Colorado was picked sixth in the Pac-12 preseason basketball poll, right in the middle, which could be viewed as the conference's media not knowing quite what to expect from the Buffaloes one way or the other.

Last year, the Buffs were also voted sixth and exceeded expectations as they worked up the ranks to claim the No. 4 seed for the conference tournament. However, significant roster turnover means a new team and fresh challenge for head coach Tad Boyle, who said he’s still working to find the best groupings within a roster full of more upside than tangible experience at this point.

“I think with our team this year, especially on the front line, were going to have to kind of mix and match and figure things out,” Boyle said Wednesday during Pac-12 Media Day in San Francisco.

Colorado lost key forwards Evan Battey and Jabari Walker and had guards Keeshawn Barthelemy (Oregon) and Eli Parquet (UNLV) transfer out of the program.

With that, the Buffs lost their top three scorers (Walker, Battey and Barthelemy), two top rebounders (Walker and Battey), top three leaders in made 3s (Barthelemy, Battey and Walker) and four of the five leaders from last season in minutes played per game (Parquet, Battey, Walker and Barthelemy).