ESPN.com's Myron Medcalf wrote Arizona fans helped the Pac-12 Tournament "establish a new attendance record" of 86,910 at T-Mobile Arena as the team defeated Oregon 83-80 in Saturday's final (ESPN.com, 3/12). In California, Joey Kaufman noted this year's tournament was the "first of at least three at T-Mobile Arena," an 18,000-seat venue. Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott: "It's a great start in the new venue. So we don't have great concerns about the future" (ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER, 3/11).
B1G COUNTRY: In Baltimore, Jonas Shaffer noted Big Ten branding was not a "problem" for the conference in the DC area leading up to its conference tournament. Fans "taking the Washington Metro to Verizon Center could not miss posters showing the Lincoln Memorial or the U.S. Capitol dome stamped with the conference logo and shaded in the league's blue-and-white colors" (Baltimore SUN, 3/11). But in Indianapolis, Zach Osterman wrote the Big Ten’s decision to move its tournament east has "met criticism from fans who prefer sticking to the conference’s Midwest roots." Attendance for the two Thursday sessions "drew a combined 6,861 fewer fans than last March, when the tournament was held at Bankers Life Fieldhouse." At Friday’s first session alone, attendance "dipped by more than 6,000 fans, though that number is somewhat skewed by the fact that last year’s first Friday session included" both Indiana and Purdue. However, fans of Rutgers and Maryland "turned out" in DC. Attendance for Friday’s second session, which included Maryland and Northwestern, was "nearly identical to the turnout for the same two games last year" (INDIANAPOLIS STAR, 3/12).
POSITIVE MARKS: In Raleigh, Luke DeCock wrote while it is "hard to make a splash" in the N.Y. market, the atmosphere for the first-ever ACC Tournament at Barclays Center "validated" the conference's decision to move the event there. ACC Commissioner John Swofford: "I’ve been pleased with our presence in Brooklyn and everybody here has been extremely accommodating from an operational standpoint. The building is tremendously functional for our event. They know how to handle these events." DeCock wrote the ACC "may not have had the impact it hoped" for in N.Y., but "being this far north certainly didn’t have any negative impact on the tournament" (Raleigh NEWS & OBSERVER, 3/12). In N.Y., Kevin Armstrong wrote under the header, "How New York City Handles Being The Epicenter Of Basketball" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 3/12). On Long Island, Mark Herrmann wrote last week was "amazing" with the ACC and Big East in N.Y. Herrmann: "If you didn’t go, you should do so next year, when the Big Ten joins the Big East and ACC here" (NEWSDAY, 3/12).
