At last, the time has come. College basketball’s marquee events are less than a week away. And the Colorado women’s basketball team is right in the middle of the festivities.

With Selection Sunday tomorrow, the Buffs are well-positioned to not only compete on the sport’s biggest stage, but to do some damage once it is there.

At 23-8 following an upset loss against eventual Pac-12 Tournament champion Washington State in the event’s semifinals, Colorado stayed steady at No. 20 in the final Associated Press poll.

So where does Colorado sit? Let’s take a look at the Buffs’ NCAA Tournament credentials and where they may end up once the bracket is revealed in just about 24 hours.

The resume

Record: 23-8 (13-5 Pac-12)

NET ranking: 23

Strength of schedule ranking: 23

Record vs. NET top 50: 7-7

Record vs. 51-100: 7-1

Record vs. 101-200: 7-0

Record vs. 201+: 3-0

Record in past 10 games: 7-3

Mock brackets

ESPN (updated March 10): No. 5 seed playing Cleveland State in Chapel Hill, N.C.

CBS Sports (updated March 10): No. 5 seed, no opponent specified, with Florida Gulf Coast, Toledo, Portland and Illinois State as the No. 12 seeds they could potentially face

RealTimeRPI.com (updated March 11): No. 6 seed playing Princeton in Philadelphia

What it means

For one, it means that the Buffs are safely in the field. That, in and of itself, is a tremendous accomplishment. Not only would it be just their third NCAA Tournament appearance since 2004, but it would mark the first time that the program has made it to the Big Dance in back-to-back years since it did so in 2003 and 2004.

Colorado’s resume is strong, with few, if any, glaring holes. The Buffs don’t have a loss to a team outside the NET top 100, with their worst defeat coming against No. 75 Texas Tech, which is 18-14 this season. Additionally, they have three wins against teams currently ranked in the AP top 25 – No. 8 Utah, No. 17 UCLA and No. 24 Arizona. Their eight losses have come against teams that are a combined 159-62, five of which are ranked in the top 25.

With a spot in the tournament virtually guaranteed, Colorado’s tournament seeding appears to be relatively settled, as well. The mock brackets from major and not-as-mainstream outlets have the Buffs as a No. 5 seed. A deeper run in the Pac-12 Tournament, even if it was just one win to get to the league’s title game, could have perhaps bumped them up a pivotal spot, but the 61-49 loss to Washington State likely removed that as a possibility.

That difference in one seed line is huge, not only because it prevents Colorado from hosting its first two games in Boulder, but because of what it has meant in recent years. In the past five NCAA Tournaments – so not including 2020, which was canceled in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and 2021, which was held entirely in San Antonio – 59 of the 80 spots on the Sweet 16 have been occupied by top-four seeds that played home games in the tournament’s opening week.