Agreed. There is a huge disconnect between the "base" and critic ratings. For the most part, I think metacritic ratings are BS. Full of subjectiveness, bias, and they lack of knowledge about the game itself.
College Hoops 2K8 was the greatest college sports game ever made IMO. NCAA 2004 was a very fun game, but it's gameplay didn't capture college football(MARIO RUNNING) like CH2K8 did basketball. It didn't have the franchise killing bugs that CH2K7 had nor did it have the gameplay imbalances of NBA 2K8.