ESPN College Hoops 2K5 was a Masterpiece

Between an insanely deep legacy mode, authentic presentation, and very good and deep gameplay with a skill gap, ESPN College Hoops 2K5 one of the best made sports games of all time.
#retrospective #SOFTDRINKTV #game #review #sdtv

[@moistquasar3572]

2001-2007 was the golden age of sports games

[@rell4219]

How if 2K11 & 12 are considered the best sports game ever?

[@moistquasar3572]

@@rell4219 diamonds in the rough

[@dnmoscato92]

It absolutely was the best Era of sports games

[@moisesalmonte8271]

@@rell4219 He said all sports Games, not only basket

[@rell4219]

@@moisesalmonte8271 2K games were the most innovative & award winning sports titles when they were in competition with NBA LIVE

[@FaithfulFumoFan23]

Sports games were passion projects back then. Made by guys you can tell love sports and making games.

[@kushclarkkent6669]

Ahhhh the first college BBall game I ever played. Truly life changing. This was the golden age of sports gaming...we had so much to choose from. This series opened my eyes to the NBA 2K, NFL 2K, and even NHL 2K series. I loved them all and miss them dearly.

[@doubleeeeeee]

I grew up in Canada and didnt know anything about college sports but I rented this on a whim and was obsessed with NCAA games since. I remember going to preorder NCAA Football 06 at EB Games at the dude behind the counter looked at me like I was from the moon, game prolly sold 10 copies in Canada no reason to preorder it, but I wanted to make sure I got my copy

[@RobbieStacks90]

The first college basketball game I played was NCAA Final Four 99. 989 Sports

[@kushclarkkent6669]

@@doubleeeeeee Aw man NCAA 06 is a classic! Easily my 1B to NCAA 14's 1A. I still listen to the soundtrack pretty much daily!

[@JazzyJeff910]

MLB 2k as well. They literally had a license for every major American sports league.

[@kushclarkkent6669]

@@internet2055 I hope you can find inner peace someday.

[@L_Train]

College hoops 2k8 is the final and greatest version. It had everything 2k5 had and more, including shot selection using the right stick. The coach dynasty was great, starting at a small school and working your way up through mid majors to the big time. Landing recruits and upsetting teams in the tournament was so much fun. I long for an updated college basketball experience like the college hoops series.

[@PBMdanya]

This is about 2k5 lol

[@L_Train]

@@PBMdanya and 2k8 is better than everything you see here

[@paiv4256]

@@L_Train The PS3 version is one of my favorite games of all time. I'd pay double just for a PS5 remaster with updated rosters

[@horticultureharry6198]

I have both and I agree on everything except I do think the ESPN presentation in 2K5 is better than 2K8’s generic presentation. 2K8’s Legacy is one of the only career type modes I’ve ever played that I can’t just become dominant with the worst team with 2 seasons

[@PBMdanya]

@@L_Train duh but this is about 2k5. I have 2k8 as well. My point is to hop on the video to comment about another game that has nothing to do with the topic of the video.

[@KyreeseAlford1999]

FINALLY! Thank the gods! I have found someone on KZbin who thinks that 2K Sports’ College Hoops 2K5 is a ABSOLUTE MASTERPIECE! LET’S FREAKING GO, BABY! Edit: I hope you do a video talking about the series of other Midway Sports games like NHL Hitz, NFL Blitz, MLB Slugfest and Redcard 2003 really soon in future videos!

[@Ezmoney_662]

Agreed 💯

[@heykopkk8925]

Nice

[@lillagahnavich7700]

mam hitz was the best with the Limp Bizkit opening theme song

[@porhawj8579]

Is simulated stats accurate in legacy mode? I played nfl 2k5 on ps2. Stats look way off on qb, rb and wr

[@dirtymike3329]

The bigs and the bigs 2 were both lit

[@notatechguy1209]

To be honest, all of the College Hoops games from 2k4 to the end with 2k8 were great. I bought every year and would play 7 or 8 years deep in legacy mode. This franchise truly got better every year. 2k8 was a masterpiece with 2k taking everything they learned from years before and finally putting it all together.

[@organgrinder3982]

Played this with my dad so much. Great memories

[@jalen7690]

I vividly remember buying this from a pawn shop for $5 back in the summer of 2011. I had so much playing it that summer. The loudness of the crowd, the replay camera. It was fire.

[@TrillBuckets]

This was my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE Growing up,, I still have the case till this day.. 2K was on a MEAN streak throughout 05 and it was a time to be alive.. I only wish I understood the ins and outs the way I do now that I am older

[@smithwills]

I never thought I’d see the day that my favorite game would be talked about. Thank you sooo much

[@mistermann3225]

I remember this game. I played the hell out of it on PS2. I loved the way driving to the basket worked in this game.

[@Javier23gol]

This game was amazing! I remember having that trilogy of NBA 2K5, NFL 2K5 and NCAA 2K5.

[@RichRoyce89]

I wish they never stopped making this game. I still play College Hoops 2k8 to this day. Hopefully they can get the legal side of things down one day and bring this back.

[@Otakubro6]

Yeah unfortunately I don't you think modern 2k games touching this I. P, we all know modern 2k will monitize the hell out of the franchise and add pointless bloated features into the game that won't be fun or be a very very mixed bag the only good thing will be the modernized creation suite and graphics

[@myappealinglife]

Damn I miss the 2k5 Era of sports games I remember countless sleepness nights grinding these games, good times. Great video!

[@jaheimmoultrie7584]

same, mostly NHL 2K5.

[@atlien1988]

It's a damn shame how whenever we revisit these older titles we see so much more passion throughout the games from game design to presentation to game play. Today's AAA games feel so corporate & like they're just checking boxes. I've been playing games since the 90s. It's kinda sad to see where games are overall.

[@Youdoxxikill]

Dead on. I've been playing Madden 06 , NCAA 11 and ESPN baseball 2k5

[@IAmMicxh]

I haven’t played this game in years! Definitely was one of my favorites, I need to bring it back out for old times sake! Josh Childress on the cover! What a classic!

[@blakestrother5122]

Such a good game. Fond memories of managing teams or throwing it on a projector and running exhibition games. Actually used to do that as a part of March madness! All that said the X factor here is that these games were truly made with love and attention to detail. So hard to find today.

[@Richie2k]

Miss these games man, I used to get so immersed. Legacy Mode was crazy detailed

[@FreddyMenjivarShow]

I got this game like a year ago for my old ps2 and I loved it at first sight. Since I couldn’t afford 2k8 for my ps3. But it’s better than a lot of ps2 basketball games

[@rose4mvp2012]

I'll never forget getting this, NFL, and NBA 2K5 all for 60 bucks at Gamestop. Looking back, I don't know how I survived 3rd grade without going to summer school for missing school or failing a subject lol. 2K5s, Live 05, Madden 05, San Andreas, Halo 2 lol. Don't even remember going outside that Summer either.

[@NelsonBulluckGaming]

If you ever feel like your videos don't have any impact on your viewers, just know after watching this video the first time I ended up ordering a PS2 copy of this game. I can't wait to play it again. Thank you for another banger video bro. Much love.

[@J0hnH3nry]

This was my favorite basketball game at the time. Back when all 2k games were 20 dollars. I bought this for my 14th birthday for the ps2.

[@Th33Wildman]

It’s Christmas 2004, and my 13 year old self wakes up to every single 2k5 game. NBA 2k5 is what we see in 2k24.. the only problem is, we aren’t able to build a prelude with no College Hoops in sight. Both games would see massive numbers. I pray for this. COLLEGE HOOPS 2K25

[@SuperSherwood23]

I remember in sixth grade my aunt and uncle got me this game for Christmas on original Xbox. This shit brings me back man. Loved this game

[@mitchelljames5546]

Mid 2000's was really the golden era of sports video gaming

[@mrink241]

I remember creating a PG playing for Dayton and leading my team to March Madness as a freshman. I’ve been playing 2k since it’s inception back on Dreamcast.

[@H0LLOW_PRIV]

Yes!! Finally! It was finally time you covered this underrated masterpiece, this game honestly has it all, and encapsulates the atmosphere of a college basketball game, and with an awesome ESPN package!

[@alimoe4040]

Just stopping by to say thank you for creating this page. I’m an old school sports gamer for life and I love learning the Ins and outs of these titles. keep up the amazing work brother

[@drogba718]

I would play this game for hours man, just watching this video gave me nostalgia. From recruiting a 5 star prospect to climbing the coaching ladder and getting hired by a school in a power conference actually felt like an achievement. Thanks for trip down memory lane and hopefully they make a college hoops game in the future. Let's go Grambling state!!!

[@hawkzoid7]

I bought it recently on the OG Xbox and I still play it including NFL and NBA 2K5. Wish games like these can be backwards compatible with Today's Consoles. Amazing memories that sports fans can enjoy.

[@hitking683]

You just got a sub for this one! I tell ppl about 2k college hoops all the time and they look at me like they have no idea 😂 2k8 was my favorite but all of them were good. The selection show was on point I use to watch it like I do in real life the presentation was just next level. I cant remember if 2k5 had it but when I seen I was able to recruit players by actually watching their H.S. games I fell in love with this franchise. Me and my boy use to pick teams from small conference in franchise mode and go at it trying to win the conference, recruits, and to get to the tournament. Played all night..wish 2k could bring this back it's much needed.

[@RhetoricWolf]

Thanks for bringing me back to a little snippet of my childhood. What an incredible game that I took for granted back in the day 😊

[@LenGott8345]

College Hoops 2K was OUTSTANDING. 2K7 is easily my all time favorite college basketball game and I'd make a case for it being my favorite all time favorite college game. Legacy Mode is easily the deepest Dynasty mode you will ever see. I'm not sure what led to them going away from ESPN (I'm presuming EA got it for their college football and I guess that ended it), but this video got me really curious about how 2K5 played. 2K7 is really good and I love how you get to start out at a smaller school and work your way up getting attention from bigger programs as you go. I'm doing a Legacy Mode now in 2K7 where I'm a year into it with Gonzaga after winning two National Titles with North Florida.

[@youknowJP]

UNF all day! Started w them in 08😅

[@polskaman20001]

Only issue I got with 7 is the recruiting. You have to recruit little high school freshmen.. they just need to make it seniors and community college kids. It’s too tedious.

[@youknowJP]

@polskaman20001 2k8 has that as well and it's actually super helpful for smaller schools if you start recruiting early by the time he's a hs senior and a massive kid and a 5 star you'll already have a massive advantage

[@ThatsJustEric]

2k7 was my all-time favorite too

[@17fused]

@@youknowJP I love that feature of 2k8

[@ianbaker4494]

This is so great to see! This game is one of the first video games that I remember ever playing. It is a huge reason why I love college basketball and sports video games today

[@ryanm4074]

2k4 was just as fire as 2k5 tbh, i loved both of these games growing up and have so many hours on the franchise mode of these games. very slept on era

[@SportsFan838]

I never played 04. How was it??

[@ryanm4074]

@@SportsFan838 it's a great game tbh, outdated ofc but i love the focus on presentation and the momentum meter in the game. feels like an authentic college experience

[@hitek9too255]

2K4 didn't have team color accessories and limited create a player options and customization. Also, College Hoops 2K4 plays more like NBA 2K3. Still a good game though.

[@comradefausto]

Had this since it was new on OG Xbox. I still pick this one up every so often to start a new Legacy Mode. Many many many hours put into simulating decades and building powerhouses.

[@MrSquaky]

the ambient music on your videos are fire

[@snappington]

Thanks for always putting me onto these throwback classics

[@generaldiscernment]

SDTV back with another banger. I vividly remember this one as a youngster, incredible game and I miss the hell out of college sports titles. Would love to see you do a vid on MLB The Show 23. Cheers brother.

[@sdotsloan4809]

Another one! Thanks softdrink for showing these young boyz what real sports video gaming is.

[@NateWolfKira]

Thank you for this look back at this game. Recently I've been taking a look back at PS2 games that supported the HDD to add to my collection. Granted that is a pretty short list for NA releases. This was one of a number of the 2K sports titles that had fully rendered replays if you had the HDD installed on your PS2. Without it, replays would be still images. That may not seem like much by today's standards, but the use official use of the HDD back then was short lived (unless you played a lot of Final Fantasy XI on PS2 back then, I still have my install file on mine). I don't plan to get all the sports titles that use the HDD, but wanted to get at least two of them as an example of the time period they came from. This video was helpful in making my selection. I've also pursued completing my collection of all 11 non-sports NA releases that supported the PS2 HDD.

[@nftscreenshotter6436]

NBA Live 05, march madness 05, madden 05, nfl 2k5, college hoops 2k5, mvp baseball 2005.........bro what was in the water in 2005? Game companies just ate that year with sports. I had NBA Live 05 and MVP Baseball 05. So fun.

[@mattsayre8956]

Was bummed last week cause you hadn't covered this one and then here it is. Keep up the good work man

[@masteroneal]

I exhausted what this game had to offer especially in the legacy mode, running UConn and UFlorida because guys from my high school played for them, #31 Rashad Anderson UConn & #32 Chris Richards UF. I had just made the basketball team in high school at the time so I was just fully immersed in this game until 2k8 came out which added the drills we ran at my school. All of this to say, I’ve been a day one 2k player in Dreamcast and the 2k5 era was definitely a golden era for 2k.🔥 That’s for highlighting this on 2k5!🙏🏾

[@ghostface3652]

Not gone lie, sports gaming was in they’re bag in 2004. NFL 2k5, Madden 05, NCAA 2k5, Nba live 2005..all great games in my opinion

[@RingsideCinema]

A College Basketball game today would be fun, taking a small school and making them into a legit Championship contender throughout the ever changing college landscape. Now with transfer portals where you try to convince your best players to stay instead of going to a major school, or keeping your coach from leaving for a better opportunity at a bigger school. Or you play as a player and enter the transfer portal with the team trying to convince you to stay, etc. So much potential in a college basketball game today, plus importing draft classes into NBA2K, it needs to happen. If EA is making a college football game again, then at least let 2K make a college basketball game.

[@blakswizzy]

The 2k8 version is the greatest ball game I've ever played and was the reason I kept my ps3

[@Ryguy1986lal]

Brings me back to high school in 2005. Thanks for this!

[@mike91mdk45]

Remains my favorite era of sports titles. Soooo many options, and bangers among those options

[@2kTeacher]

Great video SoftDrink. Loved this game. Keep up the good work man

[@kentuckyjerk323]

I miss 2k College Hoops. The coaching career mode was awesome.

[@dankusknog3939]

LETS GOO SOFTDRINK

[@BillyBassBen]

March madness 08 is also a underrated masterpiece

[@mattdavis9601]

Sega went out on top. All of their swansong 2K5 games were absolutely amazing. Thanks for this retrospective.

[@zetastreaker47]

I’ve been doing a Ole Miss dynasty on College Hoops 2K5. While I haven’t played the game for a few months, and there are a few issues I have with gameplay, this game is still pretty great.

[@willpomeroy7711]

You didn’t mention how they already had all the players’ names in the game for the announcers to say during gameplay, you just had type it in yourself in roster mode. And If you just typed in “JJ”, there would already be ‘JJ Redick’ available to clicked and entered automatically. The predictive name text was awesome, especially for players with hard last names to spell!

[@klima3056]

I haven't played videos games in a few years but if they ever made a college basketball game again i would be all in on it!

[@joeball13]

I remember college hoops 2K8 being so incredible me and my friends in college would play for hours. I remember grabbing March madness 10 when it came out and the game felt so hollow, the arenas and the fans and the way played and the dynasty float itself. You could do an HD in Ross are update to call you to 2K8 and it would still be a great game

[@glight23]

This was a damn good video!! Thank you !!

[@framymuyu]

I remember buying this game for $20 brand new! It was sooo very good!

[@hamptonbrown1765]

The legacy mode was the absolute best! I remember going in and naming basically every player in the power 5 conferences.... player.by.player. lol it took a long time, but totally worth it once you played your buddies and every player had their real name.

[@evlmnky33]

I just bought this game bc of this vid. I’m loving it and now I’m searching for forum post from 2004 for good slider sets. Ha

[@Marcus_shawn]

2k basketball was on fire in 2005 ESPN NBA 2k5 was the truth too

[@udokee7409]

Cap, real ones knew to pick nba live 05 that year lol

[@TheRiverintheRoad]

I'm gonna watch whatever you put out. Review every old SNES football game, I don't care. Love your style man.

[@darnell16player]

This was the second college basketball game that I played outside of the March madness title on Xbox. But this one takes the cake for me on PS2, I still have my copy of it and nba 2k5. Man I wish I had a ps2 just to go back and get lost in the game and memories again!

[@TYMBO11]

I was a 2k8 fan myself but 2k5 was great too

[@thepinata9656]

Just watching this makes me sad. College hoops 2k8 was my favorite game and I remember when they announced 2k9 being cancelled. I never thought I'd be without a college basketball game for longer than I had been alive at the time I started playing 2k8. It's still a great game that is playable but it is dated. It was already in depth but it would have been such an amazing series if it had continued.

[@Pwop_]

Something about this one has had me coming back to it every March since like 2018

[@Landerjosh]

I spent MANY hours on this game on the ps2. Truly a great game.

[@bbryant9455]

Amen to all y'all that agree! Such a great game almost 20 years later. Lmao I still remember standing in Walmart taken aback at the price. 20 bucks? Is this the right price tag? 🤣😭 Started a dynasty a couple months ago! So fun to get so caught up in the recruiting 💯

[@devaughn850]

This is the only game I've been playing for the last three months. Classic

[@justinzeigler4459]

I still play to this day, love it

[@novafan237]

I still have this game on my original Xbox such fun memories playing this game sadly my original Xbox doesn’t work so I can’t play it anymore but I still have the disc for this amazing childhood game of mine !!! :)

[@byronherrera777]

Yup!! I remember that game!! ONE SHINING MOMENT

[@joeyroyer3195]

played this as a kid - favorite basketball game ever tbh

[@CloudyWithAChanceOf5thPlace]

College Hoops 2K5 was amazing! So many hours put into this game! Had one of my greatest video game moments using North Carolina and I'm mad at myself for not remembering who I was playing against but it was a back and forth game all the way thru, late in the game I would go down 5, then I go up 5, back and forth, back and forth, was down 2 at the end and was convinced it's over because these sports games are RIGGED sometimes (lol!), I inbound the ball, get it past half court and launch a deep three as time expires and BANG! Win the game by 1! Felt like a real f'n game at that moment lol!! So much fun! Bring College Hoops back!!!!!!

[@Tumidy]

Looking forward to playing this just bought it after watching your video

[@derek85581lj]

One of my favorite games, 2005 in general a great time for sports games

[@mattbyrd123]

I remember taking my player into the draft and connecting with NBA 2k n my drafting my player amazing

[@bryant475]

I've never played it, but looks fun! NBA Live 03 is my favorite basketball game ever, it's amazing!

[@jiggajivin]

I miss college sports games so much!

[@Tony-cn9ro]

Loved this one

[@CoachChef]

It's crazy I just purchased this game at a retro gaming store about a month ago. And that's a person who was an EA fan on greatly surprised by the great detail in the game from this year

[@comeonnow2628]

Same, I literally just got it at a local CD/Game Exchange on Xbox. The gameplay on simulation mode is phenomenal

[@brianhangfaing4946]

@@comeonnow2628 it might look outdated but do you think the gameplay is better than todays' nba?

[@vinnyp5167]

Just got this game today after watching this vid!

[@bradydicarlo9143]

My favorite college basketball game of all time!

[@dnmoscato92]

I'm doing a legacy mode with VMI keydets right now. On the 3rd hardest difficulty. And I beat the #7 buckeyes opening game! 62-60 was up 14 with 2 to go and they came back and missed an open 3 and I won it. It was fun

[@manny4prez05]

First off, LOVE LOVE LOVE your videos on the classic games i grew up on as a teen, its a much needed jog down memory lane each one! This may come off sounding real naive but how do people still play this on renders? I am very unfamiliar on how these things work but I hear you mention it in quite a few videos that you make. What would a layman video game user need for this to work and or have to get for it. If you respond to this I really really appreciate it. Even if anyone else takes the time to read and respond, thanks in advance! You rock!!

[@TheOtherMJ_76]

I just dug out my copy of ESPN 2K5…the OG XBOX version (my XBox is long gone) so I can’t play it anymore!😢 I have 2K8 on PS3, which I still have on hand so there’s that. 😁 Ahhh, the memories.

[@Jpark.]

All of Sega's 2k5 games were bangers

[@polskaman20001]

Just finished a legacy on this game. Coach K was still coaching for 64 years and wouldn’t retire for my coach to coach at duke. Freaking robot tech in the 2040s. Great game, I just recruit players and sim the game. It’s like football manager but college hoops style.

[@antwilliams296]

Coach k is immortal

[@jrevell113]

Picked up this game and nfl street 2 weeks ago and I’m IMMERSED

[@epthemaster]

Since you did this game, you should do NCAA 2K 3 probably the rarest game on the game cube

[@mymom9741]

I Love your Outro music

[@PeopleCallMeQ]

can only imagine the options in a modern day 2k college game. Imagine an online march madness tournament you can run against randoms / friends.

[@PBMdanya]

Lmao tons of complaints

[@needmoneynow2]

They were COOKIN' with those 05 sports video games

[@inshallah4280]

Bro this vid is crazy! Gonna try this one out on an emulator.

[@rushborda6333]

Import the rookie to NBA was my favorite

[@TheJpyne518]

use to fire this up on snow days back in grade school and its backwards compatible on xbox. what a gem

[@jordanwilson5447]

I absolutely loved College Hoops 2k5

[@membersonlydave]

played this on xbox loved it. legacy mode was so fun.