We are proud to present our interview with Zachary Timmerman, Project Manager of College Hoops 2K6.

Operation Sports: Will the potential bug be fixed? (Player changing to an A potential if edited) or can we change potential for a player?

Zachary Timmerman: You are now able to change the potential of a player just as you are with other ratings. Editing a player will no longer change his potential unless you choose to do so.

Operation Sports: Will the height of the recruits be adjusted (too many 6"11" SF) and will the amount of 5 stars be reduced?

Zachary Timmerman: The height of the recruits has been adjusted, especially for small forwards. We do a lot of research over here to ensure that we have the most accurately sized recruits in our game, it just came out a bit too top heavy in the Xbox and PS2 versions. You will still find 6’8 and sometimes 6’9 small forwards, but not 6’11. The amount of 5 stars has been adjusted slightly. We feel that 25-35 5 star senior high hchool players is about right. If you search on rivals.com or insiders.com, this is about how many they have as well. If you see more, remember that it does not necessarily mean that a player will be a stud when he gets on campus. There is a lot of variety when it comes to recruits and that can be shown by having more 5 stars one year than the next.

Operation Sports: Are there any major gameplay changes from the Xbox/PS2 version?

Zachary Timmerman: We didn’t go back to the drawing board for 360, but we definitely tuned a whole lot of gameplay. To name a few: speeds have been reduced (mainly on the defensive side), shot percentages have been adjusted in just about every area possible and you’ll have a harder time blocking a jump shot than before. Now that more than a few games have been played in the NCAA, we also adjusted some of the team specific sliders, such as Tempo, to ensure that schools play more like their real-life counterpart. The game definitely feels quite a bit tighter now than it did on Xbox and PS2.

Operation Sports: Will there be neutral courts? (Crowd cheering for both teams)?

Zachary Timmerman: Yes, there are neutral courts with crowds cheering for both teams in 360, as well as in Xbox and PS2. In Tournament games, you’ll definitely hear both teams’ fans rooting their team on.

Operation Sports: Will the amount of upsets be reduced? (16 seed versus 1 should not happen as often)

Zachary Timmerman: Yes, the simulator has been tuned to reduce the number of upsets. The roster has been updated to help this as well. You will still notice some teams losing/winning games they shouldn’t, however, as that is part of college basketball and we all love seeing that occasionally.

Operation Sports: Will the Top 25 Poll be smarter (Coppin state 13th because they won 2 games)?

Zachary Timmerman: The polls have been adjusted. If you take a team like Coppin State and build them up to “Gonzaga-like” status, don’t be surprised to see them #13 down the road. I would be quite a bit disappointed if I had a great record, knocking off some top programs, yet did not get rated because I was a smaller school such as the Eagles. We use the true-to-life RPI, so if a team is high in the RPI poll, they deserve to be.

Operation Sports: Will the selection of teams be smarter? (6 ACC teams in one region - none in any other)

Zachary Timmerman: Yes, the selection of teams will be smarter this time around.

Operation Sports: Are there Multiplayer Dynasties?

Zachary Timmerman: Yes, as with Xbox and PS2, there will be multiplayer legacies in College Hoops 2K6 for the 360.

Operation Sports: Will we be able to edit uniform colors along with school colors?

Zachary Timmerman: This was something we really, really wanted to add to 2K6 but unfortunately we were not able to get to. This is absolutely in our plans for 2K7 as we have always strived to make the game as customizable as possible for our fans.

Operation Sports: At the Final Four, will each teams’ fans have a section in the arena, where we would see one section of Carolina blue, Illinois orange, Louisville red, and Michigan St. green?

Zachary Timmerman: That is a great idea. Currently, our engine is limited in which colors/sections we have in the crowd. Next year we’d like to have more flexibility in where we can place neutral crowds, as we are ultimately trying to represent Tournament games as realistically as possible.

Operation Sports: Will computer teams red-shirt players?

Zachary Timmerman: Computer teams will redshirt players in 360, just as they have in Xbox and PS2. The CPU looks at who might not play and they redshirt those players.

Operation Sports: Will there be student sections in the arenas? If not that would be a great addition next year that would add to the atmosphere.

Zachary Timmerman: One of our newer features for the 360 is the implementation of student sections. After very thorough research by the development team, you will now see student sections in their appropriate locations for most schools, complete with separate animations than the rest of the crowd. We really feel this adds to the overall atmosphere of the game, something we are always striving for.

Operation Sports: Will anything be done to stop the ease to scoring in the paint? A player with an 80+ dunk rating can just drive to the hole with 3 defenders in the paint as they just fall back as he dunks on them.

Zachary Timmerman: Yes, we’ve been working on making it a little more difficult to get into the paint, as well as dunking when you get there. You will now see more contact animations occurring when driving and then shooting.

Operation Sports: We would like to thank you for your time with this interview, is there anything else you would like to add?

Zachary Timmerman: Thank you to all for your interest in the game. I would like to take the time out to thank all of the people who work for, visit and post on OS as you are some of the most dedicated fans we have ever come across. A lot of us are frequent visitors of the site and we truly appreciate the passion you portray. There are always ways to improve games so please know that we hear you and we’re working to provide you with the best possible college basketball experience we can.