Walton Arena one of the 'Toughest Places'

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — EA SPORTS will visit the University of Arkansas for the Kentucky basketball game on Feb. 15 to experience the home court atmosphere of Bud Walton Arena in order to develop a new feature in its NCAA Basketball video game called the “Toughest Places to Play” in college basketball. Over 100,000 fans participated in an online vote, selecting Arkansas along with Clemson, Duke, Syracuse, UCLA, North Carolina, Kansas, Florida, Pittsburgh, Illinois, Louisville, Maryland, Tennessee, Texas, and Xavier as the most difficult courts to play on for opposing teams. Producers of the NCAA Basketball videogame franchise will visit the home court of many of the final 15 schools to experience each school’s home environment on game day in order to capture and replicate the experience in next year’s NCAA Basketball game. Arkansas fans can now vote at http://www.easports.com/ncaabasketball/toughvenues.action to create the official "fans ballot" that will help determine the final ranking of the 15 finalists. The winner will be selected based on fans, venue, history, spirit groups and talent. The winner of the "Toughest Places to Play" will be announced during this year’s Final Four.

EA SPORTS will hold a campus NCAA Basketball video game tournament in conjunction with their visit and will hand out "Beat Kentucky" t-shirts to the first 250 students that enter the game.