Settings of Recruiting

• Dynamic (Advanced)

• Total customization and control over recruiting

• Standard (Guided)

• Allocation of time and ability to offered scholarships

• Automatic (CPU)

• Everything done by the CPU

Dynamic

The dynamic setting will allow the user to customize every piece of the recruiting experience in College Hoops. The experience will be a true role-playing experience and will require a significant amount of time and effort by the user to make sure they are covering all bases. This setting will also allow the user at any time to switch to Standard or Automatic.

Standard

The standard setting will be a guided experience for the user, allowing them to do as much as they would like with some added effort from the CPU. If there is unused time for recruiting, the CPU will fill in that effort to help the user recruit players.

Automatic

The automatic setting will handle all recruiting for the user.

Player Framework

The library of players will include those from the succeeding four classes. During the current season, there will be players from 9th to 12th grade classes. Each class will have more players unlock the closer they come graduation or if the user is recruiting a player further. Each player will have a profile which will be detailed in a further section.

Initial viewing of players can be done in the following ways:

• Top Players in their Class according to Rankings
• Map view
• Players who have reached out to the program

Players will need to be both discovered and targeted throughout the process of recruitment. Initially, the only players that will be available for viewing will be shown in the following manner:

• Top 50 Players in the 9th grade class
• Top 100 Players in the 10th grade class
• Top 200 Players in the 11th grade class
• All players in the 12th grade class

The rankings for these players will update throughout the year, so it will be up to the user to follow and target players as they move around in the rankings. If a player cracks a rankings, if they drop out, they will only be viewable if a relationship exists with the player. This will be defined in a further section around targeting a player.

The following information will be a part of a player’s profile. Every player will have the following items shown if they are viewable by their ranking or class. Additional items will be available to unlock as the player is recruited:

• Class Ranking
• Name
• Hometown (Domestic/International)
• Class
• Position
• Measurables (Age, Height, Weight, Wingspan)
• AAU Team (if applicable)
• Rating
• High School statistics
• NIL Value
• Attribute Range
• Priorities of player
• Top Schools

The user will have to specifically recruit players further to unlock all levels of the items shown. As the user interacts with a player, they will learn about the players abilities, priorities and unlock more information about where they would like to attend school. Graphic below shows an example of a 12th grade recruit that has not been targeted by the user, showing the very basics of a player’s profile. This would be the generic view the user would see when they appear for the first time in the Player Database.

If you choose the Scouting tab, there will be a much more detailed view of the Player Ratings, this is just a summary view above.

Above is a view of the complete database.

• #318 – Class Ranking

• National #318  : Position #145  : State #13

• Tre Williams - Name
• Charlotte, NC - Hometown
• 2024 – Class
• PF – Position
• Height 6-2 : 178 Wt. : 17.3 yrs. : 6-3 Wingspan - Measurables
• Charlotte Niners – AAU team
•                   - Rating
• 12.2 PPG  : 4.3 AST  : 3.5 REB  : 1.2 STL  : 0.2 BLK  : 1.5 TO  : 42.3 FG %  : 29.3 3PT %  : 78.2% FT %
• $25k – NIL Value
• Attributes Locked – Speed, Agility, Strength, Etc.

• As recruiting is done, these begin to show ranges of numbers and over time eventually unlock to actuals as recruitment advances

• 1. Staying close to home  2. Education  3. Playing time - Priorities
• Clemson – Campbell (O) – UNC – St. John’s – Temple (O)

As you can see above, some things will be locked and will only unlock as the player is recruited. This is an example of a profile where the player is shown for the first time as they enter their senior year because they were not discovered earlier in the process. Below is an example graphic of this player at near full recruitment.

• Speed – 82 : Agility 80-84 : Strength 48-60 : Awareness 67-80 : Shooting 66 : Free throw 77 : 3PT 72-87
• Clemson 12% : Campbell 24% (O) : UNC 4% : St. John’s 20% : Temple 30% (O) : Other 10%

• This player has been offered two scholarships at this time, but despite this, the player still has Clemson ranked as their top school. The percentage indicator is the recruiting services (IBR) prediction of where the player will go. In this case, the recruiting service gives the nod to places where the scholarship is being offered and despite Campbell being his second choice, the service gives a higher total to Temple because Temple is a higher prestige program and Campbell has outstanding scholarships that may impact this players decision. In an example like this, if Clemson were to offer, the numbers may change significantly. In the end, the player may choose any and these percentages will change week to week.

As players Profiles are unlocked, there will also be personality traits and importance of what they are looking for in a breakout as well. This will be important to make sure that players once committed are handled correctly and are less likely to transfer. For example, if you have a player commit who is being promised playing time, they would be more likely to transfer if they do not receive sufficient playing time as a freshman.

Below are examples of Player Intangibles that can be unlocked during recruiting process:

• Drive, work ethic, clutch, ability to learn
• System fit (offensive/defensive) preference
• Coach/Coaches importance
• Professional aspirations

Recruiting In-Game

Now that Player Profiles are explained, this section will cover how recruiting will work. The biggest key to recruiting will be setting the gameplan for coaching staff and monitoring them throughout the season. Recruiting will also be broken into three categories shown below:

• Discovery – Process of discovering players. As shown in player profiles above, each class will be unlocked further each year, but to recruit players in years further out, you will need to discover these prospects
• Scouting – This will be the ability for coaches to watch film or games of players which will help unluck ratings on the players abilities such as shooting, dribbling and defensive ratings. This will be available on players the user can see in IBR
• Relationship – Ability for coaches to email, speak and meet with the player to help unlock what the player is looking for and some of the player intangibles needed to make sure it is a good fit for the coach, player, and program

The recruiting tools will be determined by the team’s weekly schedule which will begin on August 1st of the year. Each coach (4 assistants / 1 HC) will have weekly time allotments they can use to a variety of items of which will need monitoring depending on the time of year. The allotments of time will not have a number of “hours” attached, but rather a percentage of the total time needed to do things that need to be accomplished. The following items will have allotments at a general level:

• Recruiting

• Subset of time allotment for (Discovery, Scouting, Relationship)

• Training Players

• Time spent on practicing and training players

• Game planning

• Time spent working on scouting the upcoming opponents

During times where there are no games, the user would want to shift time away from game planning and focus on other things. Using the ability to balance time will have an impact on the user’s outcome of events.

Once these time frames have been set for the upcoming week, the user can begin recruiting players. This part of the process will be dependent on the allotments made for discovery, scouting and relationships. If a user puts all their time into Discovery, the staffs will follow the chosen directions in trying to find those players. Discovery options will be highlighted below.

Once the user has made these designations, they will now be able to choose whichever players they want to target for certain items. As the percentages are chosen, points are then allocated out to the staff for usage on players. When an activity is chosen, it will not be specific to one coach, but instead to the staff. Examples are shown below with events and point allocations for scouting and relationships. The total amount of points allocated per week will be 1,000 points and will be allocated by the percentages chosen. For example, if the user chooses 30% Discovery, 20% Scouting, 50% Relationship, they will receive 300 points towards Discovery, 200 Scouting, 500 relationships. The following items are available in each category:

Discovery – Options below is what you would choose, with point allocation

• Position preference
• Location
• Player desire
• Ranking

Scouting

• Read articles: 2 Pts. – Unlocks player ratings
• Speak with Coach: 5 Pts. – Unlocks Intangibles
• Watch Game Film: 5 Pts. – Unlocks player ratings
• Attend Game: 15-80 Pts. – Dependent on location of player / Unlocks ratings / Intangibles / Player wants

• You will only be capable of attending four games per week

Relationship

• Email/Text with player: 2 Pts. – Pitches player
• Speak with Player: 5 Pts. – Pitches player / Unlocks Player wants
• Meet in person with Player: 15-80 – Dependent on location / unlocks intangibles / Player wants / pitches player

• You will only be able to meet in person on days where no games are played

• Invite player to game: 15 Pts – Pitches player

These types of events during recruiting can be duplicated each week for players and there is no limit to how often one event can be done. This allows the user to customize how much they want to go after one or a multitude of people.

Significant changes have been made to College Basketball since the last game. Due to this, the user will be allowed to offer scholarships and NIL money in advance of the players senior season, and they can verbally commit at any time. The number of scholarships offered will be significant, but they will be taken at first come first serve by the player. The only number of accepted scholarships will be up to the 15-player maximum for the following year, since there is no knowledge of potential players transferring. For example, if a current roster has the following situation, this would be the parameters for accepted scholarships

• Current 2023-24 Roster

• 12 Scholarship, 3 Walk-Ons

• 3 Seniors
• 6 Available Scholarships (15 – 3 WO’s – 3 Seniors)

Due to timing of the Transfer Portal, after the season ending, there will be the ability to recruit Seniors that have not committed OR trying to reclassify and eligible Junior commit if available.

While recruiting players, the user will have customization of how they want to filter and create target lists. This will allow for organization of players.

When it comes time to offer a scholarship, the user will have several decisions to make. One will be a straightforward pitch towards why the player should accept a scholarship at the school. Aligning with the players wants is the easiest way to gain momentum in them accepting the scholarship. The user will have to make THREE choices of the following in their final pitch. Once that pitch is made, it cannot be changed until the following season, IF the scholarship is offered early. This adds risk in offering a player early.

• Academic Prestige
• Prox. To home
• Program Prestige
• Playing time
• Pro Potential
• School/Arena Atmosphere
• Coaching Staff
• Former/Future Teammates
• Offensive/Defensive System
• NIL (Outlined Below)

These are all relatively straightforward, but NIL is a new piece to college athletics. Each school will have a NIL fund and the coaching staff can spread the money anyway they would like. NIL funding will be determined by the following items and will be fluid year to year depending on results of the season:

• National TV (explained in later section)
• Attendance of Home Games
• Program Prestige

• Explained later and determined based on results

• Pro Players currently playing

Some players will care more about NIL and players with Pro Potential (One and done) may decide to skip school if they are not offered sufficient NIL or a situation they want to be apart of. This will put emphasis on the user making sure they are correctly assessing whether or not a player needs NIL to be swayed. NIL offers can be changed unlike pitches and this may have an impact on their predicted school. IF an NIL fund loses/gains money year over year, the player will have to reallocate that money before the recruiting period begins in August. Current players will also have an NIL amount attached to them and they may require more the following year to avoid entering the transfer portal.

If a player commits early, they will only be a verbal commit until their senior season when they sign their NLI. If a player verbally commits in their Freshman-Junior season, other teams can still scout the player, but they will not be able to further a relationship. This however does not mean a player will not open their recruiting process again and this will happen, especially if conditions with the school of commitment change. NIL situations, coaching changes, or even program prestige would be the largest drivers of this.

An additional feature of recruiting will be the IBR ‘Website’. This will be the place where you will be able to see the summary of what is going on in the recruiting world. You will be able to see Player rankings, Team rankings and historical information about recruiting. The historical feature of recruiting will allow the user to look at prior classes and see how they have performed moving forward.

Transfer Portal

The transfer portal is one of the most important things in college athletics. Despite its inclusion in prior versions of the game, it was a random happening and mostly sparingly. The new transfer portal will be completely overhauled.

The transfer period will open at the National Championship is completed and will be open until May 31st which will mark the end of the current season. At the beginning of the transfer portal, players will be eligible to put their names in, but first each team will have the ability to convince their players to stay before they enter the portal. Throughout the year, a player’s morale and happiness will be indicated and as it gets lower, their chances of transferring will increase.

Once the transfer portal is set, an additional 300 points will be added to recruiting that can only be used in the transfer portal. The options and points will be as follows in the path to recruiting a player:

• Watch game film: 5 Pts. – Scouting of player attributes
• Email/Text with player: 5 Pts. – Pitches player
• Speak with Player: 10 Pts. – Pitches player / Unlocks Player wants
• Meet in person with Player: 15-80 – Dependent on location / unlocks intangibles / Player wants / pitches player

• You will only be able to meet in person on days where no games are played

• Invite player to campus 50 Pts – Pitches player

During this process, you will be able to offer a player a scholarship and their NIL. An example of this is shown below.

EXAMPLE GRAPHIC

When players enter the transfer portal, they will have an updated profile of what they are looking for and you will be able to see their stats from the prior years. Player’s ratings will also be unlocked, but only in ranges and will require scouting and meetings to determine if they are a good fit.

Once the transfer portal ends on May 31st, all transfers who do not sign, will have an opportunity in a two-week period at the beginning of August in the following season to do so.

The transfer portal will have player and team rankings per the IBR and will be fluid throughout the process. Players will be able to transfer once during undergraduate and once again for grad school with a redshirt season without having to sit out.

Recruiting will be a staple in College Hoops NG and will require patience, creativity, and skill to build a program. Recruiting will take place throughout the entire calendar except for the following time periods:

• Week 1 of March thru National Championship Game
• June 1 thru July 31st

Scheduling

In college athletics, scheduling is one of the more important things to be done and will have a huge impact on results during the season. In college basketball it can be the difference between making the NCAA Tournament or playing in the NIT. In College Hoops NG, Dynamic Scheduling will be a feature available for users that will also require the user to have on Dynamic (Advanced) settings for the Legacy Mode itself. The follow options will be available:

Dynamic (Advanced): Scheduling will be done custom and as realistic as possible with the addition of a scheduling budget and limitations depending on several factors

Custom: Schedule whoever, whenever, wherever without any pushback

CPU: Automatic building of the schedule by the CPU

During the dynamic scheduling, it is important to balance several items to make sure it sets your team up for success. You want to keep in consideration your teams resume when crafting your Out of Conference schedule since it will have a big impact on your tournament resume. It will also be important to consider how your fans will react, recruits want to visit and manage a budget of traveling.

As you are making the schedule, you will have a point system you must manage. This will be determined by your team’s prestige, rating and fan support.

• Team Prestige: 1-10 Stars (UMaine 1 Star, Kansas 10 Star)
• Rating: UMaine 55, Kansas 92 (Current overall rating)
• Fan Support: 1-100 (UMaine 12, Kansas 100)

These ratings above will help determine the points available in the schedule and the ability to be flexible. The examples of points are below:

• UMaine – 1 Star (10 pts) + (55) + (12) = 77 Points
• Kansas – 10 Stars (100) + (92) + (100) = 292 Points

With these point totals in mind, a schedule must be made without going over the balance given. A team like Kansas will essentially have unlimited ability to schedule who they want, where they want, when they want. Below are scenarios for points addressed in the schedule.

• Buy Games: -30 Pts. – Home games against teams that are -10 your teams rating and in a lower rated conference (Major, Mid-Major, Small). This needs to be an agreed upon item with both schools. The buy team gets 10 pts.
• True Road Games: +10 Pts. – Need to be agreed upon by both teams and are ratings within 10 points. True home games are -10 pts for teams hosting
• Challenge Games: +10 Pts. – Invitational games (Gavitt Games/Big 10 v Big 12) Predetermined opponent
• Neutral Games: 0 Pts. – Agreed by both teams at a neutral location
• Tournament Games 0 Pts.: Travel is counted once, team must be invited
• Rival Games: +10 Pts. – Each team can have three non-conference rivals
• Travel: No matter which type of game it is, travel will be rated based on miles. Travel will be calculated as the crow flies

• <25 Miles (0)
• 25-100 (-5)
• 100-500 (-10)
• 500-1000 (-20)
• +1000 (-30)

Each of these games will have an impact on your players as well. Length between games, travel and fan happiness (attendance) will all be impacted by the above. Here are examples of UMaine and Kansas’ schedule below and the points for each. As you will see, Maine may be able to get some home games and keep their schedule points above zero, but they will have trouble convincing teams to play them due to their location and prestige, as others will balance their schedule too.

UMaine (77 available points)

G1 - @ Providence College - +10 true road, +10 Buy game, -10 travel (87)

G2  - @ Bryant University - +10 true road, -10 travel (87)

G3  - @ Kentucky - +10 true road, +10 Buy game, -20 travel (87)

G4  – Colgate - -10 home game (77)

G5  – Binghamton - -10 home game (67)

G6  - @ Charlotte - +10 true road, +10 Buy Game, -20 travel (67)

G7 - @ UNF - +10 true road, +10 Buy, -30 travel (57)

G8 - @ Columbia - +10 true road, -10 travel (57)

G9 - @ Holy Cross - +10 true road, -10 travel (57)

G10 – Brown - -10 home game (47)

G11 - @ Boston U - +10 true road, -10 travel (47)

G12 – Central Connecticut State - -10 home game (37)

G13 - @ UCF - +10 true road, +10 Buy, -30 travel (27)

G14 - @ FIU - +10 true road, +10 Buy, -30 travel (17)

G15 - @ Minnesota - +10 true road, +10 Buy, -30 travel (7)

As you will see, UMaine was able to finish their 15 game Non-Conference Schedule without running out of points, but it took a lot of creativity. This schedule will also have an impact on their team’s stamina due to travel and reduced fan support since they were unable to play many home games. As the team prestige and fan support and rating change each year, they will be able to eventually increase their flexibility in scheduling.

Kansas (292 available points)

G1 – NC Central - -10 home, -30 buy game (252)

G2 – Manhattan - -10 home, -30 buy game (212)

G3 – Kentucky (N) - +10 State Farm Champions Classic, -10 travel (212)

G4 – Chaminade (N) – 0 Maui, -30 travel (182)

G5 – Marquette (N) - 0 Maui (182)

G6 – Tennessee (N) – 0 Maui (182)

G7 – Eastern Illinois - -10 home, -30 buy game (144)

G8 – Uconn - -10 home, +10 Big East/Big 12 Battle (144)

G9 – Kansas City - -10 home, -30 buy game (104)

G10 – Missouri - -10 home, +10 rival (104)

G11 - @ Indiana - +10 road, -10 travel (104)

G12 – Yale - -10 home, -30 buy game (64)

G13 – Wichita St. (N) - -5 travel (59)

Kansas’ schedule has much more flexibility compared to UMaine’s and they will be invited to several tournaments and the ability to schedule almost anyone they want at home or on the road. In this scenario, Kansas will have plenty of opportunity to host recruits, increase or sustain fan support and build a solid resume for the NCAA Tournament.

Atmosphere / Hype Rating

College Basketball creates some of the craziest atmospheres in all of sports. College Hoops NG will use a calculated system to help re-create this as close to real life. In order to accomplish this, each game will be given a Hype Rating which will be fluid throughout the season. You will be able to see this Hype Rating next to a game on your schedule when you look at your calendar.

Each game will be given a rating between 0-10, with 10 being the craziest atmosphere. If the score goes over 10 or below 0, it will round to that number. Shown below are the breakouts of what those numbers mean.

• >7 – Sellout Crowd (above 9 will have the loudest atmosphere)
• Every 0.1 pts below will decrease attendance by 1%

• 5.2 Score would be 100% - 18% = 82% Attendance

Below is a breakout of how the Hype Rating will be determined to the scoring above

• Top 25 Team (0-4 pts.)

• Each Top 25 Team receives 1 pt. bonus with top 10 team receiving 0.1 bonus for every spot up to #1 which would receive 2 pts. In total

• Program Prestige (0-4 pts.)

• Program Prestige (1-10) will receive 0.2 pts. Per prestige star

• Competitive Matchup (-2 – 2pts.)

• If teams are equally matched via rating, a max 2 pts. Will be given. Every 1 pt. in rating difference will lose .2 pts. Up to -20 pt. difference which will receive -2 pts. This will fall into place for many buy games

• School Proximity (0-1 pts.)

• Bonus of 1 pt. to be given for schools within 100 miles of each other

• Top 25 Atmosphere (0-2.5 pts.)

• Bonus of 0.1 pts. Given for each slot on Top 25 Atmosphere. This list will be fluid week to week and will be determined by team’s home record, attendance, and team prestige to determine the hardest places to play in America

• Attendance Record (0-2 pts.)

• Based on historic attendance in terms of average. 100% capacity receives 2 pts. Based on historical average

• Rivalry Game (0-2 pts.)

• Bonus of 2 pts. Given for all Rivalry games. Each team will have up to three non-conference rivals and two in conference rivals

• National Exposure Game (0-1.5 pts.)

• Bonus of 1.5 pts. For National TV game in primetime

• Buy Game (-1 pts.)

• Buy games as designated in scheduling

• Conference Games (2 pts.)

• All conference games are given additional 2 pts.

Here are examples below for games on both the UMaine and Kansas schedules to highlight how these games would look and feel when playing them.

• UMaine @ Providence College

• Top 25 Team (N/A)
• Program Prestige

• Providence 1.4 pts., UMaine 0.2 pts.

• Competitive Matchup

• Providence 80 – UMaine 55 = -2 pts.

• School Proximity (0)
• Top 25 Atmosphere

• Providence #10 = 1.5 pts.

• Attendance Record

• 85% Attendance = 1.8 pts.

• Rivalry Game (N/A)
• National Exposure Game (0)
• Buy Game (-1 pts.)
• Conference Game (0)

• Total Hype Score: 1.9

This game would receive one of the lowest hype scores and likely lead to an attendance of 50-60%. This would mean the arena would appear around half full and not have the same intensity as a higher hyped score. In this case, the home team would also receive less of a boost from their crowd.

• #6 Kansas v. #8 UConn

• Top 25 Team

• Kansas 1.4 pts., UConn 1.2 pts.

• Program Prestige

• Kansas 2 pts., UConn 2 pts. (Both teams 10 Star Prestige)

• Competitive Matchup

• Kansas 92 – UConn 91 = 1.8 pts.

• School Proximity (0)
• Top 25 Atmosphere

• Kansas #1 = 2.5 pts.

• Attendance Record

• 100% Attendance = 2 pts.

• Rivalry Game (0)
• National Exposure Game (1.5 pts.)
• Buy Game (0)
• Conference Game (0)

• Total Hype Score: 14.4

Lawrence, Kansas will be jumping! Similar to how this game was in real life this year, this would be an atmosphere unlike anything else all season.

Conference Tournament Games will all have a high hype rating per the system above and will be given a 2-pt. bonus regardless of matchup. A NCAA Tournament Game will be given a 4-pt. bonus. Here would be an example of a Conference Tournament and NCAA Tournament game below.

• Conference Tournament (Big 12)
• #6 Kansas v. Oklahoma St.

• Top 25 Team

• Kansas 1.4 pts., Oklahoma St. 0 pts.

• Program Prestige

• Kansas 2 pts., Oklahoma St. 1.4 pts.

• Competitive Matchup

• Kansas 92 – Oklahoma St. 77 = -1 pts.

• School Proximity (N/A)
• Top 25 Atmosphere (N/A)
• Attendance Record (N/A)
• Rivalry Game (N/A)
• National Exposure Game (N/A)
• Buy Game (N/A)
• Conference Games (+2 pts.)
• Conference Tournament (+2 pts.)

• Total Hype Score: 7.8

• NCAA Tournament (R2)
• #1 Kansas v. #16 Eastern Kentucky

• Top 25 Team

• Kansas 1.4 pts., Eastern Kentucky 0 pts.

• Program Prestige

• Kansas 2 pts., Eastern Kentucky 0.4 pts.

• Competitive Matchup

• Kansas 92 – Eastern Kentucky 67 = -2 pts.

• School Proximity (N/A)
• Top 25 Atmosphere (N/A)
• Attendance Record (N/A)
• Rivalry Game (N/A)
• National Exposure Game (N/A)
• Buy Game (N/A)
• Conference Games (0 pts.)
• NCAA Tournament Game (+4 pts.)

• Total Hype Score: 5.8

As you will see, this first round game would have less hype than a Conference Tournament game, but only because it is expected to be uncompetitive. If Kansas were to have played Oklahoma St. in the NCAA Tournament, the Hype Score would have been 9.8.

Hype Scores will be important in determining the feel and intensity to games, but it will also have an impact on your team’s performance and the ability to pitch recruits. In the Kansas v. UConn example above, the home team will receive a boost and advantage allowing them to perform at a higher level. This would also be a great game to invite a recruit to, since they will receive the largest bonus in a pitch form since they will see such a great atmosphere.

This type of framework is very possible and is simple math for the game to calculate. The key in executing this will be the ability to make crowd noise and team ability match the hype score on a consistent basis. This type of feature will be a game changer, which will make scheduling and results over time during a legacy very important.

During Legacy when you are trying to build a program, this will allow the user to do so by improving a team’s prestige, rating, attendance, and other things to accomplish higher hype scores.

Presentation

NCAA 10 was the last installment of a college basketball video game and just happened to be one of the best presented sports games made. It had full integration of ESPN and CBS which added a layer of realism to the game. In this next installment, presentation will be expanded on and will offer another layer of realism, especially in the Legacy game mode.

Within the next installment there will be a series of Networks available to choose from, all of which will mock a real-life counterpart. The three Network Mocks are highlighted below:

• 2K National – CBS Package

• This will be the exclusive home of the NCAA Tournament and available throughout the season. This will include its own group of announcers.

• 2K Sports Network – ESPN Package

• This will have its own group of announcers

• Visual Concepts Network – FOX Package

• This will have its own group of announcers

These three packages will be available to be chosen at the opening screen for a game and will be custom for everything except the NCAA Tournament which will be locked into the 2K National Package.

As a part of the Presentation package, there will be multiple available tools and items available to keep tabs on things going on in the College Basketball landscape.

• Weekly Wrap-Up

• Tailored look into the highlights of the week

• Player of the week
• Team of the week
• Recruiting news
• Top 25 Poll
• Bracketology (when applicable)

• Bracketology

• Section dedicated to predicting the bracket
• Top Seeds
• Last four in/byes/out

• Resume View

• Ability to see any teams Resume after Dec 15th when NET rankings begin which allows you to see wins via Quadrant and their breakdown of best wins, worst losses

Arenas & Atmosphere

Tackling the sheer volume of Arenas and Buildings involved in College Basketball is a tall task. There are over 400 arenas used on an annual basis for college basketball games when you consider some teams have multiple arenas, neutral sites, and tournament locations. To help keep the game running smoothly, arenas will be stored on a server similar to how PGA Tour 2k23 does with their user created courses. For a game, the arena will be singularly loaded in and used for the game being player.

This is one of the hardest endeavors of creating a college game, and this could be tackled in a multitude of ways. Here are the potential options of creating Arenas for the game

• Developer Created

• All Arenas would be created by the developer of the game. This would require coordination with the schools and other entities to accomplish. Similarly, to College Football, this would require a lot of time and resources to accomplish and would likely be very difficult to cover all arenas used. There would likely be a significant number of generic style arenas used for tournaments and smaller schools.

• Developer/User Created

• This would be the most ideal option. The developer would focus on creating most arenas, but where they are unable to finish, a create an arena tool would be available to allow users to create one. In addition, it would allow users to recreate existing arenas in the game from scratch and tag the home team. When the user goes to play a game, they would have the ability to choose the arena or version of arena they would want to use. If this path is chosen, there would need to be an extensive amount of customization in the build arena feature:

• Number of Seats
• Location of stands
• Style of Stands
• Custom Graphic Location
• Type of Basket
• Student Section Size and Location
• Custom Court Graphics
• Scorekeeping Area
• Banners/Location of Banners
• Suite Sections
• Broadcasting Style of Arena
• Lighting

In addition to the physical arena itself, atmosphere will need to be captured the best way possible. This part would need to be up to the school itself and handled similarly to College Football. Chants, band songs and music choices would need to be provided to the developer to be implemented in the game. This coupled with the Hype Score and Arena size would help develop the feel and intensity of games when they are played.

Neutral site games, including tournaments, will have a unique feel as well. Depending on the location and gap in team ratings, each game will have a unique feel. If there is a neutral site game played closely to one team’s home location, they will have more fans and thus be louder. If there is a neutral site game with no location advantage (NCAA Tournament) when the underdog team over performs, they will see a boost from the crowd.

Customization Options

Customization has been a big part of college games in the past and will be a main feature in College Hoops NG. Many of these items would require some unique programming, but in a perfect world, these options would all be available.

• Conference Alignment & Structure

• Prior and during a Legacy Mode, the user would have the ability to change the structures of Conferences. The following options would be available

• Size (8-16 teams)
• Divisions (1 or 2 Divisions with custom names)
• Renaming and rebranding including ability to create new logo
• Change of Conference Championship Location
• Structure of scheduling, including ability to force home and homes or protect certain matchups
• Add/Remove Teams
• Allow for unlimited amounts of Independent Conference teams

• Conference Creation

• This would also occur at the beginning of a Legacy or during an offseason and would allow the user to create their own conference from scratch with all the customization above

• School Creation

• This would occur in any offseason or prior to the start of a Legacy and would allow for the following items:

• Custom Logo uploaded
• Arena Creation per prior section
• Uniform Creation

• Uniform Creation will also be allowed for a team’s profile, the logo however will have to be manually uploaded. Each team will have up to 10 slots for uniforms with any combo available

• School Chant Creation
• Player Creation
• Conference Alignment
• Unique Information

• Location, Size, Prestige, Etc.

• Mascot Creation

Customization will be a main component of College Hoops NG and will set it apart from prior versions of college video games.

March Madness (Game Mode)

One concern in creating a College Basketball video game, is sales. When 2K stopped creating their College Hoops series in 2007 and EA in 2009, the NCAA licensing and Ed O’ Bannon case was non-existent. In College Hoops final iteration it is believed they sold approximately 200,000 copies and EA’s final version around 175,000. This equates roughly to $10m of revenue at an average of $50 per copy. This was the main reason for discontinuing the series, especially considering the licensing fees required at the time. As you will see in the Financials section, I will break out projected costs and streams of revenue to the best of my knowledge to outline a way to make this game profitable.

This in my opinion starts with being very creative and thinking outside of the box with the first release of College Hoops NG. The first way to do this is a special game mode that will be released in a specific timeframe.

My first idea is to release a specific March Madness game mode in the spring preceding the first full release of College Hoops NG. This mode would become available for digital purchase in early March just as conference tournaments begin being played. This game mode would allow a user to use any college team in America and play the NCAA Tournament.

The game mode would NOT include the full customization from the full version, but would allow for the following items:

• All 350+ Division 1 Teams

• Minimum of two uniforms per team
• Real Rosters with Ratings (customizable rosters)

• All Authentic Arenas used in the NCAA Tournament

• Dayton (First Four)
• NCAA Sites
• Final Four

• Exhibition Mode allowing you to play any two teams at one of the arenas
• Custom Bracket allowing the user to create a custom NCAA Tournament
• Authentic Madness allowing the user to play the NCAA Tournament once Selection Sunday has been completed
• Customizable gameplay and sliders per the full game

This mode would attract even the most passive fans and would be sold at a discounted price ($20-30) as a digital download for anyone with a gaming system. The hope is to not only pick up a significant amount of revenue but serve as a demo for the full game which would be available the upcoming fall. This version of the game will become available each year and serve to appeal to the passive college basketball fan.

Campus Legend (Game Mode)

This My Player mode will be available in the full version of the game and create an experience allowing the user to begin at a chosen point in their career with the pursuit of reaching the NBA. Assuming that 2K is the developer, this mode will allow the user to transport their player into the NBA and play their career out further if they choose. This will also be a great feature to expand the potential buyers of a college basketball game since it adds to the realism of a MyPlayer Career mode in the NBA 2K Series. This will be further expanded on in the financial section.

Campus Legend game mode will be built on the fundamentals of creating your player first. The following options and creation features will be available:

• Face Scan
• Customizable Face and body features
• Player Prototype and position
• Player Information
• Player Profile (Built identical to recruiting profiles mentioned earlier)

• This would include what the player is looking for from the school
• This will also allow you to choose whether you start your senior season as a small (1 star) recruit or a McDonalds All-American. There will be different pathways for each and advantages/disadvantages to both. Your play, stats and interactions with coaches during your season will potentially move your ratings

In addition to these customizations for the player, the user will also have the option to choose what part of their career they would like to begin. A player will have the ability to begin in whichever year of their college career, including their Senior Season. If a player chooses to begin during their college career, they will be allowed to choose their school and will have enhanced abilities and ratings that will correspond with the type of player they would like to become.

If a player would like to go through the entire process, they will be given the full experience of Campus Legend. This will allow the user to begin your career at the beginning of your Senior Year in High School. From here, you will be able to customize the length of your High School career and go through the following stages in a full-length high school experience:

• 12 Game Schedule (8 weeks) + Playoffs

• Playoffs by state will be played at College Arenas
• Finals to be played at largest in state arena

• After each game, points will be accumulated to increase your players ability and change your recruiting profile
• Each week you will be invited to talk or meet with coaches from schools interested in you. You can discuss items such as playing time, NIL, pro potential, and other things you find most important to you
• After your season is complete, you will go through a two-week non-playing section of your career dedicated towards speaking with coaches, addressing your scholarship offers, and viewing the programs before Signing Day

After you go through Signing Day, you will now begin your college Career in the fall. You will begin your freshman year on August 1st at the beginning of the Legacy calendar and begin the next phase of your career.

The user will have the ability to set their time spent on a weekly basis in the following categories which will impact their growth. There will always be an option for open practice or guided practice which will include practicing plays.

• Basketball Training

• Allocation towards skills to improve. Within basketball training you can choose from the following items

• Shooting
• Dribbling
• 3PT Shooting
• FT Shooting
• Rebounding
• Hands Training

• Physical Training

• Allocation towards skills listed below which will help the player in a multitude of physical categories

• Speed
• Strength
• Stamina
• Agility
• Durability
• Athleticism

• School Time

• Time spent studying and working on schoolwork. This will impact ability to transfer and confidence from coaching staff

• Film Work

• Time spent studying the game which will help with Awareness

These items above will help a player home in the skills they want to improve. In addition to this a new progression system will be implemented for the MyPlayer experience. Rather than accumulating points through performances in games based on a grade system like NBA 2k, you will receive boosts to skills based upon your actual play during games.

For example, if a player has a game with 20 points on 5-10 shooting with 3 threes, they will receive boosts to those categories. This will give incentive to having good performances on a stat level instead of being graded on a “teammate” grade system.

In addition to this, there will also be a set of goals and achievements that will come with bonus points that can be used anyway the user would like. These would include items like the ones below which can be accomplished more than once and will have point totals that match their difficulty of achieving:

• Score 10 points in a game
• Have 5 Assists in a game
• Have 3 blocks in a game
• Make All-Freshman Conference Team
• Make an All-American Team
• Win a Conference Tournament
• Win a National Championship

Throughout the season the improvement of a player will depend on all the factors above. This will add a lot of variety to progression of players, especially depending on the school they choose and the playing time they get. Maybe a 4 Star player who enters his freshman year as a 74 OVR, only improves to a 75 OVR because of limited playing time for a team that already has 5-6 seniors. On the flip side, a 65 OVR could improve to 75 OVR in one year if they are playing 30 minutes per game. This will make choosing your school, training and prototype an integral part of the experience.

After a season ends, the user will also go through an extensive off-season process. The outline below is expected:

• Coach Assessment and Progression shown
• Discuss future with coach (changes to playing time, position, NIL)
• Ability to Transfer and enter Transfer Portal
• Pick team for following year/Enter NBA Draft
• Pick Off-Season training

If a player enters the NBA Draft, integration with NBA 2K will begin, which is outlined below. When a player enters the draft, they will be exported into NBA 2K and have ability to begin training and prep for the draft process.

This integration with NBA 2K should be one of the most marketed features of College Hoops NG. This is what can help bring NBA 2K players into the college basketball game which was not possible in old iterations of the game. In addition to this, I also think this leads to many College Hoops purchasers to purchase NBA 2K to continue their career. These details will be further shown in the financials section.

Career Legacy (Game Mode)

Like the old Closed Legacy, Career Legacy will mimic the career of a start-up coach trying to climb the rungs of the Coaching Carousel. In this mode, you will have full customization of conferences, rosters, and gameplay, but you will only be able to choose a school in Year one with a 2 Star or worse prestige. The majority of these 2 Star Prestige Programs will be in small conferences and require an intense rebuild.  

Over this potential 30-year legacy, the user will be rated and stacked against others through a scoring system and contract valuation. Every coach will begin with a 2 year - $300k per year deal with coach option 1 year extension for year 3. In this game mode, you will always be offered an extension or a different job, but to build a successful legacy, you will want to perform well to receive higher prestige jobs.

At the end of each year, you will have the ability to see performance based on how well your team performed, job security, and negotiate your contract further. You will also have the opportunity to be contacted by other schools about a potential opening and then interview for the job. In the past you would be able to automatically accept a job, but now you will have to go through an interview process with the Athletic Director of that school and negotiate teams (years/dollars/goals) of the contract before accepting a job.

During the coaching career you will also have the ability to improve your coaching skills and abilities to recruit and schedule. This will stem from results in games and how time is allotted through each week in recruiting, game planning and training players.

Here are some of the options you can choose up front for your Career Legacy and the customization available

• Coach Name (Existing / New)
• Create your coach

• Same system as MyPlayer in terms of customization, including face scan

• Alma Mater
• Dream Job
• Style of Play
• Emphasis for recruiting
• Coaching Staff Hires
• Personality

Open Legacy (Game Mode)

All features and capabilities from Career Legacy and other game features, but this will allow the user to choose any school.

Play Now (Game Mode)

This will be the most basic of game modes allowing the user to play with any school against the CPU or another user. This will feature full customization in the following areas:

• Historic Teams
• Current Teams
• Arena Selection
• Broadcast / Presentation Style
• Full gameplay and rules settings including sliders
• Uniform Selection
• Lineups

A new experience will also be available for Play Now and Legacy Games. Due to arenas being stored on a server, the user will have the ability to shoot around at a predetermined arena or court while the game loads. Once the Arena has loaded, the user will be transported into the Arena for a warm-up mode where they will be in an open shoot around as fans walk into the arena. This feature will allow the player to feel the pre-game arena atmosphere and warm up.

Once they have completed their warm up, they will be prompted to make any changes they would like to make and then the broadcast will begin.

Practice (Game Mode)

Practice Mode will allow the user to choose any team or player for an open practice mode or allow them to practice plays. This will also include an educational piece on how to play the game (similar to NBA 2K) and teach players about college offensives and defensives that are slightly different than the collegiate game. Practice mode will also allow the user to load in any arena they would like.

All American Mode (Game Mode)

In a video game world full of virtual currency and ultimate teams, College Hoops NG will need to make an adjustment. This game mode will allow for the use of VC integration, but in the least invasive way possible. The user will have the flexibility of using a current school or creating their own to implement as their team.

The purpose of this mode is the ability for the user to build their own roster and coaching staff via collection of players through a point system that could also be tied to VC. These points can be accumulated via challenges in the game through Legacy and also Historic Moments, but a shortcut is available through VC. The players available will be based on the Top 10 Players from each programs history with each having a specific point value. These rosters would then be usable in leagues and competitions against others.

Engagement of tournaments and other online competitions would help draw this modes popularity.

Historic Moments (Game Mode)

Recreate 50 Moments in College Basketball and earn points that can be used in All American Mode or be done for the spirit of the game Some examples of moments listed below:

• Texas A&M trailed 69-57 with 35 seconds left against Northern Iowa. Can you force OT and win?
• Villanova’s game winner and buzzer beater against UNC in the national title game
• George Mason was facing the vaunted UConn Huskies in the Elite Eight. Can you get them by?

These are just a few examples and would be a great addition to the game.

Financials

As everyone is now aware, it has been 17 years since 2K released a college basketball video game and 15 years since EA. The decision made to discontinue the series was almost purely financial as the games were competing against each other and selling at marginal rate in comparison to other games, especially with the investment necessary to make a great game.

Shortly after the games were discontinued due to poor sales, the Ed O’ Bannon case totally ruined collegiate games due to licensing and many thought college video games were dead for good. This however has recently changed as we ramp up for the release of EA College Football in July of this year.

EA’s release of College Football has created one of the biggest buzzes for any video game in the past few years and is destined to sell at a historic rate when it is released in July. I do believe this will be the first stone to turnover in a return to a college basketball game so it will be important that College Football not only sells highly but surpasses EA’s projections.

In addition to its ability to sell, we are now learning a lot about the framework and costs required to create a college sports title in 2024 rather than 15 years ago. The expenses have changed and the ability to have real players and pay them, has also been changed. Some of these things create a tailwind for the game developer, while others do not. These will be outlined in the financials shown below.

All numbers shown below are best estimates and projections which I will explain. There is an abundance of information out there (thank you Matt Brown) that allows some of these views to come together.

In summary before discussing numbers, I am a firm believer that the desire for a college basketball game is the highest it has ever been and the delivery system is more efficient than ever. It also seems most reasonable that 2K would be the developer since they have a solid framework for a basketball game and the NBA license which allows for an integration between the two products.

As you can see above, College Basketball video games sales decrease by over 50% in a three-year span which led to the ultimate demise of both games. Reasoning isn’t known completely, but in theory college basketball had become less popular and more gaming options had become available.

Above is a very basic view of what College Football 25 looks like in a bubble. These are projected costs and may be incorrect, but is assumed here, sales north of 500k units would create a profit. The final version of College Football (NCAA 14) sold north of 1 million units so this seems like a very easy target to hit. This also does not include virtual currency which is pure revenue due to its digital capacity.

Looking now at the potential costs and revenues of College Hoops NG, here is a similar view. School Licensing and Player Fees are likely to be lower on a per capita basis than football due to its viewership and popularity.

Above you are seeing the potential breakeven point without Virtual Currency. In the section below, I am showing three scenarios with a breakout of potential sales and the profit.

Items of note from above:

• March Madness Version

• This is the Tournament Only version of the game that will be available on March 1st before the NCAA Tournament. From a production point, the developer will have almost no extra time needed except for roster updates and arenas which would already be in the game. This would be marketed during the regular season and cost the consumer $30. This would mainly attract the casual college basketball fan and be offered in a $100 pre-order for the game coming out in the fall. There would need to be a bonus included in this version, but this would be an excellent way to gain pre-orders and a revenue stream.

• College Hoops NG

• Full version of the game offered for $70. As you will see, revenue is calculated at $60 due to cost of distribution and potential sales. In the Low-End Projection of sales, this would match the final sales in 2007 for College Hoops 2k8. This scenario is unlikely due to the time between games, but it should be noted that this would likely be required as an annual or bi-annual release. With that considered it would be important to hit sales targets over a three-to-five-year period. In this scenario, I still project the game making $6 million which is solid and nearly 33% Profit Margin. In the High-End Projection, the profit margin would jump to over 200%.

• Virtual Currency

• Between season passes and purchases for MyPlayer, it is reasonable to suspect over $1m in Revenue. This would be a very conservative estimate, especially given integration with the NBA 2K MyPlayer career.

• NBA 2K Add. Sales

• This is defined as additional sales from NBA 2K players who are purchase the game for MyPlayer integration due to the realism of starting a career earlier. I also believe some of these additional sales would come from College Basketball lovers, who purchase NBA 2K to make sure they can continue their career in the NBA.

In the end, these are all projections, but I do believe these are not only realistic, but likely to be beaten due to the length between games. Hopefully a developer will take on some of these challenges and create College Hoops NG.