What makes this a bit worse is that the top 25 polling AI is completely off the wall. After ten games, Troy was ranked number eight in the country. Ohio State went to number one in the land after eight games. It just doesn’t make any sense. On the plus side, usually the teams that deserve to get into the 64 team tourney do get in although there are some highly questionable bubble team entries, but that does reflect real life.

Finally, the pool of high school seniors contains too many top level recruits, which makes it a bit too easy for mid level teams to become elite level teams over a short period of time. This does make the game a bit more fun for low level teams as they aren't always stuck recruiting bad players, but after a few seasons it’s not uncommon to see mid majors become powerhouses.

Gripes aside, there is a lot of meat in College Hoops' Legacy mode. It needs more time in the oven to fix some issues, but recruiting, and watching your team evolve remains a hell of a good ride. There's nothing like getting into a recruiting war with a conference rival only to lose out and watch as that player lights you up for 30 points.

If Legacy mode isn't your thing you can take the game online and join leagues, run tourneys, and so on. 2K Sports' online support remains vastly superior to that of EA Sports and if you're into playing with buddies via Xbox Live then this is definitely a game you'll want to pick up. It's a blast to play over the XBL service.

With the proposed January release of the Xbox 360 version of College Hoops 2K6, those who own both consoles should hold out until the 360 version hits store shelves. Visual Concepts is trying to fix some of the issues for the new release so it's best to wait unless you don't have a 360 and don't plan on getting one anytime soon.

Gripes aside, College Hoops 2K6 is easily the best college basketball game of the year and one that every college hoop fan needs to own. - William Abner