Three mini-columns for Sunday morning:

Count University of Colorado athletic department officials among those who aren't greeting the recent approved tuition increase with a smile.

The increase, recently approved by the Board of Regents by a 7-2 vote, will mean a significant hit for the CU athletic department budget. The athletic department's scholarship bill last year for more than 300 student athletes approached $8 million; the 9.3 percent tuition hike will bump that number up by about a half-million.

It's yet one more obstacle for athletic director Mike Bohn and his staff as they try to take CU into the upper echelon of the Big 12 and the nation. While fundraising and overall revenue for athletics continue to grow, the increase in tuition costs means more money that won't be used for such areas as facility improvements and academic support enhancement.

CU officials still hope to increase the budget this year, thanks to a growth in revenue over the last fiscal year. But if they plan on increasing the budget on an annual basis, it will mean increasing revenue accordingly, and those opportunities are by no means unlimited.

Maybe the biggest untapped source of revenue at Colorado -- outside of a huge boost in fundraising -- is men's basketball, currently about a break-even proposition in Boulder.

Most other Big 12 schools made money in the 2006-07 fiscal year in men's hoops. Kansas realized approximately $7 million in profit from its men's hoops programs, and even such programs as Iowa State (about $500,000) and Kansas State (approximately $1.3 million) finished in the black.

A boost in that department would greatly help CU.But most of all, Colorado needs an outside source of revenue. That means a big increase in donations and/or a marketing effort (such as stadium naming rights) that would line the coffers for years to come.

Until that happens, it won't be easy to get ahead on the tuition increases treadmill. ...

Speaking of men's hoops, CU fans who are overly alarmed at the attrition in Jeff Bzdelik's program need to take a deep breath and calm down.

The departure of players is by no means uncommon when new coaches roll into town. There's no better example than Indiana, where new coach Tom Crean has already lost four players -- and this at a program that went to the NCAA Tournament last season.

Crean, who will have just three returning scholarship players and is down to eight players for next season, said the moves are "bumps in the road."

Bzdelik, meanwhile, is still trying to fill his recruiting class, and is also still working to keep power forward Jeremy Williams in Boulder. Bzdelik returned to Boulder late this week from an overseas recruiting trip, and hopes to convince Williams that the work he's done thus far will produce rewards in the future if he stays.

Bzdelik is putting CU in the mix for some very good players. Sooner or later, he'll convince a couple of those kids to choose Boulder, and the program will be up and running. ...

On the topic of recruiting, we'd be remiss if we didn't give some credit where it's due in that area.

Last week, CU had two players drafted in the second round of the NFL draft, and another signed a free agent deal with the Denver Broncos.

All of those players -- Jordon Dizon, Terrence Wheatley and Tyler Polumbus--were Gary Barnett recruits.

The guess here is that at least one more Barnett signee, George Hypolite, will hear his name called on draft weekend, with a couple others having an outside chance.

And finally, what do these schools have in common: Alabama, Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Washington, Stanford, Syracuse and Utah?

Each of those schools went the entire draft without having a single player chosen.