The head of the NCAA women's basketball tournament is “pushing to review potential changes to the event's format this summer,” a year sooner than previously planned, according to Dan Murphy of ESPN.com. The women's basketball committee was scheduled to revisit its decision to hold the first two rounds of the tournament at campus sites for highly ranked teams and to hold its second weekend games in two sites rather than four after the 2025 championships. But NCAA VP/Women’s Basketball Lynn Holzman said that she “believes they have seen enough data about the growth of the sport to consider changes this year.” A change in format for the first rounds could “potentially help avoid logistical problems” such as the ones that occurred at the games hosted by Gonzaga in the first two rounds of this year's tournament where a “lack of available hotel space” forced multiple teams competing in Spokane, Wash. in Couer D'Alene, Idaho. In Portland, Ore., teams played “several games with one 3-point line that was nine inches shorter than the other.” Additionally, a referee was replaced midway through a game between Chattanooga and NC State when the NCAA discovered the official “had failed to disclose she had a master's degree from Chattanooga" and Notre Dame G Hannah Hidalgo missed several minutes of her team's loss to Oregon State when referees “forced her from the game until team trainers removed a nose ring." Holzman said that the issues are a “series of isolated incidents, and not a result of the women's tournament lacking the resources it needs” (ESPN.com, 4/2).
SHOWING UP: MVP Arena GM Bob Belber said that a women’s sporting event had “never sold out all of its tickets during the downtown arena’s 34-year history.” But that has now happened four times. In Albany, Michael Kelly noted actual on-hand attendance figures varied among the four NCAA Tournament women's basketball sessions played Friday-Monday, but the official capacity for each of the days’ games was 14,008, and the announced attendance for the full event was 55,031. The Albany Regional had better attendance than the Portland Regional whose games saw a combined attendance of 41,286. Attendance in Albany was “highest on the game days for star Caitlin Clark and Iowa.” An event-high 13,978 were at MVP Arena to see Saturday’s Sweet 16 win for Iowa, while 13,888 watched Monday night’s Elite Eight game against LSU from inside the building. Kelly noted many moments from the days of games were “memorable for things that didn’t have much to do with basketball.” Iowa coach Lisa Bluder and LSU coach Kim Mulkey drew attention with their “critiques of the Albany area hotels.” The in the final minute of Monday’s game between Iowa and LSU, ESPN commentator Rebecca Lobo "stung the local region" when she, with a laugh, uttered, “good luck finding something to do in Albany” (Albany TIMES-UNION, 4/2).
