I own this game and NCAA Basketball 09 and neither one of them are perfect. Overall, I definitely prefer 2K8 but each does some nice things. Funny you mentioned Minnesota winning the championship in your first year on 2K8. I simmed 4 seasons on NCAA Basketball 09 over the weekend and the championship games were as followed:
Minnesota defeated Texas Tech - Year 1
UNLV defeated Minnesota - Year 2
Akron defeated Kentucky - Year 3
Kentucky defeated Creighton - Year 4
HMMMMMMMMMMMMMM?? Anyway, what rosters are you using on 2K8? The rosters make a huge difference in simming if you get the right set.