ESPN College Hoops 2005 is a Basketball game for Playstation 2. ESPN COLLEGE HOOPS 2K5 brings you all the tradition, pride and competitive spirit of real college basketball with real college gameplay, 3-D crowds and over 100 mascots! Compete on both side -- Software > Video Game Software - All PlayStation Games - PlayStation 2 Games

5 out of 5 stars!   Excellent Sports Game; Highly Recommend 2005-08-28

Great Aspects: This college basketball game is highly realistic and the breadth of the teams, jerseys, and stadiums is incredible. The Legacy mode is possibly the best careerfranchise mode of any sports game to date. I started off with the Campbell Fighting Camels (in the A-Sun conference, you have to start with really weak teams), got offered the head coaching job at Fordham (A-10, a major conference)two years later, accepted, and a few seasons later (and some national titles), I took on the head coaching job at Virginia Tech (ACC, a real power conference). Recruiting is also extremely in-depth and is possibly the best non-in-game aspect of the game. Recruits are affected by geography, a school's reputation, a coach's reputation, and the possiblity and extent of play time (one of the few ways a smaller school can snag a good player). Bigger schools attract better players and have more points to spend on attracting them. During the off-season, under-performing schools fire their coaches and coaches coming off good seasons move up to bigger programs; schools usually make reasonable decisions about who should get the coaching job. In-game play is pretty realistic and the free throws are some of the best in any basketball game. Opposing AI coaches usually call timeouts at appropriate intervals. The crowd can get really loud and you (and your players) can get a huge adrenaline rush when you're making big plays as the home team. Commentary has a few bugs but is generally informative and correct. The post-game news story (complete with game highlights if you have a hard drive) are funny and do reflect what happened in the game. Come March Madness, you can feel the excitement from conference tournaments and later, the Big Dance. Invitations of to the NCAA Tournament are pretty logical as are the cedes for the invited teams. The crowning touch is the occasional big upset during Tournament play that really adds life and reality to the game (I recall heavily-favored Duke losing to Baylor, ceded around 12, in Round 2, 72-68, after Duke's three previous consecutive Final Four appearances; Baylor promptly lost their Sweet Sixteen game). And, hey, it costs $20. Downside: The AI that determines Media (i.e. AP) and Coach rankings of the top 25 teams is somewhat sporadic. I mean, I just coached Va. Tech to a national title and then I don't even get ranked in the pre-season poll (my two best players still stayed, too). The polls are too heavily biased towards big teams (even ones that barely have a winning season) and don't reward smaller teams with perfect records (and even beat a few ranked teams). Obviously, this is somewhat like the real NCAA, but even then, a smaller school (like Fordham) that has a perfect season with some ranked opponents in the schedule will probably be ranked. The only other possible concern is that you won't get the most out of the game if you don't really focus on your team (recruiting, practices, etc.) in Legacy mode. Summary: For any sports fan, and particularly college basketball fans, this game should be part of your library. The realism and depth of the game can't be beat (and neither can the price). Highly Recommend.
          -- DragonsAreForever Tennessee, USA

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