NCAA Basketball 09 Revealed, Part Two (5-wg)

[Steve_OS]

Our good friend Shawn Drotar, over at 5-wg, has posted part 2 of his NCAA Basketball 09 Revealed article.

Quote:

"Dougan explained that the time out is a bigger weapon that ever before, and judicious use of time outs can change the game, much like in real life. Now that game tempo has become arguably the most important single factor in any game of NCAA Basketball 09, time outs can be used to break a team’s momentum. Taking a time out essentially moves the tempo meter a portion of the way towards the middle, meaning the opposition can literally change a team’s play by removing bonuses from a team that’s on a hot streak, and minimizing their own penalties somewhat. In other words, it does exactly what real-life timeouts are supposed to do - let your team regroup - and as such, you’ll utilize them like a real basketball coach would. It’s surprising how much of a difference it makes."

[ehh]

Quote:

Selectable prior to the game, each of the three offensive types (up-tempo, balanced and half-court) have a variety of suggestions available, such as “create turnovers”, “limit fouls”, or “spread the offense”. These Points of Emphasis will be used as an in-game reminder; a digital coach like Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim will pop up in the corner of the screen from time to time, reminding you to work harder on your goals, or lightly scold you for not trying hard enough.

That worries me that you can select your own tempo before each game. Shouldn't teams have preset tempo's? So I'm going to be able to select a team that runs the Princeton offense and select the fastest tempo? The team isn't designed to play that way nor is their playbook (hopefully). Seems like it could get pretty messy.

I see how it could be cool from a strategy perspective though, I'm playing Team A and I think we have an athletic advantage so I want to push the ball more, but playing Team B they have a huge athletic advantage so I want to slow down the game and shorten it up. The only problem is that IRL teams aren't good enough to do that for the most part.

[whittleboy615]

Quote: Originally Posted by ehh

That worries me that you can select your own tempo before each game. Shouldn't teams have preset tempo's? So I'm going to be able to select a team that runs the Princeton offense and select the fastest tempo? The team isn't designed to play that way nor is their playbook (hopefully). Seems like it could get pretty messy.

From what I understand, you don't select tempo before each game--you select points of emphasis or what you want the video coaches to help you focus on.

I think I read that tempo can be changed in dynasty mode or midway through a game if your current pace isn't working out for you though.