After an exciting start, the college basketball season is hitting it's stride as we near the Holidays. With Tournament time still months away, I thought it would be an interesting idea to run 2010 season simulations using both the newly released NCAA Basketball 10 and the 2 year old College Hoops 2k8 with an updated 09/10 roster set.

Not only was I interested in respective simulation results between both games, I was also curious to see come March which game produced the most realistic results. Call it a grudge match of the simulation engines if you will.

So how will your favorite squad fare in 2009/2010? Let's look into the video game crystal ball to find out. Today's contestant is College Hoops 2K8.

Released in November of 2007, College Hoops took the sports gaming world by storm. With it's detailed presentation, solid gameplay, and emphasis on coaching strategy, the game has remained the basketball game of choice for many. Utilizing College Hoops' 2K Share feature, I was able to download accurate 2009-2010 rosters for this simulation. While I did find some roster discrepancies with a couple of the games smaller teams such as with North Dakota State. However, the rosters and attributes for all the power conferences and mid majors were spot on.

The entire season was simulated with injuries on, just for reference.

Season Storyline

The College Hoops 2009/2010 season was full of interesting twists and turns.

Kansas fans can rest easy, as the Jayhawks controlled the polls all season long, never giving up the #1 spot. North Carolina cruised through ACC regular season competition, racking up 26 wins in the process. The biggest positive surprises came from the Big East where both UCONN and Pittsburgh exceeded expectations, finishing the season ranked 2 and 4 respectively.

Clemson also had an incredible year, playing second fiddle only to UNC in the ACC. Minnesota came out of nowhere to beat both Purdue and Ohio State for the Big Ten crown, with Michigan State falling apart late- finishing 19-13, and missing the tournament.

Kentucky ran away with the SEC, surviving a month long injury to Patrick Patterson in the process, but were humbled by a scrappy Tennessee squad in the conference tournament.

In the Pac 10 Arizona is apparently back to late 90’s form, running the table in both the regular season and conference tournament. Oregon State competed for both the regular season and conference championship crowns, but were no match for the mighty Cats in the end. And finally, the Cinderella story of the year was the UW Green Bay Phoenix, who beat a ranked Butler team twice, a then top 10 Michigan State team by 32 points, and finally capped off a 23-7 season by taking the Horizon league tournament crown.

The biggest negative surprise came in Coach K'ville, as the once mighty Duke Blue Devils could only manage 10 wins in an injury plagues season. The Dukies finished 10-20, and missed the tournament for the first time in 14 years. In other news, Tar Heel fans everywhere rejoiced as soon as this information was revealed.

Final Top 10 Rankings

1.Kansas (25-6)
2.UCONN (26-7)
3.UNC (26-8)
4.Pittsburgh (25-6)
5.Kentucky (22-10)
6.Minnesota (24-8)
7.Clemson (21-9)
8.Arizona (21-11)
9.UW Green Bay (23-7)
10. Georgetown (20-11)

Tournament 1 Seeds

East: Pittsburgh (#1 overall seed in tourney due to RPI and Big East Tourney Championship game win over UCONN)
South: UCONN
West: UNC
Midwest: Kansas

Top 4 Tournament Seeds By Region

East:
1.Pittsburgh
2.Arizona
3.Kentucky
4.Pepperdine

South:
1.UCONN
2.Clemson
3.UW Green Bay
4.San Francisco ( 29-2 record)

West:
1.UNC
2.Minnesota
3.Villanova
4.Georgetown

Midwest
1.Kansas
2.Marquette
3.Vanderbilt
4.UCLA

Tournament Storyline

The first day of the tournament produced one of the biggest upsets on record when #15 Northern Colorado defeated #2 Minnesota 70-68. Northern Colorado then went on to defeat #7 seed Oregon State in game 2, 69-68 to advance to the Sweet 16. Another small scale upset occured when North Carolina’s youth caught up to them, losing to #8 West Virginia and becoming the first #1 seed to exit stage left in just their second game. UNC was not alone though, as #1 UCONN also saw their tournament dreams end by game 2 as they were throttled by #8 Texas 84-57.

The second weekend of the tournament found #1 seed Pittsburgh being upset by a hungry #5 seed in Dayton 65-64. Arizona then cruised over the Flyers in the Elite 8 and were on their way to the Final Four. Georgetown met up with West Virginia in the Sweet 16, and were able to defeat the Mountaineers handily. The Hoyas continued their reign of terror by destroying the glass slipper belonging to Cinderella story UW Wisconsin to win the West region. The next two tickets punched to the Final Four were Clemson who needed overtime to beat Texas in the Elite 8, and Kansas who manhandled Ohio State and and Missouri.

Final Four

East: #3 Arizona
vs.
West:#4 Georgetown

South: #2 Clemson
vs.
Midwest: #1 Kansas

Arizona def Georgetown 73-61
Clemson def Kansas 75-73


National Champion

Clemson def Arizona 67-56

The Clemson Tigers are the 2009/2010 National Champions. There's a new big dog in the ACC!

Season Awards

POTY: Luke Harangody (Notre Dame) 25.1 ppg, 11.3 RPG
Coach of the Year: Bill Self (Kansas)
Defensive POTY: Cole Aldrich (Kansas) 13 rpg, 2.1 bpg
Freshman of the Year: John Wall (Kentucky) 11.3 ppg, 5.3 apg

All in all 2K8 did a decent job with the season sim. While Clemson is a great team I have a hard time believing they can win it all this season. The tournament upsets and Final Four weren’t out of the realm of possibility, and the post season awards could be spot on come April.

Coach McLeod's Completely Arbitrary Grade for CH2K8's Season Sim: B

Check back early next week when we take a look at NCAA Basketball 10's season preview. How will it compare to CH2K8? How would you grade CH2K8's season sim? Sound off below.