So the ESPN/USA Today Preseason Top 25 Poll is out. Honestly I didn’t expect us to make the top 25, but I think the Billy Gillispie buzz has pushed us in to #22. That’s a nice gift for a young, talented team with a new coach.
However, the Wildcats are ranked #8 in another important list — the EA Sports NCAA March Madness 08 Top 25 teams. How’s they come up with that high of a ranking? From the sportsgamer.com article:
“We worked more closely with Doug Gottlieb and ESPN this year to create ratings that we believe accurately reflect the college basketball landscape,” said NCAA March Madness 08 producer Sean O’Brien. “Combining our resources with the expertise of the analysts at ESPN has helped us to deliver a more authentic experience while playing NCAA March Madness 08 .”
The EA SPORTS Top 25 ignores current injuries to players and projects all players on all teams to be healthy and performing up to the expectations of the experts consulted when NCAA March Madness 08 ships to stores across the country December 18, 2007.
My guess is our sophomores and freshmen are rated very high in-game, which leads to a high overall score. Plus, having Virtual Derrick Jasper completely healthy helps too.
Another interesting tidbit: EA Sports is releasing a downloadable demo that features Kentucky versus #6 Louisville. That’s awesome; it speaks volumes of how Kentucky and Louisville is still recognized on a national level when it comes to college basketball. I’m not for sure if you can get Virtual Rick Pitino to make an ultimatum about Virtual Derrick Caracter’s weight in the demo; that may be a full-game feature. If you have a PS3 or Xbox 360, you can download the demo in the appropriate places.
Many thanks to Mike at Card Chronicle for the March Madness 08 news.