March Madness USA

College basketball most often refers to the American basketball competitive governance structure established by the National Collegiate Athletic Association, or NCAA.

The first college games to be televised took place at Madison Square Garden in 1940. Pittsburgh defeated Fordham, 57 to 37, and NYU beat Georgetown, 50 to 27. Since the advent of television, the popularity of college basketball has exploded. March Madness is consistently one of the most watched events of the year and draws over 700,000 fans in person. CBS SportsLine’s “NCAA March Madness On Demand” initiative served more than 14 million streams of live online video from the first 56 games of the 2006 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship.

The pervasiveness of college basketball throughout the nation, the large population of graduates from “major conference” universities, and the NCAA’s marketing of “March Madness” (officially the NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Championship), have kept the college game alive and well. Some commentators have argued that the higher turnover of players has increased the importance of good coaches. Many teams have been highly successful, for instance, by emphasizing personality in their recruiting efforts, with the goal of creating a cohesive group that, while lacking stars, plays together for all 4 years and thus develops a higher level of sophistication than less stable teams could achieve.

* NCAA March Madness 2005 featured former UConn player Emeka Okafor on the cover. Okafor currently plays for the Charlotte Bobcats

* NCAA March Madness 2004 featured former Syracuse player Carmelo Anthony on the cover. Anthony now plays for the Denver Nuggets.

* NCAA March Madness 2003 featured former Kansas player Drew Gooden on the cover. Gooden now plays for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

* NCAA March Madness 2002 featured former Duke player Shane Battier on the cover.

* NCAA March Madness 2001 featured former Cincinnati player Kenyon Martin on the cover.

* NCAA March Madness 2000 featured former Maryland player Steve Francis on the cover.

* NCAA March Madness 99 featured former UNC player Antawn Jamison on the cover.

* NCAA March Madness 98 featured former Wake Forest player Tim Duncan on the cover.

Like other games based on NCAA sports, it cannot feature the players’ names (as that is against NCAA policy/rules). Therefore, only the players’ numbers are used (although many of their last names are featured within the in game commentary, like the NBA Live series) but the player can give them names. NCAA March Madness 07 was released on January 16, 2007. As with 2006, the commentators are Brad Nessler at play-by-play, and Dick Vitale as color commentator.

2008

EA Sports has announced that NCAA 08 March Madness will feature former University of Texas small forward Kevin Durant on the cover. Durant has been selected by the Seattle SuperSonics with the second pick in the 2007 NBA Draft. Durant also appeared in commercials with NBA Live cover athlete Gilbert Arenas.

2007

Features include:

* Using a new dynamic crowd environment, the game features a noticeable difference between high-energy schools such as Duke or North Carolina as opposed to smaller, more subdued crowds for less schools with less popular basketball programs. Having a winning program will unlock a pep band, a student section, and a cheerleading squad to help motivate the players on the floor. The team behind March Madness 2007 has worked to make sure that the location of all 325 school bands and student sections are as authentic as possible.

* The ability to upgrade facilities makes it possible to upgrade the player’s program’s success throughout the game. By completing challenges throughout the season, such as winning the home-opener or signing high-profile recruits lets players upgrade the facilities of your program, including a practice gym, a weight room, a study hall, and an injury clinic. With better facilities, players are more likely to land that prized recruit.

* The ability to interact with the crowd, opponents and teammates allows the player to raise the intensity of the arena by performing well. Inversely, performing poorly will lower the intensity making it difficult to make a comeback. Intensity points earned can be used to interact with the mascot, the cheerleaders, the pep band, or the crowd.