Keep Roddy, Walker in Colorado one more year

Time to dig through those seat cushions, hoops heads. With Colorado State junior David Roddy and Colorado sophomore Jabari Walker both declaring their intentions to test the NBA draft waters this spring, that spare change might come in handy.

David Roddy + Jabari Walker — Inc.

If you want to see a special college basketball season next winter on the Front Range, that starts with Roddy and Walker returning for one more season. Luckily, there is still hope. Since Roddy and Walker both opted to maintain their eligibility, either one could return to their respective school if they don’t like what the scouts have to say. Given that both appear to be potential second-round picks, however, that might be a coin flip.

If you’re looking for a more convincing argument, the Grading the Week staff knows another way.

In the wild, wild west that is the Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) era of college athletics, there are almost no rules … even if you live somewhere where the state legislature actually passed a few ( like Colorado).

In this brave new world, if a group of boosters wants to show its favorite college athlete the money, they can do just that through a fancy new thing called a “collective.”

These are essentially companies made up of alumni whose sole purpose is to generate NIL opportunities for athletes at the ol’ alma mater.

Now, none of these payments can be inducements to play for Big State U (Perish the thought!). But if you and 20,000 of your closest friends want to throw together a big pile of cash to dole out to athletes for things like autograph sessions, social media posts or “appearances,” there’s nothing stopping you right now.

Not even the big, bad NCAA. Just a few weeks ago, The Athletic reported that a five-star football recruit signed an $8 million deal with a school’s NIL collective. And that was before the unnamed athlete even played a single down at the undisclosed school.

While we’re pretty sure said recruit won’t be attending CU or CSU, there’s no reason why either fanbase couldn’t do the same with its own student-athletes. CU already has its own collective called Buffs NIL Exchange. CSU could just as easily put one together, too.

Then, all of the sudden, it would be a little easier to convince Roddy or Walker that greener pastures reside right here in Colorado. Maybe then we could finally get a team of ours into the second week of the NCAA Tournament.

Call us crazy, but the Grading the Week staff thinks that’d be worth every penny.

Colorado hockey — A

Let’s see…

DU is headed to the Frozen Four for the 17th time in program history.

The Colorado Avalanche is in prime position to claim its second straight Presidents’ Trophy.

And now the Denver East Angels are national high school champions.

Step aside Minnesota, the Centennial State is coming for your title as the State of Hockey.