No miracles were promised by Jeff Bzdelik in his first season as the Colorado coach.

After two successful seasons at Air Force, the longtime NBA coach and scout realized his rise to a new level would require time to produce any positive results.

He did receive a guarantee from the Colorado administration to build better facilities and commit more resources to basketball, then began implementing discipline within a structured system.

The Buffaloes repeated as last-place finishers in the Big 12, but did become the first No. 12 seed to prevail in the conference tournament by upsetting Baylor in the first round. They took Oklahoma to the wire in the quarterfinals, showing marked improvement at year's end before finishing 12-20.

"Frustrating," said Bzdelik, "but successful people are only momentarily frustrated, and that's how we feel. The experience is a great teacher."

One potential problem for the Buffaloes is, the two players they leaned on extensively for offensive might, guards Richard Roby and Marcus Hall, were both seniors. Roby became Colorado's all-time leading scorer, while Hall was a point guard Bzdelik rarely felt comfortable taking out of a game.

New players obviously will come into the program, and Bzdelik can groom them to fit the system. He left little doubt he can accomplish that after getting the Buffaloes to buy in this past season, despite the dismissal of guard Xavier Silas.

But this is still Colorado. It could be the toughest outpost in the Big 12 to develop a consistent winner, particularly when support is minimal.

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