NCAA March Madness 09 News Post

NCAA Basetball 09 Demo Available, Impressions Here

08:40 AM - November 6, 2008 by Murph

Some stuff you already knew:

Playable teams are Tennesse, Kentucky, 1979 North Carolina and 1982 Michigan State.

You play one half, which is locked at 8 minutes.

Pratice gym from Live is a half court blacktop on campus grounds.

Lots of half court traps and full court presses.

One dude I passed to was completely out of bounds. Only happened once though.

If you liked Live, you should like this as well.

NCAA Basketball 09 screenshot gallery - Click to view

Game: NCAA Basketball 09Reader Score: 7/10 - Vote Now
Platform: PS3 / Xbox 360Votes for game: 29 - View All

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Member Comments

# 161 bowld @ 11/07/08 06:48 PM

My one big gripe so far is when backing down in the post an offensive foul gets called almost every time. i hope i can adjust sliders to cut down on this

# 162 whittleboy615 @ 11/07/08 06:50 PM

I enjoyed the demo a lot. This game is maybe 10x better than MM08 was for PS3, and I can't wait to own the full retail version. Here's my random first impressions.

Good:

Bench and player cutscenes (players subbing in)
University seals at Play Now screen
All the new features (Game tempo, Quickstrike ball-handling especially)
Improved block and dunk animations
Ability icons are back
Stadium signs and better refs, fans, cameramen, and cheerleaders
The full court press is a lot of fun
Trapping animations are much much improved
Guys don't run out of bounds as easy
CPU jumping passing lanes and waving arms on defense
Crowd much more reactive and intelligent
Everyone catches the ball in triple threat
End half horn added
"Beep, beep" countdown added with 5 sec left in a half
Graphics in general are fantastic
Campus scenery background is pretty
Loud "woosh" noise after made Home team free throws
Great responsiveness with kickout 3-pointers
Getting ball in quick from inbounds to push ahead
5 second calls are actually possible. In MM08, the CPU would push off at 4.8 sec every time.
Floor spacing is great
Classic teams + Chuck Taylors! Jordan has massive hops.
Transition game AI improved: players explode toward basket
CPU is much harder to beat now. MM08 was way too easy on the hardest difficulty level.
The loading screen is fun. It let's you practice quickstrike moves.
More mini games could be added like Hotspot, 1-on-1, 3pt challenge, etc. along with user-controlled two-line layups during warmups

Bad:

Players still go backcourt too much. The CPU can be bringing the ball up court with minimal pressure and they will make a pass to a teammate straddling the halfcourt line and he gets called. It also happens a lot when the CPU's teammates run to midcourt to help break the press. They will get a pass and then pivot back over the line when they get in triple-threat after catching the ball.
Tennessee's outside men's 3-pt line should be orange
Directional passing with the analog stick is terribly inaccurate.
Players need better muscle definition. The beanpole legs on the classic team players look especially too skinny.
Maybe I just haven't figured it out, but the tipoff is really difficult to win. I'm confused about when I'm supposed to press the triangle button.
Arrows that demonstrate how to run the plays should be visible when you press R3 or some other button. They had this feature in last gen, and it was very helpful in learning new plays.
The user doesn't seem aggressive enough when I try to steal ball out of air. The CPU has much better "snatching" ability than the user does.
Sometimes when trapping, the CPU will pick up their dribble before halfcourt and then throw a fullcourt pass to a teammate and the defense will just stand behind the player instead of stepping in front of him for an easy fastbreak steal.
The CPU's defense is very good at snatching bad passes like that though.
Player attributes should be visible at the staring lineup select screen in Play Now
UNC fans chanted "OOOOHHH" one time while the Tarheels were on offense.
The free throw light-up system is too small and the colors on the backboard do not provide enough contrast. I had a complaint on EA's Live boards from a red/green color-blind guy who couldn't make any free throws with this system.
Offesnive fouls can be confusing because the announcer does not acknowledge them and there are no corresponding cutscenes of the refs or players. I thought I had an And1 a few times, but the next thing I knew the CPU was inbounding the ball, and I was scrambling to get in my press.
The CPU needs the presence of mind to call timeout before getting a 10 second backcourt calls.
The crowd should chant "5-4-3-2-1" to end halves, and maybe have an "off count" for when the away team has the last shot.

# 163 ehh @ 11/07/08 06:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bowld


	My one big gripe so far is when backing down in the post an offensive foul gets called almost every time. i hope i can adjust sliders to cut down on this

Once you have initiated the backdown do not use the L-stick anymore, just the right stick (or tapping the shot buttons) to perform a move or fake. If you keep wiggling the L-stick the game thinks you're being overaggressive and they will call you for a charge.

# 164 whittleboy615 @ 11/07/08 07:05 PM

I also chuckled when virtual Kevin Love was subbed in the game for Kentucky.

# 165 bowld @ 11/07/08 07:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ehh


	Once you have initiated the backdown do not use the L-stick anymore, just the right stick (or tapping the shot buttons) to perform a move or fake. If you keep wiggling the L-stick the game thinks you're being overaggressive and they will call you for a charge.

o, ok thanks man guess im used to the 2k backdown system

# 166 Motown @ 11/07/08 07:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by J-Unit40


	The only thing missing from this demo is... 1. Corey Beck 2. Corliss Williamson 3. Scotty Thurman 4. Al Dillard 5. Dwight Stewart 1994 anyone? Those shorts are huge!

I hear ya man, how 'bout the Runnin' Rebs of UNLV...1990 baaybe

1990 roster
UNLV
Larry Johnson
Stacey Augmon
David Butler
Anderson Hunt
Greg Anthony
Stacey Cvijanovich
Travis Bice
Dave Rice
Barry Young
James Jones
Moses Scurry
Chris Jeter

# 167 sinkdog @ 11/07/08 10:19 PM

I actually tried really hard to like this demo but something just didn't feel right.

The controls felt very "floaty". The movement of the players, the ball physics, player animations just didn't look right. I never really felt like I had control of things.

The player animations just don't look natural. Every player looks like an old man haunched over. Every pass is lobbed and nothing seems organic. Ball movement is incredible unrealistic and this felt like very last gen basketball to me.

There was nothing about this demo that made me want to go out and buy it -- seriously....I really wanted to have an NCAA Basketball game this year. Oh well.

# 168 Skyboxer @ 11/07/08 11:23 PM

Ok I still have 2K8 just in case but I will say I wasn't expecting the demo to be as decent as it was. You can see it has some really good gameplay but a lot is hidden behind some bad animation "locks" and jerky animations. Too many times the player I was supposed to be controlling locked in a guard animation and I was unable to do anything. Also every time you get close to another player you automatically went into a double team which left the man I was guarding wide open.
Fix these things and we may have a good game here.

# 169 countryboy @ 11/07/08 11:26 PM

the game does a lot of things right, but unfortunately, they are "poorly played out". The gameplay seems to be moving faster than the players at times. It just doesn't feel fluid. To me, the players feel one step behind whats actually happening.

# 170 kfloamy @ 11/08/08 12:58 AM

I for one am enjoying the demo and went ahead and ordered it today.

# 171 PhantomPain @ 11/08/08 07:44 AM

Wonder why they have the old 3 point line as well as the new one in Rupp Arena? They only have one line and it is the new one. I wonder if all courts will have two lines.

# 172 crques @ 11/08/08 08:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PhantomPain


	Wonder why they have the old 3 point line as well as the new one in Rupp Arena? They only have one line and it is the new one. I wonder if all courts will have two lines.

I was wondering that myself. I was thinking that the women's 3 point line might not have moved back and that's the reason there are 2. I don't really follow women's basketball much so that's just a guess.

# 173 PhantomPain @ 11/08/08 08:40 AM

I don't know, but as of last night's exhibition game they only had 1 line.

# 174 racerx @ 11/08/08 08:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by crques


	I was wondering that myself. I was thinking that the women's 3 point line might not have moved back and that's the reason there are 2. I don't really follow women's basketball much so that's just a guess.

That is correct, The Women's did not move back!!!!

# 175 crques @ 11/08/08 09:03 AM

Well after 2 hours, I finally got the demo downloaded for my PS3 last night. After reading some of the impressions from the past few days I was anxious to check it out. I'm not what you would call a "2K fanboy" but I have enjoyed their basketball games much more over the past 4-5 years. With that being said, I was a little worried when I found out that EA had the only college basketball game in town this year. After spending about an hour with the demo last night, I'm feeling better about things. The game definitely is an improvement over the March Madness games of the past and you can certainly tell that EA took a new approach to creating the game this year.

First off, I really like the courts that I see on the demo. They are definitely detailed and look pretty darn good. The flow of the game seems realistic. I used Kentucky and had much better success on offense slowing things down. Patterson was a serious force in the post for me and scored my first 8 points, 4 from offensive rebounds. Whenever I tried running with them, I saw more turnovers and wasn't able to finish off a lot of my possessions. Likewise, when using Tennessee I could definitely tell that the fast paced tempo was the key with them. I was able to finish more fast breaks and create more turnovers using them. I like the contrasting styles that I saw out of the 2 teams and can't wait until the retail version comes out to check the diversity amongst all teams.

The coaches chiming in is a nice feature also. When I first read about it I was concerned that it would just be another gimmicky feature thrown in there by EA just so they could add it to game advertisements. From what I saw in the demo, it's a nice touch and not overdone. After turning the ball over on 2 straigh possessions trying to run & gun with UK, Gillispie popped up and screamed at me to slow things down and be patient. The coach interaction added a nice feel to the game, especially after Tennessee rolled off 8 straight points on me and I called a timeout. The closeup of the team in the timeout showed a disgusted Gillispie pacing outside the huddle before talking to the team. I could almost visualize him doing that in real life.

I did see some things that I didn't really like. The players are ridiculous looking for the most part and most of them look alike. I'm hoping that the player editor is more detailed than EA basketball games in the past so we can get more variety out of the players. The shorts that the players wear sort of remind me of the "Hammer" pants, minus the sparkle and shine. They are way to baggy and just shaped funny in my opinion. It's something that I can overlook if the game is solid, but still noticeably funny looking.

The passing system still needs some work. I can think of at least 3 or 4 times that I turned the ball over because my player was either standing out of bounds when he received the pass, or I was trying to throw to someone in the post and the ball went across court instead, only to be stolen in mid air. Maybe with a little bit more time to get used to the controls I can get better at passing and it won't be a problem for me.

Another thing that worried me and I'm hoping can be fixed with a few slider tweaks is the shooting percentages and made shots while being fouled. In the first game that I played I shot about 70%, while the computer shot 65%. I think Tennessee was 6-7 from beyond the arc against me and at least 4 or 5 of those were heavily contested. I also saw a lot of made shots while I was being fouled. There were 2 occasions that I was falling after being fouled and the ball was basically just thrown up at the goal and went in. Although the jump shots look a lot better than those of past EA basketball games, they still look a little funny to me. I can't quite figure it out but there's something unrealistic looking about the jump shots, aside from the fact that they are all two-handed shots.

Also, seems like every made shot is nothing but net. I didn't see any variety as far as balls bouncing off the rim and falling in or even any shots being banked in. I'm hoping that maybe my guys were just money in the games I played and on the mark, but I'm not sure. Made baskets should have a variety of ways of going in the hoop, but this game reminded me of Double Dribble the way that all shots swished.

With all this being said, I'm looking forward to the retail version being released. Dynasty has long been my favorite feature in college football and basketball games and I'm anxious to see how recruiting, and NCAA tournament logic are in this one. Also, EA rosters have been hideous in the past but it sounds like they will be much better this year and that's exciting for those of us that like to get these accurate as possible. Maybe we'll have a lot less work this year. Anwyay, the demo was actually better than I expected and now I've decided to pick the game up when it's released whereas before I was thinking that perhaps I would just stick to CH2K8 this season.

# 176 countryboy @ 11/08/08 09:25 AM

I just hit a game winning three!!! Well, if you can call hitting a 3 after 8 minutes expire in the first half a game winning shot.

I am UNC playing UK and I was down 13-12 with 50secs to go. I came down, jacked up a shot and missed. So I started fouling. At one point, I fouled Patterson as he was shooting a turn around jumper in the lane. He missed the shot and only made one of two free throws. So I was down 14-12 with 17secs to play. I came down, pressed had the SG get an off the ball screen, hit him as he curled out, he let it fly and SWISH! 15-14 UNC wins the shortest game in NCAA Men's Basketball history.

# 177 countryboy @ 11/08/08 09:46 AM

I must admit, the more I'm playing this demo, the more I am enjoying the game. I agree that the player models are subpar and the animations seem to be herky jerky at times, but after rolling through about 20 games or so, they seem to grow on you and you learn to account for them.

The basketball AI in this game is pretty good. To get a sneak peak, just guard either the PG or SG when the cpu has the ball and watch the screens that are set, the floor balancing that takes place, and how they try to get you caught in mismatches.

I could see myself picking this game up on day 1 or even making the long haul to get it the weekend before if its available.

# 178 rdelizo35 @ 11/08/08 10:47 AM

The gameplay itself benefits from the inclusion of the ability to control the tempo, Pick and Roll Control, and even the playcalling is reminiscent of NBA Live '09.

I definitely think that, as pointed out in earlier posts, the player models look dated and there are problems with the animations, but the A.I. seems to be improved over NBA Live '09.

I like the fact that the Coach comments pop up during the game as you progress through a game. I'm interested in seeing the full game and how each of the different schools play.

The inclusion of the top 64 teams of all-time is a nice touch for those wanting to play with those teams. I am most looking forward to taking a team through Dynasty mode.

# 179 Pared @ 11/08/08 10:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by countryboy


	but after rolling through about 20 games or so, they seem to grow on you and you learn to account for them.

I agree. In no way would I say they are acceptable for next year, however.

# 180 Tomba @ 11/08/08 11:09 AM

From the last time I played the game they have fixed a lot of the graphical integrity of it by a bunch. the crowd etc all move more smooth.

As far as gameplay? It's a demo and FEELS like a demo. I was surprised to not see sliders or camera adjustments?

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