Neill Woelk

Now it gets serious.

Ready or not, the Colorado Buffaloes open Big 12 play on Saturday. The team that held its breath as a buzzer-beating 3-pointer clanged off the rim to preserve a 67-65 win over Miami of Ohio at home on Tuesday hits the road on Saturday, where it will enter an entirely different world.

Arguably the best basketball conference in the nation is on the horizon, with one of the best teams in the nation, No. 2 Texas, dead ahead.

Welcome to the league CU coach Jeff Bzdelik fondly refers to as "the Big Nasty."

CU freshman Alec Burks, who nailed down a 17-point, 10-rebound double-double against Miami (along with a team-high three assists), thinks he knows what awaits. At least, he says, his veteran teammates have attempted to prepare him.

"It`s not for kids," Burks said with a grin. "It`s for grown men out there."

If Burks isn`t ready now, he will be in a hurry. There`s no place to hide in this year`s Big 12, a conference that currently boasts the nation`s No. 1 (Kansas) and No. 2 (Texas) teams, as well as No. 11 Kansas State, No. 22 Texas Tech and three other "ARV" (also receiving votes) teams: Texas A&M, Baylor and Oklahoma State.

Colorado`s first five conference opponents are on that list: at Texas, at home against Baylor and Kansas State, and at Oklahoma State and Texas A&M. They`ll have to wait until their eighth conference game to get a taste of Kansas.

"Honestly ... I know what we`re up against, and they do to," Bzdelik said about the task ahead. "I think they know what to expect."It`s why Bzdelik wasn`t unhappy with his team`s inability to put the Redhawks away Tuesday night. He knew that a team that lost at Kentucky by two points, lost at Cincinnati by four and had also played at Temple and New Mexico wasn`t going to fold up and quit at the first sign of a double-digit deficit. Bzdelik knew his team would likely be pushed to the end -- and if these Buffs are going to experience any kind of success at all in the Big 12, they`ll have to learn how to win the close ones at home.

After the game, Buff junior Cory Higgins -- who scored 11 points in the final seven minutes Tuesday -- said the Buffs` goal this year hasn`t changed. Win more games than they lose and earn some kind of postseason berth.

The math for that one says it won`t be easy. It means the 9-5 Buffs will have to win at least six conference games, which would send them into the league tournament with a 15-15 record. There, they`d likely need to win at least one tourney game to finish .500 and pick up a postseason invitation.

Six wins in the Big 12? That`s not going to be easy for the team picked to finish dead last in the conference, especially in a conference that currently has the best winning percentage in the nation.

If the Buffs have anything in their favor, it`s that they play well at home (and absolutely horribly on the road). CU`s win Tuesday bumped Colorado to 8-0 in the Coors Events Center this year. To get to postseason play, they`ll likely need at least five more home victories, plus at least one road win -- something they haven`t experienced now for more than a year.

To get there, it will be imperative that the Buffs don`t fall into a huge early hole in the conference. Somewhere in those first five conference games, they`ll need to pick up a win. After that, they`ll have a good chance for a home win when Nebraska visits, followed by one of their best opportunities for a road win when they travel to Iowa State. Then comes a Feb. 3 nationally televised game against top-ranked Kansas.

That will get them halfway through the conference schedule. If the Buffs don`t have two or three wins under their belts by then, reaching the postseason will be one heck of a hill to climb down the stretch.

To their credit, the Buffs don`t appear to be scared. They`ve already matched last season`s win total, and they believe they`re a much better team than they were a year ago. They have some veteran leadership in players such as Higgins and Dwight Thorne, and some talented newcomers in the form of Burks and Marcus Relphorde.

When asked about facing Texas, Relphorde was matter-of-fact with his response. "I know in the past they`ve played some close games against Texas," he said. "With more weapons, we should be better."

But fact is, this is a team that`s still unaccustomed to success. They`ve flirted with it this year, but there`s no commitment. They`ve proven they can win at home, but they haven`t won on the road. They`ve lost games they probably shouldn`t have lost (Oregon State, Colorado State), but they`ve also shown the ability to bounce back from a poor performance and play well.

Most of all, still missing is a win over a team they weren`t supposed to beat.

That`s the confidence boost they need -- and they`ll have plenty of opportunity to accomplish that goal in the coming weeks.