College Hoops 2K20 Simulation Part 3: Finishing ACC Play

(Check the prior article for a primer and Steven’s series + SBN’s Ricky O’Donnell, for the inspiration. All pictures taken on JEOHankins2’s personal device and purchased items)

Now if you’re looking at this picture and wondering “now that doesn’t look like the state of the art graphics from the 2007 release of College Hoops 2K8 on the XBox 360” you’re absolutely right. I made a statement that I was thinking of moving to a new game and since folks online see fit to create real college rosters and arenas on NBA 2K20 I made that switch. And the reason why is well...see below...

Record

12-14 (5-11), 10th in the ACC

Roster

-DJF finishes as our leading scorer and rebounder at about 16 & 8 respectively. Truth be told if we can get these numbers from him this year I don’t see any way we aren’t dancing.

-C.J. Bryce completed his senior year averaging 14 ppg and shot 39% from 3.

-Thankfully despite a rough start the real Markell Johnson left State better off than the Virtua-kell. In the simulation MJ had less than 5 assists a game along with shooting 31% from the field and 40% at FT line. We really needed a stellar year from him to compete but despite being the highest rated player on the team, he was sim’d into being garbage.

-Some bit of good news for the future (which will never come) Bates led the league in blocks and DJF was 2nd in boards.

-State finished ranked 121 in offense and 300(!) in defense (I don’t know if there is a comparable real season to that but this feels worse than any of those).

Recruiting

-Entered a dead period at end of regular season but great shape with 3 guys and pretty good shape with 2 others...but again this is the last season of College Hoops ever

2nd Half of Conference Play

-The ACC is the #1 conference in RPI and projected to have 7 out of 12 teams in the Big Dance (with Duke & Louisville being #1 seeds).

-We ranked 33 in RPI with 5 wins against the Top 50 RPI and only 1 sub 200 loss. Our resume didn’t get us in because...well we loss pretty much everything else

-Best Win: while we beat #1 Duke by 5 at home; a drubbing of #16 FSU just a game before had us with 6 players in double figures, 21 assists on 34 made baskets, 80% FT, 33 rebounds to 27 and 92 points scored. It’s that frustrating game that shows what State could’ve been all season.

-Worst Loss: @BC (surprise!). We shot 23-56 from the field and 8-21 from 3, none of this feels unfamiliar...BC is 14-18 for the record. Have to punctuate this with the worst loss I’d have hated to witness if I actually watched these. A 77-76 home loss to Chapel Hill, where State was down 8 at the half, rallied to out score them in the 2nd only to lose by 1...and I take it all back, this game might be the most realistic simulation of all time.

Who’s Next

Technically FSU in the ACC tourny but truthfully...not a thing...I am done man! Thought this would be fun but instead it conjured ghosts of NC State Stuff past. I considered trying the same with NCAA 10 from EA but that game is so flawed they’d probably have us lose out. SO now I am playing makeshift college conferences as State with NBA 2K20 and dreaming of the day the NCAA allows players to bargain collectively so the real deal will return with new gen graphics and amenities. Until then thanks for checking the results of this unfortunate series...now lets burn it to the ground and never speak of it again.