[Steve_OS]

With the help of our readers and 2K Sports, we had an opportunity to interview the Project Manager of College Hoops 2K8, Zach Timmerman.

Operation Sports: Are there any tweaks to what recruits are looking for in a program, i.e. playing time, NBA exposure, etc.?

Zach Timmerman: Rather than spending a lot of time on what a recruit looks for in a program, we spent the majority of our time working on the scouting aspect of recruiting, which is why we introduced the ABL (Amateur Basketball League). Within this mode, users are now allowed to “see” just about every single high school recruit we have in the game, from high school freshman through seniors. We wanted users to be able to scout their recruits in action, whether they’re playing the games with them or watching them, so they can tell if they’re the types of players they would like to have on their team. Do they fit your style? Do they hustle? Are they too hesitant to score? Can this 2 Star prospect help my team? These types of questions and more can be answered in the ABL. Also, playing and completing the games themselves will give you an added bonus to your recruiting points to spend during the season, which is very key to a smaller school that simply does not have the same type of a budget that a larger school has.

Your goal in the ABL is to schedule out games that consist of players you want to recruit throughout the regular NCAA season, so you can spend the majority of your recruiting points enticing the user to come to your school rather than trying to find out “ability” information that you could have unlocked in the ABL. It provides a very realistic recruiting tool that we’ve been lacking over the last few years, ever since we removed the ability to play high school games in 2K5.