Boulder, Colo. ? Colorado’s men’s basketball program is just 3-2 this season, but players and coaches alike say they are a much happier team than last year.

Six players, including four starters, are gone from last year’s team that finished 18-11 and lost in the first round of the NIT. But the Buffs have put together good wins, including a 63-60 victory earlier this month at California.

“It’s still a work in progress, but we’ve had some good moments,” CU coach Ricardo Patton said. “Cal was a good moment. Now if we can just make those good moments more consistent.”

Among the players who left were center David Harrison, now with the Indiana Pacers, and swingman Michel Morandais, who averaged 16.1 points a game and became the 21st CU player to surpass 1,000 points in his career. Still, Harrison’s play was inconsistent, and Morandais and Patton were not always a comfortable fit.

Guard Jayson Obazuaye, one of 10 juniors on the team, recalls how team chemistry deteriorated last season.

“This year, we have a lot of juniors — no upperclassmen who think they’re above anybody,” he said. “And of the (five) new guys, no one came in with too big a head. The chemistry, even since the summer, has been there — on and off the court.”