BOULDER — Tad Boyle tells his team not to pack light for a reason.

In the Colorado coach’s 16 years in charge, his Buffaloes have a habit of extended trips at conference tournaments. 

In 15 conference tournaments, Boyle’s Buffs have lost on the first day only one time. That was in 2020 when the Buffs infamously lost the final game of the 2019-20 season to Washington State — the day before the rest of the Pac-12 tournament and the subsequent NCAA Tournament that were both canceled due to government restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

They made three conference championship games in the Pac-12 era and won one of them (2012).

Even last year, when Boyle’s team went to Kansas City with a disastrous 3-17 record and last-place finish in the Big 12, they knocked off TCU and West Virginia before losing to No. 1 seed and eventual champion Houston.

The Buffs hope for a similar run this year, starting Tuesday (7 p.m., ESPN+) as the No. 11 seed against No. 14 seed Oklahoma State with a meeting against No. 6 seed TCU on the line.

“The first-round games are usually won by the team that does not want their season to end, and we have to be that team more than Oklahoma State,” Boyle said. “Oklahoma State has been playing well. They went down to Central Florida and won on the road. They played Houston really well (Saturday). My guess is that they will be ready, but we have to get mentally, emotionally and physically ready to play on Tuesday night. That’s our job as a coaching staff. It’s our players’ job to get that mindset right. 

“Let’s go win a game in Kansas City and take it from there. That’s been the message every year, and other than the year of COVID-19 when that game probably shouldn’t have been played, our guys have shown up and rung the bell.”

CU enters this week in a much better place than a year ago. The Buffs more than doubled their Big 12 win total from a season ago and have a core of talented freshmen, led by honorable mention all-Big 12 honoree Isaiah Johnson, to build around going forward. 

After last weekend’s 89-79 loss to No. 2 Arizona, when CU led for more than half the game, there have been four games against ranked opponents this season that Boyle’s team has lost by 10 or fewer points, including an overtime game on the road at BYU. Two of those games going the other way could’ve potentially earned the Buffs a top-8 seed and a bye into the second round.

“At least we know we can compete with the best team in this league,” Boyle said. “Now, we didn’t prove that (on the road) in Ames, Iowa; Houston, Texas; or Waco. But we did with Arizona, who won this league just 17 games into it, and they’re a hell of a team. No moral victories, for sure, but I do think our guys can take some positive things out of this that we can take to Kansas City with us. 

“One of those is the confidence that we can play with anybody in this league if we put our minds to it. We have to put our minds to it. We have to execute our game plan on both sides of the ball.”

In game one, the Buffs face a shorthanded Cowboys squad. Oklahoma State big man Parsa Fallah is out for the rest of the season with a torn ACL.

CU is likely to get third-leading scorer Sebastian Rancik back from an injury that kept him out of the final two games. But the Buffs know from their experience last year the best team often comes up short this time of the year if the team on the other side wants to win the game more.

“We have to be ready to play,” Boyle said. “Let’s go let it all hang out and try to win a game. It’s a one-game season. That’s what is fun about this time of year.”

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King’s Big 12 tournament predictions

Colorado will… advance to the quarterfinals after knocking off No. 14 seed Oklahoma State and No. 6 TCU before bowing out against No. 3 Kansas. The Jayhawks aren’t a terrible matchup for the Buffs, who almost knocked off KU in Boulder in January. But tired legs will catch up to CU in its third game in three days, while the Jayhawks would be on its first game in K.C.

The Big 12 champion will be… Arizona. After coming up short against Houston in last year’s Big 12 title game, Tommy Lloyd’s Wildcats get over the hump and become the second straight regular season champion to cut down the nets in K.C. Arizona will go into the NCAA Tournament as one of the top contenders to win the national championship with an eight-man rotation that is the most well-rounded in the country.

The Big 12 tournament MVP will be… Arizona’s Brayden Burries. Even though senior Jaden Bradley is the Big 12 Player of the Year, the Wildcat with the potential to make the biggest impact in a tournament setting is their freshman shooting guard. Burries has 11 games with 20 or more points this season, including a season-high 31 in Boulder last weekend.