Draft Day Sports: College Basketball 2022

Draft Day Sports: College Basketball 2022 has the basic fundamentals of a sports management sim and can be fun for a while, but it quickly loses its shine. Compare to other games like Out of the Park Baseball, it's really is lacking in a lot of areas. The user interface is not great - I had a hard time telling what I could click. There are some weird elements like dropdowns that explain different strategic schemes, and there's not a lot of options in customizing the tables and columns to suit your needs. You can't even really search. Finding and recruiting players for your team is fairly enjoyable. You basically have to scout out players and can gradually build up interest. It's interesting looking at their ratings and trying to figure out how to assemble a team. However, I really didn't feel I had much involvement in the space of player development. You basically decide which offensive and defensive schemes you want to practice and that's it. The transfer portal is a little tacked on but it's serviceable. It's a lot faster than recruiting is. You don't really have a lot of room to define your game strategy if you want to sim through the games.You can decide which offensive and defensive schemes to run and assign depth charts. Admittedly, I don't know a ton about basketball strategy, and even I could tell it was lacking. It'd be nice to have more options here: * Let me decide how aggressively to rotate players when they foul (maybe an option to bench a player when they get 2 fouls before the first half as well) * Give me more offensive and defensive schemes - there's no pack-line or no-middle defenses, mostly just man-to-man and zones. There's no way to control how aggressively to close out, whether to hedge or go under ball screens, how much help defense, etc. * There's no way to pick usage % - yeah there's the depth chart, but maybe I want my star player to take more shots than my 1 star dud that I have to field. Overall I just didn't feel like I had a lot of control over the style I wanted to run. It's serviceable but it could be so much better with some improvements.

I've been critical, but patient, with this game in the past. There were lots of little bugs and too many that let to catastrophic crashes and lost data/time. There are still bugs and minor issues that lead to consistent minor frustrations. For instance, buying reports while in multiplayer mode still seems not to work. If it does work, I can't figure out how it is supposed to. That said, I haven't run into any crashes whatsoever in about 6-7 seasons. The game does have a learning curve. Not just for learning the game mechanics, but also for learning how the program itself wants you to do certain things. That part is frustrating, but if you play a single player mode or can get more comfortable switching back and forth between the commissioner and the coaches, it's all workable/learnable. I've suggested in the past that this studio makes too many games and half finishes each. There's some reason to thing there's truth in that. But, still... each year they are improving their products. I'm really really happy with this version of this game. It feels to me like the game I always wanted it to be. I've been playing it (often with considerable dismay) for years and I think that dedication has finally paid off. Two thumbs up.

This game really proved what I already knew-- That I am the greatest College Basketball Coach of all time, and when I complain about how the Kentucky Wildcats are playing in the KSR forums, I should be taken seriously. PUT ME ON YOUR STAFF COACH CAL, OR MOVE OUT OF THE WAY. I clearly know what I'm talking about. /s Seriously though, I dig it. The $40 price tag is easier to swallow knowing that I will easily play this game for more than 40 hours. The UI is a bit overwhelming at first, but really starts to make sense pretty quickly. I feel like the game does a good job of giving you some direction in the beginning via the emails and alerts. All in all, I highly recommend this game to anyone who loves basketball, loves college basketball, or loves proving to all the haters that you're the greatest basketball mind that has ever lived.

when i try to load a conference, it wants me to find files somewhere and add new files and i just can't. Other game menu selections take me to my computer's file menu with no clue what I am to look for. This game isn't ready for distribution.

Its a very good game i think it still has a long way to go so i don't believe it justifies its price tag but has so much potential i am still enjoying it

I want to like this game,but there isn't Editor unlike the Pro Games of the same studio

Skipped last year and had the 2020 game. That game crashed a bunch and I have not encountered that with this game. However, why does it take so long to fast sim an entire season compared to the college football game. It's frustrating as sometimes I just don't want to play day to day, but I need to wait forever for a season to be over. Sometimes I forget the game is even running because I'm waiting for it to sim in the background. Been this way for all the other versions. Won't be buying another college basketball version again. So much potential yet I feel like every year has minor improvements.

7/10

There are some issues with this game, but still worth buying if you're a veteran of sports manager modes. Important to note that this is a true indie game, not produced from a large company, so some of the menus/UI are a little basic. This isn't OOTP for basketball, but that shouldn't stop you if you have been itching for a college dynasty game. Pros: - Easy mods! Go to Wolverine Studio's website and on the forums you can find a full mod with all teams, logos, coaches, etc. ready to go. Very easy to download and it comes with a full guide. - Recruiting. It's actually a bit difficult if you're not at a good school and do not have maxed out attributes. Sadly the strategies for finding good players is a little basic (who did well at the camps?). Although, you can find diamonds in the rough and stars actually play like stars which makes it all more satisfying. - Modern transfer portal. It's a little basic but very fun to use to fill in gaps or overhaul your roster at a new school. I've skipped recruiting freshman and instead went full transfer portal with success. - Prestige system. You can't turn Georgia State into a powerhouse overnight. If you consistently perform over a 5 year span, you can develop solid program prestige. Very cool system so when you leave your small school, they can continue having some success. Cons: - Nobody will hire you! I have a fully maxed coach, start every season at #1, won multiple championships, but middle P5 schools refuse to hire me. Very frustrating. - Simplistic UI - Strategies get repetitive Suggestions: - Make the transfer portal players easier to evaluate. Need to be able to see what systems a player has played in without having to select a player. More details on players in general would be nice. - PLEASE make applying for a new job more realistic. Louisville should not be denying a multiple championship level coach after a 10-25 season. - When moving to a new school, have the option to ask a player to transfer. This is very common in college basketball today when a new coach comes in. Also have the ability to sway your recruits from your former school to your new school. - Walk ons need to stop causing incidents with the team lol. What walk on is starting fights?

If you want to prove the coach of your favorite team is an idiot, this is your game. If you personally want to drive, shoot and rebound, look elsewhere.