Your faithful pals on the Grading The Week crew are gamers and, full disclosure, have a love affair with EA Sports that goes back four decades now. (Tom Chambers’ “Fake Drive 2-Hand Slam” on “Bulls vs. Lakers” is still the most fun, unstoppable SEGA hoops move known to man, no matter what “NBA Jam” enthusiasts say.)
But our crack staff was more than a little confused to see during the social reveals for EA Sports College Football 25, which drops on July 19, that the eighth highest-rated offense in the popular video game, ahead of Clemson, Penn State, Ole Miss, Arizona, Notre Dame, Florida State and Oklahoma was … your CU Buffs.
Which we sort of get, on one hand. Two-way Buffs star Travis Hunter is one of the EA cover athletes, and we’ll bet our college roomie’s old Genesis that he’ll be among the top 3 or 4 highest-rated single players in the new game. Deservedly so. Ditto for quarterback Shedeur Sanders.
Star players in EA games not only sell units, they sway team ratings — although sometimes to, shall we say, unrealistic levels. Anybody who tells you they know for certain how CU’s dozens of new transfers, especially on the brand-new offensive line, will gel behind Shedeur and Hunter is probably already punch-drunk on the Deion Kool-Aid.
EA Sports and the Coach Prime Kool-Aid — C
Well apparently, the wise-apples who make player ratings for Electronic Arts are swigging some of that Kool-Aid, too.
At least that would explain why the Buffs, with a consensus over-under of 5.5 wins from Vegas oddsmakers, boast not only the No. 8 offense in the country, according to EA Sports, rated an 89 out of 100, but the No. 20 defense (!) with an 84 rating out of 100.
And, for the cherry on top, the 20th highest-rated roster overall (!!) with an 84. Context: That last number is the same as Oklahoma State and Kansas State, two of the top preseason picks to win the new-look Big 12, and on the same plateau (84) as Texas A&M, LSU, and Florida.
So, yeah. No pressure, Pat Shurmur. No pressure at all.
Buffs in the NBA Draft — A
Turns out Tad Boyle didn’t land three first-round picks in one NBA draft class, but he got dang close. Ex-CU point guard KJ Simpson wound up being picked No. 42, by Charlotte, 12 selections into Thursday’s second round.
With freshman wing Cody Williams off the board at No. 10 to Utah and forward Tristan da Silva taken by Orlando at No. 18, the Buffs had three dudes taken in one draft for the first time since 1981.
The trio joins the likes of Derrick White, Alec Burks and Spencer Dinwiddie in extending CU’s pipeline to the pros and enhancing Boyle’s reputation as a finder and developer of NBA talent. Although …
No Sweet 16 for the Buffs — D
… Team GTW also received a few missives this past week asking, and not unfairly, how a CU team with that much talent this past winter still managed to lose 11 games and miss out on the Sweet 16, the white whale of CU men’s hoops during the otherwise stellar Boyle Era.
We’d counter that, technically, the Buffs did win two NCAA tourney games in the same postseason window for the first time since 1955, and yes, First Four wins — one coming against fellow 10 seed Boise State — sure as heck count.
Which, also technically, still ain’t a ticket to the Sweet 16. We get that. And it’s probably not unfair to say one of Boyle’s most talented rosters ever in Boulder underachieved, even as injuries wrecked Williams’ only season at CU. Boyle admitted before the Big Dance that not making the NCAA tourney would’ve been one of his most profound disappointments as CU’s coach.
Fortunately, the Buffs got over the line and made a good show of it once they crashed the party. Simpson’s wild, running buzzer-beater that eliminated Florida will go down as one of the biggest shots in Buffs history, and CU gave second-seeded Marquette all it could handle in the Round of 32. So no shame there. Although with CU diving into a much, much tougher conference in the Big 12, Boyle’s going to need his NBA alumni club to help lure more draftable talent to the Events Center. And soon.
