The season of college basketball recruiting and transfer recruiting is beginning to wind to a close, and as a result, rosters across the nation are cementing themselves and we’re getting a clearer and clearer idea of how the CU Buffs basketball roster stacks up.

This week, CBS bracketology expert Jerry Palm released his initial bracket projections for the 2022-2023 college basketball season, and his opinion of Colorado could upset some members of Buffs Nation, especially considering how high expectations for this season already are.

In his initial bracket, Palm projects that the CU Buffs will end the season as a No. 7 seed, which would be a disappointing break for a couple of reasons.

For starters, that would make them fall somewhere between being the nation’s 25th-best team and their 28th-best squad. That’s pretty good for Colorado Buffaloes basketball, which aligns pretty well with ESPN’s way-too-early rankings placing them at No. 25 but is still considerably lower than some fans were hoping.

Also, landing as a No. 7 seed would give the CU Buffs a very difficult road to making their first Sweet-Sixteen appearance in the modern era of the NCAA Tournament. No. 10 over No. 7 upsets are some of the most common in the tournament, and on top of that, advancing would almost certainly match Colorado up with one of the nation’s elite powers in the Round of 32.

There’s still a lot of time between now and the start of the season, but it’s hard to think of anything head coach Tad Boyle could do to considerably improve the Colorado Buffaloes’ projection between now and then.