Anyone else getting College Hoops 2K6?

[Pumpy Tudors]

I expect to pick up my XBox copy of College Hoops 2K6. I'm sure that some of you folks are waiting to get it for the XBox 360 in a month or so, but this is always my second-most awaited franchise each year (behind NCAA Football). I really hope that they've managed to avoid any game-killing franchise bugs in this year's version. Last year, the game played beautifully, in my opinion. Unfortunately, there was a bug in the recruiting that would cause the game to lose track of which players you had contacted during the season. It ruined the game for me. I finished my first season and never played again.

I know that the 2K Sports games are notorious for bugs in the franchise mode. I believe NHL 2K6 basically forces you to turn injuries off if you don't want problems. As good as NFL 2K5 was last year, it was practically unplayable as a franchise game. However, even though I haven't played NBA 2K6 much, I have not heard of any problems with that one. Hopefully, College Hoops 2K6 is clean. If it plays as well on the court as NBA 2K6 does and has a bug-free franchise mode, this will be the sports game of the year for me.

Are any of the other College Hoops folks picking this one up now, or are you guys all waiting for the XBox 360 version?

[dervack]

I'm waiting for the 360 version. This is also one that I always eagerly await.

[Emiliano]

I'm going to pick up this one as well. Don't know exactly when, but I will. Last year's was really fun to play, the games were so realistic. Too bad there were way too much bugs in the off-field part (lost recruits, scheduling, freezing...). I hope this year's is bug-free.

Anyway, I'd like to hear some impressions from someone who picks it up.

[Pumpy Tudors]

I've only played about half a game so far. It was my Midnight Madness game, so it was New Orleans vs. New Orleans, and I had my 12-man roster split into two 6-man teams. It's a nice idea and probably a good way to gauge how much your new players can do, but I didn't really buy this game in order to play against my own team. I start my season against cross-town rival Tulane, but I'm not sure if I'm going to play it tonight or tomorrow. I like the game so far, but I'm kinda tired and my wife has the other television turned up very loud right now. I can't really hear the improved crowd sounds that this game is supposed to have. Then again, we will be playing at Tulane, and their tiny cheap-ass arena probably couldn't create much atmosphere anyway. :p We'll see if I decide to play.

I would like to say that two very nice improvements as far as in-game stuff are as follows: 1. You can hold down both triggers at after a dead ball (an icon pops up in the corner to let you know that it's time) which will allow you to make substitutions without having to go to the pause menu. It's very nice. 2. When you or the your opponent calls timeout, a clipboard slides up onto the screen to allow you to make your subs, change double teams or defensive pressure, and choose a "point of emphasis", which can be ball control, rebounding, shot selection, and one other which I've forgotten (defense, maybe?). I would imagine that your players get temporary boosts in a category or two based on your choice. If done properly, this can be crucial in late-game situations.

I can't speak for the legacy mode of the game yet. I mean, obviously, I've started it, but I can't tell if there are any improvements yet.

It seems fun so far. I'll post more after my game against Tulane, whether it's tonight or tomorrow.

[miami_fan]

I really want to hold out until Gary's new game comes out but sounds pretty good so far

[dervack]

I haven't been following any of the previews of the game since EA released March Madness, so it was already a foregone conclusion that I was picking up NCAA 2K6. Now I can't wait for the 360 version to make it.

[ahbrady]

I was told today at EBgames that the Xbox version wasn't going to be out until early December. Where did you get it?

[Pumpy Tudors]

I was told today at EBgames that the Xbox version wasn't going to be out until early December. Where did you get it?
Strangely enough, EBGames.

[dervack]

Strangely enough, EBGames.
Apparently not the same EB.

[jbmagic]

Eaglefan27

you get your xbox 360 today?

you picking up EA NBA live or 2k6?

[Eaglesfan27]

I'm waiting for the Xbox 360 version. However, I look forward to hearing impressions from you Pumpy.

[jbmagic]

nice

cant wait for your impressions for xbox 360 games and the system.

[Eaglesfan27]

Eaglefan27

you get your xbox 360 today?

you picking up EA NBA live or 2k6?
I picked up 2k6 (I've preferred that series to Live for at least the last 3 years - I find the gameplay more realistic.)

I also picked up Madden.


Edit, Yes, I got a premium system and am actually quite happy with the number of accessories included (including a remote which I didn't realize was included - I think it was a bonus.)

Also, the harddrive included an arcade game on it already that Mrs. Eaglesfan really likes - which is bad since I'll have to compete for Xbox 360 time ;)

[ahbrady]

Strangely enough, EBGames.


Hmm. I guess I'll call around to some other stores tomorrow. I'm off all week, and I would love to pick up this game to fill up some of the spare time.

[Pumpy Tudors]

OK, impressions after having played one full game:

First of all, I got torched by Tulane. I believe the final score was 119-90. Yeah, I know that score is very high. I play 20-minute halves, and there's just no way to keep the score down right now. I was using default All-American sliders except for fouls which were turned all the way up. I also set the game speed to slow instead of normal.

The main reason that Tulane managed 119 points on me was that I couldn't stop them in the first half. Their FG percentage was something like 70% for the half. It dropped bigtime in the second half, but they got so many more shot attempts because I was falling behind and had to take quick shots. The score still would have been high if I hadn't been rushing things, but there probably would've been 20-30 fewer points scored between us. As it was, there were 209 points put on the board. If there had been 180 points instead, it would've been at least a little closer to reality, although still way off. For example, UNO and Tulane played in real life last night, and the final score was 77-66 (Tulane won :().

I don't really want to play with the shooting percentage sliders yet, because I know that my lack of defense was a big problem. The Green Wave had 12 fast break points against me in the first half. That's just way too many. Take those six fast breaks away and make them work the offense, and the score nudges closer to reality. Also, I just couldn't stop their best player who ended up with 29 points for the game. The one thing that UNO lacks is size in the middle, and their big man just took advantage of that. Maybe if I play a smarter game next time around, the score won't be so high. Of course, I know most of you won't be playing 20-minute halves anyway, so it probably won't be an issue. If you play 15 or 10 minutes per half, your scores will probably be fine.

As far as gameplay, I don't have any complaints so far. With fouls turned all the way up, each team went to the line about 20 or 25 times. That's pretty good. The fouls all seemed to be called pretty well, too. There were charging fouls, blocking fouls, and even over-the-back fouls on rebound attempts. I admit that I find the new free throw shooting system to be a bit too easy. I only missed 4 in the entire game, and I made my last 15. I'm thinking about turning the "real player FT%" switch on, just so my players shoot as they would in real life. I would have hoped that even with that switch off, I would have to be more precise with my timing when using a poor FT shooter, but it didn't seem to matter who I had at the line. I was making them all. This is something that I don't want to tinker with until I've played another game, though.

Another gameplay element: The CPU will take the time to set up a good shot. In previous versions, the CPU would pretty much shoot anytime. Now I'm seeing poorer shooters actually pass up open shots to get the ball to a more talented teammate. The CPU actually seems to be running an offense. Somewhat tied in to that, the coach profiles for every team are editable. Honestly, I don't know most of the real NCAA teams well enough to say what their primary and secondary defensive sets are, but if you think that Drexel should be playing a 2-3 matchup zone instead of a 1-3-1 or whatever, you can change that. Also, every coach has primary and secondary recruiting priorities. I wanted to focus my recruiting on size and skills, so when I do the assisted recruiting, my coaches will look for those things first. Other choices which I can recall are intangibles and athleticism. There are also one or two others which escape me at the moment. Every team seems to have a personality, although since I've only played one game, I haven't seen to on-court effects of that yet. I'm optimistic, though.

Finally, the presentation is excellent. Greg Gumbel and Clark Kellogg do a season preview show, and of course a lot of the comments seem generic ("Texas is looking like one of the top teams this year. They will try to build upon last year when they got knocked out of the tournament in the first round."), but it's a very nice touch. I can't wait to see what the tournament selection show looks like at the end of the regular season. Verne Lundquist and Bill Raftery do the in-game commentary, and I was afraid that Raftery would be overdone. While I did hear him say "the KISS!" and "mantoman" a couple times too many, it wasn't bad overall. Bonnie Bernstein also brings us sideline reports. At first, I was hoping that we would actually SEE Bonnie in the game, but after seeing how poorly modeled Greg Gumbel was (he looks like he weighs 400 pounds in the game), I'm kinda glad that I didn't have my image of sweet sweet Bonnie ruined. Just listening to her is enough.

Louisiana Tech is up next. I'll be playing that game sometime tonight. I'm not going to adjust any settings yet, but if things still look a little screwy, I'll tweak things a little bit at a time.

[jbmagic]

are you seeing the old bugs from last year on the new version that people mention here in this forum?

[Cuckoo]

Also, I'd like some impressions of the legacy mode when you get a chance, Pumpy. Have they added anything here? With March Madness being so (reportedly) poor this year, this is the only one I may buy. Then again, if it hasn't improved much, I'll probably just save my money.

[Pumpy Tudors]

are you seeing the old bugs from last year on the new version that people mention here in this forum?
I'm not sure which bugs you mean. The only bug that I remember was the one that caused me to lose my list of contacted recruits. I haven't gotten far enough into the game to see if that is happening again.

Also, I'd like some impressions of the legacy mode when you get a chance, Pumpy. Have they added anything here? With March Madness being so (reportedly) poor this year, this is the only one I may buy. Then again, if it hasn't improved much, I'll probably just save my money.
There are some new things with the recruiting. For instance, it appears that you can now target high school juniors as well as seniors and JUCO players. Right now, I am letting my assistants do most of the recruiting. I'm only handling two or three recruits myself, and they're high school seniors. Also, there are "camps" that the high schoolers can play in. I would imagine that they don't actually play in the camps until late in the season, so I don't know what the impact will be yet. Early in the game, it is very nice to see where your school ranks on a recruit's shortlist. If you look at a recruit whom you have scouted or contacted, it will show you where he ranks you compared to the other schools he's interested in. I would imagine that that's not terribly realistic - there's no way a coach can know who the 900th-best player's top 10 choices are -- but it's helpful. At least you get an idea of how strongly you need to go after a kid.

Other legacy additions are a lot of real preseason tournament names instead of the phony names they've had in the past. Someone mentioned on the Operation Sports forums that these preseason tournaments all seem to be "one-and-done" formats, and that appears to be true to me. It doesn't look like there are any double-elimination or round-robin style things or anything like that. My team did not participate in any of those tournaments, however, so I'm not 100% sure.

What I AM sure about is that I'm probably forgetting a detail or two. I spend a lot of time puttering around the menus and information screens last night, just to get a feel for what they've added. It looked very nice to me. Unfortunately, I don't remember much more than I've stated, at least not at the moment. Was there anything in particular that you'd have liked to see added to the legacy mode? I could probably let you know if anything specific has changed, and even if I don't know for sure, I'll check it when I get home this evening.

[Cuckoo]

Great - thanks for all the info. I'm most interested in how recruiting works during the season and during the recruiting period and also how realistic it looks over a significant period of time. You may not be able to answer that until you get a few years in, and I'm not sure how fast you play. That's no problem at all - I appreciate your insight.

If you come across anything related to the legacy mode (recruiting, coach movement, etc.) that seems new, pretty cool, or buggy, post it if you can.

Thanks again!

[Pumpy Tudors]

I'm afraid that I don't play very fast at all. I rarely sim a game (although if I fall way behind in a game in the future, I may just simulate to the end). I rarely play more than 5 games in a week. At this rate, it'd take me about a month of real time to get through a season, and that's if no other games pop up and grab my attention. :)

If any further impressions come along, I'll let you know.

[Pumpy Tudors]

ahbrady, if you haven't found the game yet, I suggest you bug the folks at EB a little bit and make sure that they don't really have it. It's the PS2 version that's not coming out until late November/early December. The XBox version is (obviously) out now.

[ahbrady]

ahbrady, if you haven't found the game yet, I suggest you bug the folks at EB a little bit and make sure that they don't really have it. It's the PS2 version that's not coming out until late November/early December. The XBox version is (obviously) out now.

I called them earlier this morning, and they said they would have it in this afternoon. I decided to drop by another one, and they had it in, so I've got it now. Thanks though. I guess the guy yesterday was confused by which one was out now.

[Emiliano]

Hey Pumpy, thanks for all the good infos!

I like the recruiting's new stuff. If I'm not wrong, The ability to track even high school junior is something that was never included in any college game. Cool touch.

Keep us updated!!!

[rjolley]

I'll be getting CH2K6, but I want to see more reports about the import into NBA2K6. I've read reports that there are issues with it once again.

[Pumpy Tudors]

I'll be getting CH2K6, but I want to see more reports about the import into NBA2K6. I've read reports that there are issues with it once again.
Yikes. That's inexcusable. You'd think that they'd have learned from last year. I'm afraid that I won't be able to provide any feedback on that situation, though, as I don't move players from college games to pro games. For the people who do, though, I hope that this gets fixed quickly.

[jbmagic]

how is coach mode?

[Pumpy Tudors]

how is coach mode?
I'll give it a brief try later tonight to give you some idea of what you can do, but I'm pretty sure I won't play a whole game with it. I'll check it out, though, and let you know.

[jbmagic]

I'll give it a brief try later tonight to give you some idea of what you can do, but I'm pretty sure I won't play a whole game with it. I'll check it out, though, and let you know.


thanks so much

[Pumpy Tudors]

Well, I fooled around with coach mode for about 5 minutes of game time. Personally, I didn't like it at all. Now, part of that probably has to do with the fact that I generally just don't enjoy coach mode in console games, but one other thing nagged at me. It seemed that my point guard didn't want to do ANYTHING on offense until I called a play. I guess maybe most NCAA coaches have to call some type of set on every possession, but I would hope that if I don't make a call, they'll just run the same set as last time. It was a little frustrating to watch my guard dribble the ball 30 feet from the basket for 30 seconds and then firing up a shot when the shot clock was about to expire on the first possession. I guess it's a little silly that I thought they'd do something without my intervention, but it did take me by surprise.

I guess a nice thing is that you don't ever have to go to the pause menu to make minor adjustments. You can preselect your substitutions or adjust defensive pressure and double teams all while the game is going on. I think I would prefer additional functionality like being able to tell my players to try to get the ball to a particular guy or to drive to the basket and draw fouls. Unfortunately, the only things you can really do on offense is call the plays that you have assigned to the d-pad. You can have up to 8 plays on it (four plays for each direction on the d-pad, plus four more if you hold down the left trigger while pressing the d-pad), but the whole thing just seems limited. Hell, it would have made me twice as happy if they had just added a way to yell "SHOOT IT!" at the current ball handler. Maybe he wouldn't shoot it every time, but I'd find it rather frustrating to see a decent shooter standing alone with the basketball and I can't try to make him shoot. Going back to the pause menu thing, if you want to change any of your 8 offensive plays or adjust your team's tempo or "crash boards" levels, you'll have to go to the pause menu. These are adjustments that shouldn't need to be made terribly often, however, so that's not so bad.

All in all, the coach mode just seems rather limited. If you just want to recruit and build a team, the game may be good for that. I haven't played any more legacy since last night, but as long as there aren't any bugs in the recruiting, it's probably fine. The gameplay on the court seems great to me in my limited experience. The coach mode just doesn't do anything for me, though. If coach mode is what you really want out of this game, I think it would be a major disappointment.

[Terps]

Waiting for the 360 version.

[Emiliano]

If you just want to recruit and build a team, the game may be good for that. I haven't played any more legacy since last night, but as long as there aren't any bugs in the recruiting, it's probably fine. The gameplay on the court seems great to me in my limited experience.
Good to know. I think I'll pick it up this, as soon as I have the money :D .

[Pumpy Tudors]

I just played most of my game against Louisiana Tech before just simming to the end because I was getting beaten again. The score was 51-41 at halftime, which isn't terrible as far as high scores are concerned. The major problem was the fouls. Each team had over 20 free throw attempts in the first half! Again, I have the foul sliders all the way up, so that has something to do with it. Anyway, this is another one of those things that is only a problem because I played with a 20-minute half.

I have decided that I'm going to play with 15-minute halves. I could knock the shooting percentages down or lower the foul sliders, but I'd rather not. The only reason I've tried to play with 20-minute halves is that I want my players to be on the same minutes per game scale as every other team. I can set the game to simulate 15-minute halves for every other team, however, so it's not a problem for me anymore. I hope it doesn't lower the scores of simulated games too much, but I'm going to start a test legacy just to see what the simmed games look like, and we'll go from there. I still have no desire to adjust sliders, so here's hoping that this does the trick for me.

I'll keep you guys posted. :)

[ThunderingHERD]

Problems I had with last years game (other than outright bugs):

* After 4 or 5 years the talent is way out of whack, dozens of teams started 4-5 guys that were 90+ overall.
* No reason for elite teams not to redshirt all of their freshmen.
* It was extremely rare for one of the most dominant teams to win the championship.
* Cookie-cutter players with predictable, linear career progression. No player ever significantly stood out as a major star. Impossible for a center to be a dominant scorer.
* Poor job offer AI. You could take a tiny school to a #1 seed 5 straight years and lowly power conference schools still wouldn't offer you a job unless you were at a mid-major.
* Coaches of elite programs NEVER got fired/retired/died. Ever. Regardless of how many seasons you played (and I played plenty). I think the biggest name jobs that I ever saw open up were Georgetown and Purdue.

That's all I can think of off the top of my head... any news on those issues?

[Pumpy Tudors]

Problems I had with last years game (other than outright bugs):

* After 4 or 5 years the talent is way out of whack, dozens of teams started 4-5 guys that were 90+ overall.
* No reason for elite teams not to redshirt all of their freshmen.
* It was extremely rare for one of the most dominant teams to win the championship.
* Cookie-cutter players with predictable, linear career progression. No player ever significantly stood out as a major star. Impossible for a center to be a dominant scorer.
* Poor job offer AI. You could take a tiny school to a #1 seed 5 straight years and lowly power conference schools still wouldn't offer you a job unless you were at a mid-major.
* Coaches of elite programs NEVER got fired/retired/died. Ever. Regardless of how many seasons you played (and I played plenty). I think the biggest name jobs that I ever saw open up were Georgetown and Purdue.

That's all I can think of off the top of my head... any news on those issues?
Unfortunately, all of these things (except the dominant teams not winning championships) will require a few seasons before they can be noticed. Honestly, I'm probably never going to play enough seasons to notice any of these things. If I see anything that somebody else has posted somewhere, though, I'll post it here.

[Cuckoo]

Problems I had with last years game (other than outright bugs):

* After 4 or 5 years the talent is way out of whack, dozens of teams started 4-5 guys that were 90+ overall.
* No reason for elite teams not to redshirt all of their freshmen.
* It was extremely rare for one of the most dominant teams to win the championship.
* Cookie-cutter players with predictable, linear career progression. No player ever significantly stood out as a major star. Impossible for a center to be a dominant scorer.
* Poor job offer AI. You could take a tiny school to a #1 seed 5 straight years and lowly power conference schools still wouldn't offer you a job unless you were at a mid-major.
* Coaches of elite programs NEVER got fired/retired/died. Ever. Regardless of how many seasons you played (and I played plenty). I think the biggest name jobs that I ever saw open up were Georgetown and Purdue.

That's all I can think of off the top of my head... any news on those issues?


Agreed on all of the above. These are similar concerns I have about the game, though articulated much better than I did - largely because it's been so long since I played last year's version that I couldn't remember.

If anyone who has bought the game plays the legacy mode significantly, I'd appreciate comments on these issues as well.

[ahbrady]

I just simmed through a season. I didn't look too closely at it, but I did see a couple of things. After the first season, there were at least a couple of elite jobs that came open. I think there were a few, but I only remember two specifically. Arizona and Oklahoma State had their coaches retire. The reason I remember those two was because Sean Sutton took over at Arizona instead of OSU. I didn't sim through multiple seasons, so I can't answer too much about any of your concerns.

There were a couple of things that bothered me a little. Nevada was a #1 seed in the tournament. I don't see that ever happening in real life. They were beaten in the first round as well. I don't really like to see a #1 seed getting beat either. Alabama made the final four as a #13 seed, and there was a #12 in the elite eight. It seems like there are a few too many upsets to me. Alabama was the SEC regular season champion. I doubt that the SEC champ would get a #13 seed. All of those things are a little bothersome to me, but I don't think they will affect my enjoyment of the game too much.

[Emiliano]

IGN Xbox Review (http://xbox.ign.com/articles/671/671900p1.html)

[Pumpy Tudors]

I'm going to turn the level down to All-Conference next time I play. If you thought past NCAA Football games had the CPU using "speed cheats" at higher levels, you ain't seen nothin' yet! I discovered one of the reasons that I was getting toasted on All-American in College Hoops 2K6. Every time the CPU stole the ball, they'd get an easy layup at the other end of the floor. Every time I stole the ball, I would get chased down by at least two - sometimes as many as four - players from the other team before I could get to the basket. Evidently, one way that they raise the difficulty level is to make the CPU team's players much faster than the human team's players.

There is a slider that would allow me to slow the players down, but if they crank up the speed of the players at All-American level, what else is cranked up? I don't even want to try to find out. I'm just going to turn it down to All-Conference which, I assume, doesn't tilt the ratings to either team's favor.

I'm probably not going to play tonight, but I'll give it a shot tomorrow or Friday and see if it helps.

[dervack]

Anyone looking for the PS2 version should check your stores today or tomorrow for it.

[ThunderingHERD]

I'm going to turn the level down to All-Conference next time I play. If you thought past NCAA Football games had the CPU using "speed cheats" at higher levels, you ain't seen nothin' yet! I discovered one of the reasons that I was getting toasted on All-American in College Hoops 2K6. Every time the CPU stole the ball, they'd get an easy layup at the other end of the floor. Every time I stole the ball, I would get chased down by at least two - sometimes as many as four - players from the other team before I could get to the basket. Evidently, one way that they raise the difficulty level is to make the CPU team's players much faster than the human team's players.

There is a slider that would allow me to slow the players down, but if they crank up the speed of the players at All-American level, what else is cranked up? I don't even want to try to find out. I'm just going to turn it down to All-Conference which, I assume, doesn't tilt the ratings to either team's favor.

I'm probably not going to play tonight, but I'll give it a shot tomorrow or Friday and see if it helps.

That reminds me of one of the things that annoyed me about the gameplay in last year's game--fast breaks were freaking impossible. As soon as the ball went loose every single player on the defense instantaneously started sprinting back up the floor, with at least two always getting back and putting up an invisible wall. Does that still happen?

[Pumpy Tudors]

That reminds me of one of the things that annoyed me about the gameplay in last year's game--fast breaks were freaking impossible. As soon as the ball went loose every single player on the defense instantaneously started sprinting back up the floor, with at least two always getting back and putting up an invisible wall. Does that still happen?
It happens with default All-American sliders, yes. I understand that New Orleans isn't a great team, but I was getting smoked up the floor by Tulane and Louisiana Tech. It's not supposed to be that drastic. Hopefully, it won't happen after I drop down a level. If it does, I'll fool with the speed sliders.

[wade moore]

Interested to see what you say, because I intend to get this for christmas...

[Radii]

Pumpy(or anyone else that has this), have you settled on a good difficulty level/set of sliders for this? I just got the game yesterday and got torched in my first game, but I dive right in and just learn the new controls as I go. I had set it to default all-american and I think I had the ball stolen about 15 times in a 10 minute half, but a big part of that is me getting used to things.

Anyway, i'm curious to see if you've got a few more games in and what changes/sliders/game length you've settled on. Thanks!

[Pumpy Tudors]

Doh. I still haven't played the game since right before Thanksgiving. If you're going to play with default sliders, though, I highly suggest playing on All-Conference level just because the CPU players will outrun yours on All-American. Right now on the Operation Sports forums, there is some debate as to whether to play on MOP level or All-Conference, and I've seen various sliders for both levels. Honestly, I think that most of the guys playing on MOP spend many, many hours playing these games, so only the highest level gives them a challenge. For the rest of us, I think All-Conference is probably best. I'll check out the most current sliders from the main guy who was working on All-Conference sliders and post them here in a minute.

[Pumpy Tudors]

Level - All-conference
Time - 15 min per half
Speed - Normal
Real FT% - On

*Only sliders that have been tweaked are listed. All others default.
*Human listed first

Fouls (40 max)
Charging 40
Blocking 40
Reaching 39
Shooting 36
Loose Ball 40

Shooting (20 max)
Inside 18/19
Mid Range 18/19
3pt 21/21

Tendencies (20 max) (set these for CPU team)
Close 7
Medium 0
Drive 4
3pt 11

Attributes (20 max)
O Awareness 20/20
D Awareness 20/20
Steal 10/8
Speed 9/8Now, from what people have said in their comments to these sliders is that the FG% is too low for both human and CPU. I haven't played with these sliders, so I don't know. I'd post some MOP sliders, but there are so many different ones that it's hard to know which are considered the "best." I will probably try one set on MOP and see how it goes, but since I've only played two or three games so far, I'll probably get my butt spanked.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Bumping this for later reference, as I think Will just bought it with some of his Christmas money.

[CamEdwards]

why have you stopped playing, Pumpy? I'm getting this for Christmas so I'd like to know if it's replay value isn't really there.

[Radii]

yeah I'm pretty sure I don't belong on the highest setting, I'll give those a try, thanks!

[Terps]

Didn't see these posted, College Hoops 360 screens:

http://screenshots.teamxbox.com/gallery/1237/College-Hoops-2K6/p1/

[Eaglesfan27]

I can't wait to get this for the 360 when it comes out.

[dacman]

Receive $10 off instantly when you purchase College Hoops, MLB 2K5 World Series or NBA 2K6! To receive your savings, place any of the select titles into your cart and enter coupon code CHMLBNBA. Offer Valid 12-17-05 through 12-24-05. One offer per customer. Not valid with any other offers. No Dealers..

[Cuckoo]

Well, I got this for Christmas. Forgive me if these have already been mentioned, but a few things I've noticed so far:

- I like the gameplay overall. There's a good, clear difference between speedy guys and big men. I haven't seen the annoying catch-up speed too much. It's fun to try to dribble penetrate and kick out or hit a big guy cutting toward the basket. I haven't played a lot (only a couple of games), but the default sliders are fairly solid to me.

- It is way too easy to cause tie-ups, especially on mediocre to poor teams. I have already created a "house rule" for myself that I can't try it on every play.

- Although it isn't quantified as it has been in some past games (March Madness?), there does seem to be clear momentum shifts. I've played several games, and it has a very realistic flow with small runs on both sides.

- The recruiting and legacy mode doesn't seem to have changed too much with the exception of the ability to target freshmen, sophomores and juniors. I don't believe that was in the last version, and I like it. In the one season I've played, I targeted a couple of juniors and sophomores. And now I'm in the next season and am offering them scholarships.

- Couple of neat little additions - season preview broadcast where Gumbel and Kellogg go through the top 5 teams and preseason All-Americans. I was playing with a small school, but if I was a powerhouse, that would be cool. There's also a selection show for the NCAA tournament. Nice stuff.


That's all off the top of my head. Overall, I'm liking it so far and haven't found any major glitches that are annoying me. I might once I get deeper, but I'm pleasantly surprise at this point.

[Cuckoo]

DOLA

I had forgotten all the stuff Pumpy posted in this thread, and I just realized I simply repeated most of everything he said, even the stuff I asked him about.

Sorry... :D

[Pumpy Tudors]

why have you stopped playing, Pumpy? I'm getting this for Christmas so I'd like to know if it's replay value isn't really there.
Sorry, I missed this question. Anyway, I only stopped playing because I had gotten into Worldwide Soccer Manager, and that was the only game I had played for a few weeks there. I set aside a lot of excellent games for WWSM, and College Hoops was one of them.

Anyway, for everyone else, I'm back to playing College Hoops now, and I'm having lots of fun with it. I have been playing with some MOP sliders I've found, and even though MOP is the highest level, the game really isn't that hard. I actually just blew out Southern Miss with my UNO team using these MOP sliders. It's not that the game has gotten easy. It's just that my team shot well, and the Golden Eagles didn't. These are the sliders I'm using now (with credit going to some guy called LikeWhoa20 on some forum I can't recall right now):

Level - MOP
Time - 15 min per half (they recommend 16 min, but 15 works great for me)
Speed - Slow (they recommend normal, but that seems too fast)
Real FT% - On

*Only sliders that have been tweaked are listed. All others default.
*Human listed first

Fouls (40 max)
Charging 40
Blocking 40
Reaching 40
Shooting 26
Loose Ball 40

Shooting (40 max)
Inside 18/19
Mid Range 19/19
3pt 21/20
Dunk Success 18/18
FT Success 19/19

CPU Tendencies (20 max)
Close 10
Mid 0
3pt 11
Drive 20

Attributes (20 max)
Def Awareness 12/12
Dunk 8/8
Off Rebounding 12/7
Def Rebounding 13/10
Block 10/9
Steal 10/9
Speed 9/8

Gameplay (40 max)
Steal Success 22/10
Dunk in Traffic 18/18
Defend Post 22/22
Defend Layup 22/22

Fitness (40 max)
Fatigue Rate 14/14
Energy Recover 20/20 (this seems to be the default, but the guy listed it anyway)
Again, if you're still looking for sliders, don't be put off by these just because they're MOP level. The game plays great for me with these settings. I'll see if I say the same thing after my upcoming games against LSU, Purdue, and Kansas. If I blow all of those teams out, maybe something is wrong with the sliders. :)

[Pumpy Tudors]

Well, I haven't found anything wrong with the MOP sliders yet. LSU just beat me by 37, and they held my star player to a 6-for-23 shooting performance. Now I've got Purdue coming up. It shouldn't be as bad as the LSU game, but it'll probably be ugly. :)

[Pumpy Tudors]

One more update. I lost to Purdue by 12 or so. The game really wasn't that close, though. I should've lost by 20. Anyway, the only problem that I'm experiencing with the sliders is that the free throw shooting percentage is way too high. Purdue shot over 20 free throws against me and missed ONE. I saw similar results in the LSU game. My team is shooting them a little too well, also. I'm going to tick the free throw sliders down one notch and see if that helps. Otherwise, I still have no complaints about the MOP sliders.

Anyway, I know it's after Christmas and people already have their gifts and stuff, but I still find the gameplay to be terrific in this game. :)

[rjolley]

Finally picked up the game and it's pretty good. Only played a couple of games with Duke (man, Reddick can shoot lights out from 3) and will get into a legacy soon. I just wish VC/Take 2 would release an XBox patch so you can move players to the pros. That's one of the big reasons I like this series so much.

[Pumpy Tudors]

Finally picked up the game and it's pretty good. Only played a couple of games with Duke (man, Reddick can shoot lights out from 3) and will get into a legacy soon. I just wish VC/Take 2 would release an XBox patch so you can move players to the pros. That's one of the big reasons I like this series so much.
I will probably try to schedule Duke in my second season with the game, but Redick will be gone, so it might not be so bad. :D

It's a shame that they haven't fixed the problems with moving players to the pros. It doesn't affect me because I don't think I'll get through even one season of NBA 2K6 (the game is fine, but I just don't feel like putting the time into it). I know lots of people would love to move their players, though, and it's terrible that they have botched it two years in a row.

[rjolley]

Yeah, it is. According to the guy on operationsports.com forums who works with VC, it worked when it went to press. Sounds like my kids when they tell me the lights were off when they left the room; like they somehow magically came back on after they left the room.

[Eaglesfan27]

I look forward to getting this for the Xbox 360 for my birthday next week.

[Pumpy Tudors]

After knocking the free throw slider down one notch, the numbers make a lot more sense. I just lost to Vanderbilt, and they shot 75% from the line while I shot 59%. Thankfully, I only have a game against Kansas and a game against Tulane before I get into conference play. My team might actually be competitive when we get to the Sun Belt schedule. :)

[dervack]

I look forward to getting this for the Xbox 360 for my birthday next week.
Well, you'll be disappointed, since the 360 version won't be out till 1/23/06.

[Eaglesfan27]

Well, you'll be disappointed, since the 360 version won't be out till 1/23/06.Darn :(

I've waited this long, so I'll probably still wait for the 360 version.

Edit: But, I need to give Mrs. Eaglesfan some different ideas for my birthday present.

[korme]

Probably a dumb question, but in dynasty/legacy mode can you change your player's uni numbers like you now can in NBA2k6? Last year sometimes my new recruits would come in with the same numbers as my current players.

[illinifan999]

Probably a dumb question, but in dynasty/legacy mode can you change your player's uni numbers like you now can in NBA2k6? Last year sometimes my new recruits would come in with the same numbers as my current players.
yep, and you can edit them now too

[Pumpy Tudors]

After getting thrashed in my out-of-conference games, I felt good about starting conference play against Denver. I managed to hang with teams like Purdue, Vanderbilt, and Kansas. I beat Mississippi State and Southern Miss. I thought I could start conference play off on a good note against the Pioneers. The game went back and forth for the entire game. Tied at 70 in the final minute, Denver hits a running leaner to take a 72-70 lead. I get down the court and have my hot shooting guard (he scored 27 points) take a 3-pointer. I know I didn't need a three, but he was wide open. He missed it. My center gets called for an over-the-back foul, and the Pioneers are at the foul line with :02 to go. They make the first free throw and miss the second. I still have two timeouts, so I call one immediately to get my top outside shooters into the game. Then I inbound to halfcourt and call my last timeout. We've got 1.6 seconds left, down 73-70. The Pioneers leave the same hot-shooting SG WIDE OPEN AGAIN. I give him the ball and he fires from beyond the arc.

The ball rims out. Privateers lose again, 73-70. :(

[Galaril]

I thought I heard that each team was going to be somewhat unique it's playstyle so One team would be a "2-2-1 pressing d" and anothe rwould be ahalf-court man to man. I think this was definitely going to be in the XBOX 360.

[Pumpy Tudors]

I thought I heard that each team was going to be somewhat unique it's playstyle so One team would be a "2-2-1 pressing d" and anothe rwould be ahalf-court man to man. I think this was definitely going to be in the XBOX 360.
It's in the XBox version, at least cosmetically. I honestly can't remember what defenses other teams have played against me, but Denver stuck with man-to-man and a 3-2 zone for most of the game, and I don't remember having seen anybody do that to me before. The big-conference teams I played (Mississippi State, LSU, Purdue, Vanderbilt, and Kansas) pressed me a lot more often than Tulane, Louisiana Tech, and Southern Miss. I'm about to play against North Texas, and I'll try to note how they defend me. Having never seen so much man defense before, and I don't think I saw ANY 3-2, so I was a little confused against Denver, but I finally fought through it. We'll see what North Texas throws at me.

Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that it appears that each team could play defense a different way. :)

[Eaglesfan27]

The X360 version of College Hoops has officially been delayed until March 16th :(

[Terps]

That means I won't be getting it. I have no interest in playing when the season is over. They may as well scrap it, wait until November and release it as 2k7.

[dervack]

Bah, I still will probably pick it up since I still have some credit to use. That's if it makes it then. I'm also disappointed that Top Spin 2 got delayed.

[rjolley]

If anyone is trying to load the draft classes into the Xbox version of NBA 2K6, the patch to do so has been reportedly released on Xbox Live.

[Emiliano]

If anyone is trying to load the draft classes into the Xbox version of NBA 2K6, the patch to do so has been reportedly released on Xbox Live.
Cool. Could someone please post the patch, since I don't have Live? If it's possible to put it on the memory card, obviously...

[mgadfly]

Anybody know any good slider settings for coaching games?

[rjolley]

Cool. Could someone please post the patch, since I don't have Live? If it's possible to put it on the memory card, obviously...I'll second this one...

[Terps]

College Hoops 360 has gone gold and will release March 7th.

Also, Datel will be coming out with the XBOX 360 Xchange, an Action Replay type device which is scheduled to be released soon. The article said the end of February.

[Cuckoo]

Since this got bumped, I'll just say that I'm still playing this one. It has lasted a lot longer than I expected for me, and I can't really say why. But I've had it a good 2 months and still fire it up once or twice a week when I have time.

[dervack]

Since this got bumped, I'll just say that I'm still playing this one. It has lasted a lot longer than I expected for me, and I can't really say why. But I've had it a good 2 months and still fire it up once or twice a week when I have time.
Yeah, I still can't wait for the 360 version, even if it's still a few weeks later than I wish it had been.

[Mustang]

Anyone pick this up today?

I'll have my copy in several hours so.. guess I know what I'll be doing tonight.

[Pumpy Tudors]

Anyone pick this up today?I just got home with a copy.

[dervack]

Yeah, bought it a few hours ago, and plan on firing it up in a bit. Unfortunately, won't play much of it as I'm going to a movie later.

[dervack]

Ok, so I finally played it, but it was only a scrimmage against my own team for the "late night" party. Fun game, got beat by the other Leathernecks. I don't like the default camera, I wished they had used the same from NBA. I'm going to keep trying other cameras to find the one that I like. Otherwise, so far so good.

[TroyF]

I too played a scrimmage game. I didn't play the game for the XBox or the PS2, so these observations may mirror some of Pumpies earlier thoughts:

1) I simply love the ability to sub without having to go to the menu screen. It makes the game more enjoyable and easier for me to get into.

2) The game plays a lot like NBA2K6. Amazing control. The shot stick is still great and just like the NBA game, you have to work for your shots. You don't just get to dribble around and fire prayers up, you MUST work the ball and set your shots up.

3) Graphics aren't quite to the NBA2K6 level, but they aren't far off. I've only played at Oklahoma State, but the arena (not just the court) looks superb.

4) Like NBA, I'm using drive cam or 2K cam. By far and away the best ones IMHO.

5) The recruiting looks pretty fun, but I haven't missed with it too much.

6) I really can't comment on stats, scores, sliders or anything like that yet. I travel to Salt Lake for a conference tomorrow night and really won't be able to get into the meat of the game until Friday night or Saturday morning.

7) Thus far, color me impressed. This is a huge gaming month with Elder Scrolls, ESPN Baseball, Saints Row and others coming out. That said, I'm sure this is going to get some burn. I'm very happy with the game thus far.

[dervack]

ESPN Baseball for 360 won't be out til April. I'll have to give the two cams you mentioned a try. So far, the default leaves something to be desired. One other thing I wish it did was go in close when a player is taking a FT like it does in 2K6. Makes it a little easier to try and get the perfect release.

[TroyF]

ESPN Baseball for 360 won't be out til April. I'll have to give the two cams you mentioned a try. So far, the default leaves something to be desired. One other thing I wish it did was go in close when a player is taking a FT like it does in 2K6. Makes it a little easier to try and get the perfect release.

Yeah, it'll be early April though. The Elder Scrolls will be out on the 20th. Still, this one will get some PT from me. I've enjoyed it so far.

I think the drive or 2K cam are also the best for the NBA game. Just my opinion. I agree on the FT.

[Terps]

I'm liking this more than NBA 2K6, but I also like college b-ball more in general.

Also, I think Saints Row isn't coming out until June now.

[TroyF]

EaglesFan27,

If you're reading this, after just a few games, I think this may be a better game than NBA2K6. Don't ask me how you top near perfection, but this game does it.

I'm only talking about the gameplay. I have no idea about dynasty mode, recruiting, sliders, anything like that.

All I know is that this thing plays an incredible game of basketball. A VERY darned good game of basketball.

I'm finding teams who run on me are setting up shots, not only for the break, but they are hitting open guys for threes and on the wings if the break isn't there. On defeault settings, teams are working the ball for good shots, taking threes, inside shots, drives, etc. On offense, the opposing D will call a nice mix of zone, man, half court traps, full court press, etc. If they see you aren't reacting to something well, they crush you with it.

My pathetic OSU PG got caught up in an OU run where they must have stole the ball from him three or four times in a row before I called a time out. (Yeah, I'm the idiot controlling him, I just kept getting caught into traps because I wasn't paying attention)

I'm sitting here stunned right now. I thought NBA2K6 was near perfect and I'm actually enjoying the gameplay on this even more.

Early impressions for what it's worth, but I'm still amazed by this game.

[Eaglesfan27]

Troy,

You and a few others told me it was better than NBA2k6. That was good enough for me. I just picked this up today. I've only played a game so far, but it certainly seems like it is going to provide many many hours of fun, particularly since I much prefer College Basketball to the NBA, IRL.

Thanks for all the people who posted in this thread, and I'll probably add a few thoughts of my own over the next few days as I plan on playing quite a lot this weekend. I can't wait until I get my big screen HDTV in a few months and see how this games looks on that :)

[SackAttack]

Any of you 360 owners gone through the March update process? Had any problems since, if so?

[TroyF]

Troy,

You and a few others told me it was better than NBA2k6. That was good enough for me. I just picked this up today. I've only played a game so far, but it certainly seems like it is going to provide many many hours of fun, particularly since I much prefer College Basketball to the NBA, IRL.

Thanks for all the people who posted in this thread, and I'll probably add a few thoughts of my own over the next few days as I plan on playing quite a lot this weekend. I can't wait until I get my big screen HDTV in a few months and see how this games looks on that :)


I'm looking forward to playing it some this weekend as well. I got a little bonus at work and splurged on Ghost Recon and MLB06 on the PS2. (When I hear Todd keep saying High Heat, I can't resist + it's been fun on the PSP.

I really am liking the hoops game though. If EA were to sign an exlusive deal for NCAA and NBA basketball, I'd be one of those psychos on the news lighting up a shopping mall. 2KSports simply gets it when it comes to basketball.

[TroyF]

Any of you 360 owners gone through the March update process? Had any problems since, if so?


Went through the update, haven't had a problem thus far.

[dervack]

Same here. Hopefully the reports of people having problems is very isolated.

[SackAttack]

Same here. Hopefully the reports of people having problems is very isolated.

There's a 16 page thread on xbox.com devoted to the problem, so it's either widespread or the wheel is awfully squeaky right now.

I want to play Burnout online but I'm scared to.

[dervack]

There's a 16 page thread on xbox.com devoted to the problem, so it's either widespread or the wheel is awfully squeaky right now.

I want to play Burnout online but I'm scared to.
I don't really bother going to those boards anymore since most of the people who post there have the tendency to post like complete and utter morons.

[rjolley]

Can you draft your CH2K6 360 players in NBA2K6 360 like you can on the XBox?

[Eaglesfan27]

Yes, rjolley, however, there are reports that the players change hair color and other odd things.

I love the drills in this game. So many drills, that I could see a real college coach using. Can anyone explain to me what exactly the "knockout" drill is though?

Having a blast with just drills especially the 3 on 3 drill which I think is helping me to get to know my team.

[Eaglesfan27]

Dola -

What length halves are people using and what game speed are you all using?

[jbmagic]

I now have a ps2. I am enjoying MLB06 The show so far. The Manager Mode is awesome on it.

Does College Hoops have coach mode on it?

How is recruiting and sim stats so far?

[dervack]

I use 10 minute halves. As far as speed or any sliders, I haven't tweaked any of them, nor have I tried to look and see what everyone else has tried. Been busy with work since I got the game, but am off wed and thurs day, so I hopefully will play a lot then.

[Pumpy Tudors]

Does College Hoops have coach mode on it?
I don't know anything about recruiting and sim stats (as I never finished a season in the XBox version, and I haven't started one in the XBox 360 version), but I outlined coach mode for you in post 29 of this very thread back in November.

[Eaglesfan27]

I now have a ps2. I am enjoying MLB06 The show so far. The Manager Mode is awesome on it.

Does College Hoops have coach mode on it?

How is recruiting and sim stats so far?


It does have a coach mode, but I'm just enjoying the action mode for now. I'm not going to sim ahead a bunch of seasons as I'm fairly confident from OS and other places that the problems with recruits and such being too tall are gone from this version. I'm just going to enjoy the goodness of the game. :)

I've gotten my butt kicked the first two games I've played on the third of five difficulty levels with default sliders. I'm going to start my career mode once I decide what length Halves give good stats. I just had a 96-74 game loss in which I was sloppy with the ball with 20 minute halves.

[Pumpy Tudors]

I've gotten my butt kicked the first two games I've played on the third of five difficulty levels with default sliders. I'm going to start my career mode once I decide what length Halves give good stats. I just had a 96-74 game loss in which I was sloppy with the ball with 20 minute halves.
What game speed are you using? The default? I'm thinking of sticking with default sliders and dropping the game speed from 50 to 35 (I'll play on the third difficulty level also). How were fouls in your game? Did you and/or the CPU get enough free throw attempts?

[jbmagic]

I don't know anything about recruiting and sim stats (as I never finished a season in the XBox version, and I haven't started one in the XBox 360 version), but I outlined coach mode for you in post 29 of this very thread back in November.


Thanks


I probably pick this game up today for the ps2

[Pumpy Tudors]

I probably pick this game up today for the ps2
I'm not trying to rag on you here, but why grab this game now instead of back in November or December when it was new? Has there been a price drop or anything? I mean, it's a great game, and you'll probably like it, but it seems like a strange time to get the game with the season almost over and all. The only reason this thread got resurrected was because the 360 version was finally released.

Anyway, I'm just curious. If you get the game, I hope you enjoy it.

[jbmagic]

if you change halves minutes will it affect the sims stats mins per halves too?

I hope so, so your games will be consistent with the sim stats too.

In madden, the sim stats was 12 mins per quarter regardless how many mins per quarter you play.

[Pumpy Tudors]

if you change halves minutes will it affect the sims stats mins per halves too?
There are separate setting for played games length and simmed games length. If you play at 15 minutes per half and sim at 20 minutes per half, you could get similar stats to all the CPU teams. The only stat that'll be "wrong" will be minutes played. Your players will obviously play fewer minutes than everyone else in the country. It's a small trade-off.

[Eaglesfan27]

What game speed are you using? The default? I'm thinking of sticking with default sliders and dropping the game speed from 50 to 35 (I'll play on the third difficulty level also). How were fouls in your game? Did you and/or the CPU get enough free throw attempts?


I was using a speed of 50. I think I'll try a game with 20 minute halves now with 35 speed instead of the default speed like last time. I definitely need to up the sliders for fouls. I had about 7 or 8 per team per half and that was just too low. However, neither team really pushed the ball inside too much. Most of the fouls were shooting fouls and they (the Oregon State Beavers) got to the line 15 times. We (USC) got to the line 8 times.

Each team had 72 shots and we shot 42% while they shot 54% (in large part because I got sloppy and gave up too many fast breaks.)

[TroyF]

It does have a coach mode, but I'm just enjoying the action mode for now. I'm not going to sim ahead a bunch of seasons as I'm fairly confident from OS and other places that the problems with recruits and such being too tall are gone from this version. I'm just going to enjoy the goodness of the game. :)

I've gotten my butt kicked the first two games I've played on the third of five difficulty levels with default sliders. I'm going to start my career mode once I decide what length Halves give good stats. I just had a 96-74 game loss in which I was sloppy with the ball with 20 minute halves.

I will sim ahead a four or five seasons when I decide to start a full fledged career. (even though that will likely only give me a season or two.

I just have no desire to play with real rosters. I'll want my team to be 100% new when I start out.

This game is really fun to play.

[jbmagic]

I'm not trying to rag on you here, but why grab this game now instead of back in November or December when it was new? Has there been a price drop or anything? I mean, it's a great game, and you'll probably like it, but it seems like a strange time to get the game with the season almost over and all. The only reason this thread got resurrected was because the 360 version was finally released.

Anyway, I'm just curious. If you get the game, I hope you enjoy it.

no problem

I didnt have a console back then but was curious about this game for awhile now.

Then with the great reviews of MLB06 "The Show" i decided to get the ps2 yesterday for it and going to get college hoops game now finally. :)

It was my birthday yesterday, i had a few best card gift cards to use. :)

There two games should hold me over for ahwile. Just hope NCAA or Madden will have great reviews when it comes out.

I might later on pick up a good RPG game and a good shooter game for the PS2.

[Eaglesfan27]

Cutting the speed down to 35 helped my high FG attempts and gave me pretty good stats on 20 minute halves. I lost 68-55 due to stupid plays in the last 10 minutes (I was tied 47-47 with 10 minutes left.) The average NCAA team has between 45-55 shots per game (with the highest being just under 60) according to this year's stats. We had 64 shots this game, but I was jacking up 3's during the last 2 minutes trying to come back. Oregon had 54 shots attempted. I might turn the speed down just a bit more and probably not mess with any other sliders besides Fouls.

I used Jistic's foul sliders which has Charges at 100, shooting fouls at 78, and everything else at 90. They worked better. We had 18 team fouls and they had 9. They went to the line 17 times while I went to the line 6 times. I really need to drive the lane more effectively and pickup more fouls on the opposition. Lots of fun. I think I'm going to go with 30 speed and 20 minute halves and dive into my legacy and start getting to know my team (whichever team is the lowest prestige in or closest to Louisiana with a goal of eventually being offered a job by USC.)

[Eaglesfan27]

Dola -

I assume this was already in the Xbox and PS2 versions, and I just missed it, but I think the recruiting of HS Freshman, Sophomores, and Juniors as well as Seniors for future years is a very cool addition to the game. Of course, it will take a long time for me to see how well it is executed.

[Pumpy Tudors]

I played half a game as UNO vs. Duquesne. I played the first 12 minutes with the speed on 35, and things were a little bit too fast. I lowered the speed to 20 just to see if there was a significant difference, and there was. I think I'm going to bring it up to 25, use Jistic's foul sliders, and then start my UNO legacy. This is a beautiful game.

[Eaglesfan27]

Yeah, my Midnight madness game at UL-Monroe is still a bit high scoring. I think I'm going to use 25 speed as well. It's been a very fun first half with plenty of fouls as my split squad really shows the talent differences between my top guys and my bottom guys..

[Eaglesfan27]

Dola -

Even switching the speed to 25 didn't cut FG Attempts down enough. I'll probably just go with 15 minute halves which most people say gives realistic stats (except for the minutes played of course.) Also, I'm debating trying the MOP difficulty level because so many people rave about it. However, I haven't won a game yet on the 3rd difficulty level, so I'm a bit leery of that.

[rjolley]

EagleFan27: Yeah, it's in there on the XBox. I usually spend points on younger recruits when I have my class about done. That way, I don't have to spend as many points to get them interested their senior year and lose out on them.

[Eaglesfan27]

I just played a game on MOP using Jistic's sliders with only very slight modifications. The 15 minute halves are too short with these sliders, since the computer works the ball around more with a lower drive and close shot tendency. Other than that, this was a game of pure bliss. Shot percentages were in line with reality, assists, and rebounds were in line with reality (with rebounds only being slightly low due to too few shots.) Every play felt realistic and enjoyable. It was also the game that I lost by the fewest points as I lost 55-52, in large part due to a mistake by me in which I fouled a 3 point shooter with 7 seconds left :(

Despite my defensive mistakes, that game was just great to play. I can't wait to play some more tomorrow.

[Desnudo]

Does anyone have some recruiting tips? No matter what I do, it seems that I get beat out by other teams. This goes for both UMass after making it to the final two and Army after being pretty much awful.

[jbmagic]

Just Pick this game up tonight. I cant wait to give it a go early today.

[jbmagic]

Eaglefan27

When you have a chance can you post Jistic sliders your using, level of play you going to end playing on and minutes per half.

thanks

[Eaglesfan27]

Eaglefan27

When you have a chance can you post Jistic sliders your using, level of play you going to end playing on and minutes per half.

thanks

I can but I'm playing the Xbox360 version which has some tweaked gameplay, so the sliders I'm using might not be as useful for you. However, his Xbox original sliders can be found easily on OS.

I'm planning on another semi-marathon of playing today.

I'm going to end up using 17 minute halves (20 minute halves for simulated stats) and I'm going to play on the highest difficulty level because it really isn't too hard, it just seems more realistic.

[Eaglesfan27]

I was worried that the MOP sliders might make it too easy for the human after I won my first game 63-49. Then, I played WVU with my little UL-Monroe team. We started out with an 8-0 lead which had me worried, but then their athleticism started causing steals, blocks, and poor shots. Suddenly, they went on a 25-4 run with several 3's. Before I knew it I was down 30 and I lost 89-51. It was such a fun game to play despite my losing so badly. This really is a beautiful game, and I just hope I don't hit any dynasty killing glitches.

[Pumpy Tudors]

I'm going to play using the converted Jistic sliders with 20 minute halves and the speed turned waaaay down (not to 0, but it'll be low). Not sure what I'll need to tweak, but I'll give the game a go. The UNO dynasty starts NOW!

[INDalltheway]

This game is amazing.. The gameplay is realistic, but it is also fun. It takes time to get good at handling the ball, and I kinda hope they redesign that aspect of the game. The Legacy Mode is great, making me usually spend every day away from school and sports sitting around my TV being a worthless bum.

[Pumpy Tudors]

Yikes, I think I need to do something about the sliders. Using the sliders that someone adapted from Jistic's XBox sliders, I just beat Tulane 110-66. OK, with 20 minute halves, it's not really the score that bothers me. It's that my team shot nearly 60% and Tulane shot only 24%. I was making all kinds of shots, and they were missing a ton. I never really felt challenged at all. I think it's because 2K Sports adjusted the gameplay some more, so sliders that were basically just scaled from the XBox version won't really fit with the XBox 360 version.

I'm not sure where to go from here, but I'll figure it out.

[Eaglesfan27]

Yikes, I think I need to do something about the sliders. Using the sliders that someone adapted from Jistic's XBox sliders, I just beat Tulane 110-66. OK, with 20 minute halves, it's not really the score that bothers me. It's that my team shot nearly 60% and Tulane shot only 24%. I was making all kinds of shots, and they were missing a ton. I never really felt challenged at all. I think it's because 2K Sports adjusted the gameplay some more, so sliders that were basically just scaled from the XBox version won't really fit with the XBox 360 version.

I'm not sure where to go from here, but I'll figure it out.


Yeah, I didn't use those sliders without some modifications. I lowered some shooting percentages and upped the "defend" jumpshot and "defend post shots and layup sliders" as well. I also didn't handicap the CPU as bad as Jistic's sliders do.

[Desnudo]

Does anyone have some recruiting tips? No matter what I do, it seems that I get beat out by other teams. This goes for both UMass after making it to the final two and Army after being pretty much awful.

Do any of you guys have any thoughts on this? How has recruiting been working for you so far? Thanks.

[Eaglesfan27]

Do any of you guys have any thoughts on this? How has recruiting been working for you so far? Thanks.


I'm not far enough into my dynasty to give any definitive comments. However, it seems that recruiting is much more challenging than last year. Last year's version, I had several three star recruits and briefly had a 4 star recruit interested even my first year at a bad school such as ULM. This year, most of the 3 star guys are interested in better programs and I only have one fringe 3 star guy that is really showing interest in my program and we might lose him to UNO.

I'm just trying to focus on local guys and shower them with attention.

[Desnudo]

Thanks for the advice. I guess I shouldn't have been shooting for 4-5 stars with UMass in the first season and 3 stars as Army.

[rjolley]

Does anyone have some recruiting tips? No matter what I do, it seems that I get beat out by other teams. This goes for both UMass after making it to the final two and Army after being pretty much awful.

Be realistic. If a Senior or Juco player is under 60%, you have a very outside shot at him. You could get him, but your points might be better spent elsewhere. Also, if your school is small, don't fool yourself into thinking you have a shot at 4 and 5 star players. A big school will come in and grab them most of the time.

Stay close to home. You have a better shot at getting players closer to your school. Try going after local and municipal players mainly, with the rest doable if they have a good starting interest.

Use all of your points every week. Send out all of the emails and make all of the phone calls you can to your class.

Recruit for the future. If your class has all signed or you have points left over after your class has been recruited, start in on the underclassmen.

I find this helps a ton. I've gotten players to 80+% as a junior and they came on board the next season. I think that's basically what I follow. I would say that winning helps a lot, but I'm not sure if big wins throughout the season helps, or just winning season after season. I think it's a little of both.

[Eaglesfan27]

Thanks for the advice. I guess I shouldn't have been shooting for 4-5 stars with UMass in the first season and 3 stars as Army.


I'm shooting for 3 stars with ULM, and there is a good chance I'm going to miss out on all of them. My fringe 3 star player is up to 90% interest, but only after a lot of work. What is concerning is that he is at 100% interest in UNO and Grambling. I might miss out on all of my recruits and have a horrible first season of recruiting. It definitely seems more challenging than in past seasons. As far as UMass, I bet you could get some 4 and 5 star guys if they are local players who want to stay local.

[SunDevil]

What speed are you guys referring too, when talking about it further up the thread. I just got the game, and looked at Jlistics sliders and the only speed I see is the player attributes. Thanks for any help.

[Eaglesfan27]

What speed are you guys referring too, when talking about it further up the thread. I just got the game, and looked at Jlistics sliders and the only speed I see is the player attributes. Thanks for any help.



Jistic's sliders don't mention this speed at all. We are talking about the "speed of the game" slider that is just under the length of quarters slider.

[SunDevil]

Here is a pretty good recruiting thread I found on operation sports.

http://forums.operationsports.com/vBulletin/showthread.php?t=153281&highlight=recruiting

[SunDevil]

Thanks EaglesFan. I am assuming you are referring to the the Gameplay menu in the options sections. The game speed is listed as slow, normal, or fast. It is right above the Half Length and Simulated Half Length options. I am at the main menu as I have not started a career yet. Thanks again.

[Pumpy Tudors]

Thanks EaglesFan. I am assuming you are referring to the the Gameplay menu in the options sections. The game speed is listed as slow, normal, or fast. It is right above the Half Length and Simulated Half Length options. I am at the main menu as I have not started a career yet. Thanks again.
You're talking about a version other than the XBox 360 version, then. The 360 version actually has a numbered (1-100) slider for game speed, rather than slow/normal/fast.

[SunDevil]

Damn, thanks for clearing that up. I guess if you drop a couple hundred for a new system, you get the added bonus of having a numbered system for game speed. :)

[dervack]

I was worried that the MOP sliders might make it too easy for the human after I won my first game 63-49. Then, I played WVU with my little UL-Monroe team. We started out with an 8-0 lead which had me worried, but then their athleticism started causing steals, blocks, and poor shots. Suddenly, they went on a 25-4 run with several 3's. Before I knew it I was down 30 and I lost 89-51. It was such a fun game to play despite my losing so badly. This really is a beautiful game, and I just hope I don't hit any dynasty killing glitches.
Hey eaglesfan27, what are the MOP sliders you're talking about. Are those something from operation sports?

[SunDevil]

http://forums.operationsports.com/vBulletin/showthread.php?p=2078824#post2078824

[Eaglesfan27]

Hey eaglesfan27, what are the MOP sliders you're talking about. Are those something from operation sports?


I'm using a slightly modified version of Jistic's MOP sliders. Having a great time with them. I got Jistic's from Operation Sports and used them as a starting base.

[jbmagic]

This game is Awesome. Very deep.

Are you guys using all different offense and defensive control on your gamepad.

There is so many. I have to get use to it.

Is there a difference using the button to shoot compare to the right analog stick to shoot?

[Eaglesfan27]

I think that player talent discrepencies between good teams and bad teams is better than ever. For example, my ULM team has a best player of 72 and he just got smothered by a good defender. My starting C is only rated 53.

So, we start off 0-7 and I'm playing the second game of a home and home against USA (South Alabama) and we barely lost them to the last game. We start off playing terrific defense and getting a few rare transition baskets. We also are hitting our 3's. Before, I know it, I'm up 25-12 with 5 minutes left in the first half. I'm thinking about how our team is going to celebrate their first win of the season. Suddenly, it starts raining outside. Then it starts raining hard. I start hoping that the power doesn't go out or flicker... not even 5 seconds later the power goes out :(

It came back on 3 minutes later, but now I have to hope that I can do somewhat as good next time against them (sometime after the storm passes.)

[jbmagic]

Eaglefan27

What eight offensive plays you have set? and 4 defensive plays you have set when calling the plays out and playing?

[Eaglesfan27]

Eaglefan27

What eight offensive plays you have set? and 4 defensive plays you have set when calling the plays out and playing?


I don't remember all of my plays, but I use the elbow option, baseline screen play, and pick and roll quite a bit. Defensively with my current team, I'm using mostly a 3-2 zone to at least try to cut down on the 3 ball. I'm also occasionally playing M2M defense. I use a 2-2-1 when I press.

[SunDevil]

This game is not FM or anything, but there is still a lot for me to learn about the game of basketball, because I honestly feel like a complete noob when trying to play this game and trying to call and setup plays.

[jbmagic]

Does using real FT% shooting adds more realism?

You guys have it on or off?

[Eaglesfan27]

Wow. I'm still realizing how deep this game is...

I just got an email that one of my bench riders is starting to doubt his shooting touch. I went to his player card, and I just realized that there are 10 pep talks I can use per year. Also, each player has a general confidence meter. The guys I've been using regularly have pretty high confidence, but guys that have been riding the pine are almost zeroed out. Very cool.

[Cringer]

Wow. I'm still realizing how deep this game is...

I just got an email that one of my bench riders is starting to doubt his shooting touch. I went to his player card, and I just realized that there are 10 pep talks I can use per year. Also, each player has a general confidence meter. The guys I've been using regularly have pretty high confidence, but guys that have been riding the pine are almost zeroed out. Very cool.

That is pretty cool. I look forward to getting into this game one day.

[RPI-Fan]

Hmm... my tax refund = ~$300.

How much would a PS2 + MLB: The Show, MVP College Baseball, and College Hoops 2k6 cost?

I'm very tempted...

[Eaglesfan27]

I gave the bench rider the pep talk. He is ONLY good at shooting 3's. For everything else he is absolutely worthless. After the talk, I got him in for 4 minutes in the 1st half. He nailed 3 3's in a row before missing 1. He hit 1 of 3 in the second half and his 12 points were a key reason we finally got our 5th win of the season (I'm 5-10 at ULM.)

[jbmagic]

I am loving coach mode so far.

You get to choose 8 plays om offense to setup and call in the game. and you also get 4 defesive plays to choose from.

You can call timeouts, sub, intentional fouls, etc.

Very fun.

[Pumpy Tudors]

I am loving coach mode so far.

You get to choose 8 plays om offense to setup and call in the game. and you also get 4 defesive plays to choose from.

You can call timeouts, sub, intentional fouls, etc.

Very fun.
I'm glad you like the coach mode more than I did. It just shows that there's something in this game for everybody who likes college basketball.

[wade moore]

I just got this game from gamefly for my PS2, looking forward to powering it up today... any sliders or anything i should use, or just go for it?

[dervack]

Playing it on my 360, I started with Western Illinois. Decided to schedule the opening 2K Sports tourney on the schedule, and it didn't tell me who was the host team. It was a 4 team tournament, with me opening against Cornell. I came back from being down 8 at half and won the game, and moved on to the finals of the tournament. My reward? Playing #8 Syracuse. To which I proceeded to lose by 60 to. So far, not a great start to my season, but was fun as hell to have them tied at 8-8 early on. Fortunately, a 20-0 run from there didn't help me. I like the game a lot, and I hope to play more of this and NBA 2K6 soon. Problem is, MLB 2K6 will be out in April, so will Top Spin, and the bastards here have me addicted to MLB the show.

[wade moore]

I've played a few games in my Dynasty with William and Mary... I have had two major problems..

A) I can't shoot the Free Throws for crap so I'm a bit bitter about the folks here who say it is too easy ;)..

B) This is an actual problem.. the first game I played I set subbing to manual.. yet for some reason, no matter what I did, I could not sub my PG out. When I would make the change in the sub screen it would reflect there, but when we go to the court it would not actually sub the guy out. It didnt' matter if it was just him I was subbing or other guys. The other guys would sub if there were other subs, but not the PG... The other two games I set it to auto.... anyone had this problem?

[dervack]

Yeah, free throws are tough. I hate the camera angles in the 360 version, and had to turn off real FT% to even make 50%.

[Eaglesfan27]

I've turned Real FT% on because I found it too tough without. That subbing problem is very odd. I've never had any sorts of problems with subbing who I want assuming they were on the active game roster.

[wade moore]

I've turned Real FT% on because I found it too tough without. That subbing problem is very odd. I've never had any sorts of problems with subbing who I want assuming they were on the active game roster.

I'm doing Real FT% now too...

I'll have to try the manual subbing again.. it was happening no matter who I tried to sub in for him, was very odd...

[jbmagic]

If PG was set to shoot free throws, you cant sub the pg out.


You can sub only when there a dead ball and timeouts.

[dervack]

One of the things that I love about this game is how quickly momentum can swing in your favor, and out. I was down by 25 to Indiana with my Western Illinois Leathernecks with about 13 to go in the 2nd half. Decided to take my one great player, and by great, I mean he's rated a 69, and try to work inside on offense instead of working for semi-open 3 pointers. Was able to tie the game with a minute to go, a little back and forth and Indiana takes a 2 point lead with 5 seconds left. I bring the ball upcourt, and feed it inside to the 69-rated SF for a fade-away jumper with a hand in the face, and the ball rolls around the rim and falls out, with Indiana holding on to a 2-point win. And this was the game after I tried shooting Utah Valley St's lights out and lost to them by 30. I'm 1-3 but am having so much fun. The early signing period just started, so hopefully, I can get one of my two scholarships filled early.

[INDalltheway]

Started a tournament with my friends. We drew for teams, using the top 4 seeds in each bracket. Lets just say the last few days have been very competitive to say the least. I also started playing online, and you play some wacky people. People who take 50 3's a game and such, but nonetheless it's fun.

[rexallllsc]

This is the best basketball game since the Genesis versions, IMO.

[rexallllsc]

Why are the MOP sliders out of 40? They're out of 100 on my game. What am I missing here?

[Pumpy Tudors]

Why are the MOP sliders out of 40? They're out of 100 on my game. What am I missing here?
XBox/PS2 versions only go up to 40 on those sliders. It's just the XBox 360 version that has them out of 100.

[rexallllsc]

Thanks PT

[rexallllsc]

So, I just simmed my first NCAA tourney.

Louisiana Tech won.
That's cool in itself, but obviously unrealistic. You know why else it sucked?
They were 16-15 going into the tourney. You know why else is sucked?
They were a 16 seed.

[Eaglesfan27]

So, I just simmed my first NCAA tourney.

Louisiana Tech won.
That's cool in itself, but obviously unrealistic. You know why else it sucked?
They were 16-15 going into the tourney. You know why else is sucked?
They were a 16 seed.

That is odd. My 360 version has had realistic champions, my first season the lowest seed in the final four was a #6 LSU. They lost to #1 UConn in the Championship Game. I'm midway through my second season now.

[rexallllsc]

That is odd. My 360 version has had realistic champions, my first season the lowest seed in the final four was a #6 LSU. They lost to #1 UConn in the Championship Game. I'm midway through my second season now.

It is VERY weird because my game had a very realistic season. Non weird teams in the top 10.

I love everything else about the game. The gameplay (except the dunking needs to be turned down) is the best on a bb game I've seen in a while. Recruiting is good, and the presentation is good.

[Pumpy Tudors]

I just remembered why I stopped playing the 360 version. It actually froze on me once, and I didn't have the desire to go back to it. Even though the real NCAA season is over, I do want to try it again. I just hope the freezing doesn't become a chronic problem, because I love the game.

[Eaglesfan27]

I'm just about to play my first NCAA game with my UL-Monroe team. One odd issue that I've noticed with this game even after a recent patch is that sometimes I can use different camera angles and some games I can't. I love the NCAA 2k camera in which I can adjust the zoom and height, but for some reason it isn't available in some games (it was re-enabled for some games after this most recent patch.) It's very odd that it is available sometimes, but not all of the time.

Anyway, per Pumpy's request (in another thread), here are the Xbox 360 College Hoops Sliders that I'm using:

Play Mode: Simulation

Difficulty: MOP

Game Speed: 33

Half Length: 17 (but I wish I did 20 - now that I've gotten good at defense, I'm having some games with both teams in the 40 point range. However, FGA are generally accurate)

Simulated Half Length: 20

Player Lock: Off

Pass Icon: On

Def Player Icon: On

Real FT %: On

Fatigue and Injuries: On

Inbound Def Switch: On

Clutch Factor: On

Player Disposition: On


All Foul Rules at default.

Foul Sliders:

Charging: 100

Blocking: 90

Reaching: 100

Shooting: 78

Loose Ball Foul: 90 (the one I've been most tempted to lower at times. I usually get a few per game of these.)


Game Sliders (Human/CPU)

Inside Range: 42/42

Mid Range: 50/45

3 point Range: 50/45

Dunk Success: 50/50

Layup Success: 50/50

FT Success: 50/50

Close Shot Tendency: 20/20

Midrange Shot Tendency: 10/10

3PT Shot Tendency: 50/50 (These tendencies help nicely with ball movement and teams not just jacking the ball up)

Drive tendency: 35/35

Attributes:

Offensive Awareness: 50/40

Defensive Awareness: 60/55

Dunk: 50/50

Ball Handling: 50/45

Off Rebounding: 60/35

Def Rebounding: 65/50

Block: 50/45

Steal: 50/40

Speed: 45/43 (This helps counterattack the second or two that I need to adjust to the switching camera angle when a steal happens)



Screen Success: 50/50

Screen Strength: 50/50

Steal Success: 50/40 (The CPU still gets plenty of steals if I'm not careful)

Dunks in Traffic: 50/50

Defends Jumper: 50/50

Defends Post Shot: 55/55 (important to preventing run away interior scoring)

Defend Layup: 55/55

Defend Dunk: 55/55

Energy Fatigue Rate: 45/45

Energy Recovery Rate: 55/55

Injury Frequency: 50/50 (I've thought about bumping it up slightly)

Injury Effect: 50/50



With these sliders and this difficulty setting, I lose to teams that are much better to me almost every time. I have 3 Lights out Outside shooters and rarely they can pull off an upset. I usually beat teams that are barely better than me or about the same talent level. I rarely lose to teams that are worse. For me, these are very fun sliders. Now, I'm about to go probably get destroyed by Florida in my first NCAA Tournament game :)

[Pumpy Tudors]

Thanks for the bump, and good luck in your game! Tell us how it goes!

[Eaglesfan27]

You're welcome. The first half isn't going too well. I knew I was in trouble when I saw everyone of their starters is at least 20 points higher than my corresponding starter. Even my SG who is a 74.

They are the first team I've faced with a strong, powerful center. He has 20 points, 7 boards, and 4 blocks at the half :( They scored 20 before I scored one. I got inpatient (I usually play a princeton style offense against better teams and hope my 3 great outside shooters hit their 3's.) However, we were missing almost every 3. I think the pressure got to my guys as they normally are deadly from behind the arc. I'm down 52-14 at the half as they are playing smothering full court defense, generating some turnovers, and getting huge play from their interior players.

[Eaglesfan27]

Dola -

Final Score 105-32 :(

I was tempted to sim to the end, but kept making mini-goals for myself. They included holding them under 100, scoring 40, and holding their center to under 40 points. Least I did that as he stopped shooting in the 2nd half. Oh well, time to see if I get any job offers after leading my team to their first NCAA Birth in a very long time and a nice 17-13 record overall.

[Eaglesfan27]

Double Dola -

At least I lost to an Elite 8 team. They lost to UConn 86-74 in the East Bracket Final Game.

The Final Four in this season shapes up as follows:

#1 U Conn vs #2 Duke and #7 Oklahoma State vs #1 Villanova.

UConn lost to Duke 76-72. Villanova beat Oklahoma State 82-74.

Duke won the NC Game 78-70.



Now in the offseason, so far the only teams interested in hiring me are Iona, Ark-Pine Bluff, and Morgan State (which is willing to give me a whopping 6 year contract.)

[Pumpy Tudors]

Ouch, a 73-point loss. Sorry, EF. Great job getting ULM to the tournament, though. Are you gonna stick with ULM or move on to one of those other schools?

[Eaglesfan27]

Ouch, a 73-point loss. Sorry, EF. Great job getting ULM to the tournament, though. Are you gonna stick with ULM or move on to one of those other schools?

Iona passed me over, but after their coach left, Oral Roberts offered me a job and I took it. I thought that I was going to have a STAR SG and PF, but I misread it, and they both graduated. Oh well, I've got 3 3 star Freshman coming in and the best I ever did was 1 2 star player at ULM.

[Groundhog]

I just bought this game for the 360 super cheap (under $5), and should have it in a few days. It was never released over here in Australia, but apparently it runs on PAL machines anyhow. If not, hey, it's only $5. :)

Did any of you guys manage to get through several seasons? If so, does talent distribution get too out of wack?

[Eaglesfan27]

I only played through 3 seasons. The talent distribution looked good to me after the 3rd season, but I never examined that issue closely.