at Cal Poly. Baskin and the Buffaloes were barely 48 hours removed from what Baskin assumed was a season-ending loss against Houston when a call came in from CU head coach Tad Boyle.

What complicated the timing was that Baskin was in the middle of a round of golf and was about to tee off. An avid golfer himself, Boyle had to listen in from the ground as Baskin took care of a little business before sharing the surprising news of a season still alive.

“I said, ‘Coach, I’m sorry I’ve got to tee off.’ So I put him on the ground real quick,” Baskin said. “I hit my drive and it was 100% in the fairway — let’s get that out there — and talked to him on the walk. It caught me off guard at first, because I was not under the impression we were going to get a postseason tournament. But it’s a tremendous opportunity, and I’m super excited to go out there.”

The Buffs received a mulligan on their season with an invitation to the FOX-backed College Basketball Crown in Las Vegas, a made-for-NIL era competition that will put good, old-fashioned green on the line when CU squares off against Villanova in the first round Tuesday night.

The 16-team field includes squads like Boise State, which had a case for an NCAA Tournament berth, to teams like CU and Arizona State that, in other years, would have had zero chance at playing again after the conference tournament.

FOX is attempting to capitalize on the buzz of Final Four week while trying to avoid direct competition with college basketball’s main event. The first rounds on Monday and Tuesday all were slated for Fox Sports 1, as are the quarterfinals Wednesday and Thursday.

The semifinals will air early Saturday on FOX’s main network — ahead of the NCAA Tournament semifinals — as will the championship game on Sunday. The championship match tips off at 3:30 p.m., right about the time the women’s national championship game will end.“I was telling the guys they’ve all been to the Pac-12 tournament in Vegas. It’s another great opportunity to play with the team,” Baskin said. “We were playing well towards the end of the season, and it’s another time to prove ourselves and hopefully win a couple pennies while we’re there.”

The Buffs played much-improved basketball down the stretch, and even owned a winning record during a nine-game span (5-4) prior to the loss against Houston in the Big 12 quarterfinals.

Recapturing that momentum after a 19-day lull between games will be a challenge for a CU team that will sport a slightly altered rotation.

The Buffs will play without leading scorer Julian Hammond III, who is resting an injured back he played through during the final weeks of the regular season and the Big 12 tournament.

Freshman forward Sebastian Rancik is out due to a knee injury, and the Buffs also will be without little-used reserve Courtney Anderson, who is headed to the transfer portal.

Yet besides Rancik and freshman guard Andrew Crawford, who is finishing a redshirt season, the core of players Boyle is hoping will change the team’s fortunes next season — RJ Smith, Bangot Dak, Felix Kossaras, Elijah Malone and Assane Diop — will have one final opportunity to compete together before embarking on a critical offseason.

“Our players are excited,” Boyle said. “It will be interesting for everybody. I don’t know if anybody has been practicing the entire time. We’ll have plenty of practice though, and we’ll be fine.”