A bout a half hour after Texas Tech had delivered a harsh lesson in Basketball Fundamentals 101 to the Colorado Buffaloes on Wednesday, CU coach Jeff Bzdelik made sure he did one thing:

He gave credit to Pat Knight's Red Raiders for a game well played. The Raiders outworked, outhustled and outplayed Bzdelik's Buffs, and Bzdelik made sure the Raiders received their due.

"Am I embarrassed? Yes," Bzdelik said. "But I'm not going to be like that. I'm going to give Texas Tech credit. They respected the game and they played the game the way it's supposed to be played. Hopefully our players learned a great lesson."

Bzdelik's pointed reference to giving the Red Raiders their due was also a thinly veiled response to Oklahoma coach Jeff Capel's analysis on Feb. 9, after his Sooners dropped a 72-58 loss to the Buffs in Boulder. After the game, Capel refused to credit Colorado, instead saying only, "That's the most embarrassing thing I've ever been a part of."

It's worth mentioning only because of this: if the current Big 12 standings hold their order, the first round of the conference tournament could produce a Colorado-Oklahoma rematch. Such a matchup might produce more sparks than the normal No. 12 vs. No. 5 first-round affair.

Of course, for such a matchup to occur, the Buffs would have to retain their grip on last place in the Big 12 and Oklahoma would have to stay in the fifth spot. If Wednesday night's play is any indication, the Buffs are well on their way to holding up their end of the bargain.

The Buffs were bad Wednesday night. After playing the Raiders close for the first 30 minutes, Colorado players appeared to forget everything they've learnedunder Bzdelik this season. They stood around on offense. They played defense as if they were in a hurry to get the ball back in their hands -- and the quickest way to do that, evidently, was to allow Texas Tech to perform an uncontested layup drill.

It was, simply, CU's second straight poor effort after the win over Oklahoma sparked at least a semblance of hope for a strong finish.

And that might be the most befuddling thing. Despite their current standing in the conference, the Buffs do have something left to play for. At least they did before Wednesday night's debacle.

Wednesday morning, the Buffs had three or four winnable games remaining on the conference schedule. That might have been enough to boost them up a spot or two in the conference standings, as well as provide a little momentum heading into the conference tournament. The chance for a win -- or even two -- in the conference tournament was still a reasonable goal.

It should have been the time for CU's seniors to step up, take charge and lead the Buffs on a late-season surge.

Instead ...

"It falls on me," Bzdelik said. "I"m the leader. I have to find someone who wants to be competitive. Someone who wants to fight back."

Of course, there is still a chance -- albeit slimmer this morning -- for the Buffs to still build a little momentum for the conference tournament. This is still a team that has played well in spurts, a team that has been competitive more often than not.

But it's also a team that has just two Big 12 wins, hasn't won a conference game on the road and hasn't played well in its last two games.

Saturday, the Buffs head to Missouri, a team they led by 14 in Boulder earlier this year before a second-half collapse let the Tigers escape with a win. Then come home games against Baylor and Iowa State before road trips to Kansas State and Nebraska finish up the regular season.

That's enough time to regain a sense of urgency. It's enough time to put together a string of decent performances and at least finish strong.

But as Bzdelik noted Wednesday night, "I can't coach effort. That has to come from inside."

It certainly won't come at the local lost-and-found -- and if the Buffs don't find it in a hurry, March will be a miserable month for CU's seniors to remember as their last in a Buff uniform.