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<\/p>\nGood morning, and thanks for spending part of your day with Extra Points.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re one of the many Extra Points readers who keep asking me when they\u2019ll be able to play a college basketball video game\u2026I have good news. The answer is Friday.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday morning, 2K announced that \u201cSeason 5\u201d of NBA2K26, which begins on Friday, February 20, will include officially licensed college athletes and IP from a variety of large programs. <\/p>\n
The 16 programs featured in Season 5\u2019s college programming are: Arizona, Baylor, Duke, Florida, Houston, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisville, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Purdue, Texas, UCLA, UConn, and UNC.<\/p>\n
Season 5 will include \u201cover 40\u201d active college players with playable MyTeam cards, including at least one male and female player from each program, along with the alumni players. Examples of confirmed players include Cameron Boozer, Caleb Foster, Azzi Fudd and Lauren Betts. <\/p>\n
Based on data that\u2019s been shared with me so far, I\u2019d expect UNC and Duke to have the most current athletes featured in the game. <\/p>\n
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Unlike the core simulation mode in NBA2K (MySeaon), where one controls an NBA or WNBA full roster and plays against other current teams, the bulk of the college IP will be centered around the game\u2019s MyTeam mode. MyTeam is a collectible card game where players build rosters of current (and former) NBA and WNBA stars, building a dream team to play against the computer or other players. <\/p>\n
The current athletes will be available as 94 Overall Evolution Cards to start the season, and over the course of the season, can be upgraded to more powerful versions (96 and 98 overall, respectively).<\/p>\n
Over the next several weeks, NBA2K26 will feature not just current men\u2019s and women\u2019s college basketball players from those 16 programs, but also famous alumni of those programs. A spokesperson for 2K told Extra Points that these athletes \u201cwill span different eras\u201d, but all under the game\u2019s current Player\u2019s Association and Direct Player licenses. <\/p>\n
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Examples of some of those alumni players will include the great White Chocolate himself, Jason Williams (Florida), a mask-less Rip Hamilton (UConn), and a 100-overall Breanna Stewart (also UConn). <\/p>\n
2K is proud of the fact that the game did more than just include the names and rough likenesses of current athletes into the game. The company also physically visited the participating programs to produce facial scans of the participating players. That\u2019s common for many professional sports video games, but not always feasible. EA Sports College Football, for example, built player likenesses via photographs, but not actual facial scans. It is a bit harder to do that for 12,000+ athletes, after all.<\/p>\n
Beyond facial scan data, 2K tells me they\u2019ve \u201cpacked Season 5 with authentic rewards for fans to start repping some of their favorite schools now.\u201d That includes, but not limited to, wearable mascot outfits for players to use in The City (MyCareer Mode), school-specific signature courts in MyTeam, team-specific murals, and more. <\/p>\n