Dallas ? Maybe it’s their lack of basketball tradition. Or their coach having a low profile. Or maybe it’s a carryover from the problems lingering over their football team.

Something has left the Colorado Buffaloes feeling like they might not be invited to the NCAA Tournament, and they don’t like it.

After losing 79-69 to Texas Tech in the second round of the Big 12 Conference tournament Friday, several CU players and coach Ricardo Patton let off steam about the perception the selection committee will take a long, hard look at them.

“If we’re not selected, I think it’d be a tragedy,” center David Harrison said. “It’s because our last name is Colorado. If someone with the same record happened to be Kansas or Missouri, it wouldn’t be a question. For us to be on the bubble, it’s kind of insulting.”

Their argument for getting in: Finishing fourth in a tough league during the regular season and beating every team that finished below them in the conference.

The case against the Buffs (18-10) is that they were 1-4 against ranked teams. The losses were by an average of 14.5 points. The lone victory was by 10 at home against Tech, when it was No. 22.

Colorado has been in the NCAA Tournament 10 times, including last year. The Buffs haven’t gone in consecutive seasons since 1962 and ’63.

What upsets Patton the most is the notion Tech, which finished a spot behind Colorado, or even sixth-place Missouri are considered more likely to make the field of 65 than his squad.

The Big 12 has had six teams make it each of the past four years. The league has had at least four since it was formed in 1997.

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“If the committee is going to take one, two, three, jump four and go with five … I think that would be unfair,” Patton said.

Michel Morandais said he didn’t believe the bad publicity from the football team has hurt his club, saying, “We’re not involved in that.”

Then what’s the problem?

“We don’t have the history of other schools,” he said. “We don’t have a renowned coach like Bob Knight.”