Colorado’s season will roll into April.

For a second straight year, Tad Boyle’s Buffaloes will be a part of the College Basketball Crown, which takes place April 1-5 in Las Vegas.

CU will face former Big Eight foe Oklahoma in the first round of the eight-team tournament on Wednesday, April 1 (6 p.m. FS1). It will be the first matchup against the Sooners since January 2011 when the programs were both members of the Big 12. Oklahoma owns an 88-49 advantage all-time in the series.

The Buffs lost to Villanova in the first round of the inaugural CBC last season. The postseason tournament emerged as a rival to the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) and a way for bigger brands who missed out on the NCAA Tournament to continue their seasons.

This year’s field includes former Colorado State coach Niko Medved and Minnesota, as well as Big 12 opponents Baylor and West Virginia. The other teams are Creighton, Rutgers and Stanford.

The quarterfinal games will take place at MGM Grand Garden Arena with the semifinals and championship game to be played at T-Mobile Arena.

The Buffs enter the postseason with a 17-15 record following a first-round exit at the Big 12 tournament, where they were the No. 11 seed following a 7-11 record in conference games — a four-game improvement from last season.

A challenge awaits Boyle in the weeks ahead, before his team heads to Las Vegas, as he must keep his young roster together after a promising season.

Six true freshmen saw significant action this season with Isaiah Johnson emerging as the program’s next great point guard by breaking Alec Burks’ CU freshman scoring record, with others like Denver native Josiah Sanders and Jalin Holland emerging as key starters by the end of the year.

Only one senior, sixth-year big man Elijah Malone, can’t return next season with the top eight players in terms of minutes all eligible to come back to Boulder.