A year ago, the Colorado women’s basketball team spent the week after the conference tournament letting bodies heal, getting some work in and hoping it had done enough throughout the season to host the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament.

This week, the Buffaloes are doing much of the same, except the hope is centered not on hosting, but simply getting into the tournament.

“This year kind of feels the same (as last year),” said CU head coach JR Payne, whose team fell one seed short of hosting in 2024. “We’re praying to get in, but … there’s definitely some games on the schedule that you wish you could get back to get in.”

Aiming for a fourth consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament, the Buffs (20-12) will have some nerves going into Sunday’s selection show.

At No. 57 in the NET rankings, the Buffs are right on the bubble. ESPN projects CU among its “next four out,” essentially seventh among the teams that won’t get in.

Ultimately, it’s not the NET ranking or ESPN that will determine CU’s fate, however. That’s up to the NCAA selection committee.

“Some of the people that (media) have projected in, we have much better resumes and so it’s tough to see that, but … we’ve shared that information with the committee, and hopefully we’re prepared (for whatever happens),” Payne said.

Of the 68 teams that will get in, 31 will have automatic spots from winning conference tournament titles. There’s another 33 teams that are virtual locks to make it in because of their resumes and top-40 NET rankings.

That leaves, in theory, just four spots open and CU among a group of 10-15 teams hoping for those spots. As conference tournaments around the country wrap up this week, there is nothing the Buffs can do at this point but wait.

“Whatever is gonna happen, will happen,” junior forward Jade Masogayo said. “So I’m not tripping about nothing right now. I’m just hopeful for Sunday, but we’ll see.

“We definitely want to get in this NCAA Tournament. That’s 100% the goal, always has been from the start of the season, so it’ll be really nice if we could make it for sure.”

Among the teams on the bubble, only Oregon and Washington have more Quad 1 wins than CU’s two (Harvard and Saint Joseph’s also have two). Nationally, only 40 teams in the country had at least two Quad 1 wins going into Friday and of those, CU is one of only 37 that also has at least two Quad 2 wins.

CU is the only “bubble” team with 20 total wins and two wins vs. AP Top 25 opponents. Oregon (19-11) also has two Top 25 wins, while Harvard (22-4) and Virginia Tech (18-12) have one. Several bubble teams — including Washington, Princeton, Saint Joseph’s, James Madison, UNLV, Minnesota and Middle Tennessee — don’t have any Top 25 wins.

Recent history could favor CU, as it has proven itself by reaching the Sweet 16 the past two years, albeit with different players.

The selection committee could also take the Buffs’ injuries into account. CU hasn’t been at full strength since Jan. 4 and was 16-6 before multiple starters went out in mid-February, contributing to a dismal 2-5 stretch to finish the regular season.

CU has played 12 consecutive games without leading scorer Frida Formann, who could return next week. The Buffs are 9-7 without Formann this year, but 11-5 with her, including top-15 wins against Kansas State and West Virginia.

Thanks in part to this week’s rest, Payne said the Buffs could be full strength next week.

Big 12 history might help the Buffs, too. Since 2007, 94.1% of the Big 12 teams that went .500 or better in conference play (CU went 9-9) made the tournament. Since 2000, 95.2% of the Big 12 teams that had 20-plus wins made it in.

Whether the selection committee believes CU has done enough or not remains to be seen. If not, the Buffs will play in the WBIT, a 32-team secondary tournament that will begin next week.

Either way, this will be CU’s fifth consecutive season in the postseason, the second-longest streak in program history behind a six-year run from 1991-97.

“You know you’re going to play (next week), you just don’t know where,” Payne said. “That’s a good thing, that, despite everything, we’ve done what we needed to do to earn postseason play. We’re just gonna wait and see.”