It’s been quite a roller coaster ride in the world of college sports gaming, starting with EA Sports shocking the world on a random Summer day with a tease that their college basketball video games were coming back. Matt Brown initially reported the probability of a return, and then EA confirmed it.
Then, later that same day, on June 30, 2K came out of nowhere to stun gamers with a tweet that said “The campus has been quiet for too long” in response to a user who said 2K should make the college game. From there, it seemed like both companies were going to make a game, but things took a wild turn.
EA dropped out of the college basketball battle since many schools wanted to work with 2K instead. Also, EA wanted exclusive rights for the game, which was planned to include every D1 men’s and women’s college basketball teams. And since they couldn’t get that exclusivity, they abandoned ship.
2K’s initial idea for a college hoops experience was awful, as they were planning on including a college basketball experience within MyTEAM in NBA 2K, according to Matt Brown. But since the NDA was broken, the news got out, and so 2K decided to switch things up.
Fast forward to the present, and we now know that 2K’s plans include having over 100 D1 schools for their game or “experience,” as they called it in a statement. Although that’s much better, it’s still not the full experience, but who knows; maybe they’ll add more schools down the road.
But the plan is to release this college hoops game in 2027. However, there’s a little more to it than that. They also mentioned that there’s going to be a “few surprises” coming in early 2026, and it wouldn’t be shocking if they’re connected with NBA 2K26. Here are a few possibilities on what those surprises could be.
MyTEAM Integration
Oh no, not the dreaded MyTEAM integration. But all joking aside, including a few colleges in MyTEAM for NBA 2K26 is fine; I just don’t want the entire college experience inside of MyTEAM; that would be terrible. But I could definitely see this as one of the surprises coming in early 2026, just to give college basketball fans a little taste before the big experience in 2027.
Perhaps you can crack open college card packs to get uniforms, players, and some iconic college arenas. Being able to play and see places like Allen Fieldhouse, Cameron Indoor Arena, and Pauley Pavilion with the current-gen graphics as soon as the beginning of 2026 would be very cool.
2K likes to include legends in MyTEAM so there’s no doubt they would include both current college players and great collegiate players from the past. So if you’re a fan of a certain school, you can go ahead and create a dream team of sorts.
College Tournament Mode
This would probably be the best-case scenario if we’re going to see college content in NBA 2K26 early next year. A college tournament would be a great way to whet the appetite until 2027. Yes, it would undoubtedly be a small tournament, as there will probably only be around 12-16 schools in the game if we’re lucky.
Remember, even the full experience in 2027 isn’t going to have every school, unfortunately, so if a mode like this is implemented in NBA 2K26, don’t expect many squads. But if anything, it’ll give us a glance into what the future could hold.
If this mode did come to fruition, a great idea would be to reward City and MyTEAM players for participating in the standalone mode. Some cards for the MT players and some cosmetics and MyCOURT stuff for the City players. This would be very similar to how the Jordan Challenge and Mamba Challenge from NBA 2K23 and 2K24 operated.
City Events
With the City being such a popular spot in NBA 2K, one possibility would be college-themed events with rewards representing different schools. I’m not sure what the exact event would be, but perhaps something similar to Court Conqueror, where you play against some of the top schools in 3-on-3 games, rather than NBA teams, and perhaps they’d be all-time college teams.
The thing that would suck about events, however, is that you would be playing against the college squads and not using them, which is what we all want. Not to mention the fact that events are always for a limited time. So overall, this idea would suck, but I thought I’d just toss it out there anyway.
City Store Items
This is by far the simplest integration of college hoops that 2K can bring to NBA 2K26 in early 2026. In fact, I think this is a lock to happen, especially with some schools already on board with 2K, like UCLA, which is confirmed. It’s just a matter of what the other surprises are, but you can book this one.
It’s such an easy thing to implement and will allow Park players to rock the gear of their favorite schools during games. Or, simply just for style, as many 2K players (myself included) love some fresh fashion and college jerseys are always cool, especially when they’re officially licensed.
Not to mention, NBA 2K is no stranger to having college apparel in the game. You were able to unlock or purchase items in 2K21, 2K22, and 2K23. And you were able to get a Stephen Curry Davidson jersey or a James Harden Arizona State jersey going all the way back to NBA 2K16. Hopefully, we can unlock some MyCOURT wall murals and court floors, too; that would be great.
College Play Now Mode
If there isn’t a Tournament Mode of some kind, then the least they can do is have a “College Play Now” mode or something. I’d expect a small number of schools here as well, but if we can freely enjoy some games with the actual arenas, traditions, and real players, then it’d be a nice little appetizer for what’s to come.
And it wouldn’t be the first time 2K’s done this. In NBA 2K17, they had All-Time college teams that you can get as a DLC and then use in Play Now. It was a neat idea, and I hope that All-Time or historic teams are something 2K will have for their new college experience.
Who knows, maybe All-Time teams are one of the surprises that’s included. If so, then something like that is always welcome. Plus, it’s tradition for college basketball video games to have classic teams to choose from anyway. But, other than the addition of apparel in the City stores, this seems like one of the most likely things to happen in early 2026.
