[givemethemic]

ASHEVILLE, N.C., SELECTED AS HOST CITY OF 2007 AND 2008 BIG SOUTH

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNAMENT



CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The Big South Conference Council of Chief Executive Officers has approved the selection of Asheville, N.C., as the host site of the 2007 and 2008 Advance Auto Parts Big South Conference Women’s Basketball Championship, it was announced today by Commissioner Kyle B. Kallander at a press conference at the Asheville Chamber of Commerce in downtown Asheville. UNC Asheville will serve as the host institution of the event, which will be contested at the Justice Center on the campus of UNC Asheville. Specific dates shall be determined pending television arrangements and will be announced in the near future.

“The Asheville community made a very impressive presentation,” said Kallander. “It is clear they are extremely excited about hosting this event and will embrace it.”

The Big South women’s basketball tournament returns to Asheville for the first time since 2000. The city has hosted the League’s women’s basketball championship three times: 1990 (Justice Center), 1999 (Asheville Civic Center) and 2000 (Asheville Civic Center). The Conference is returning its annual women’s basketball tournament to a single-site format following a four-year switch to home sites of the highest seeds. Since 2003, the top four seeds hosted first round games, while the regular-season champion hosted the semifinals and finals three times (2003, 2005 and 2006). In 2004, the highest seeds hosted each tournament game throughout the championship.

“We are thrilled that the Big South Conference has chosen UNC Asheville and the City of Asheville to host its next two Big South Conference women’s basketball tournaments,” said UNC Asheville Athletics Director Janet Cone. “We could not have received this bid without the help of Tim Lampkin of the Asheville Convention and Visitors Bureau and Ron Storto of Biltmore Farms, Inc., and others who have volunteered their services to make this dream a reality.

“Hosting the Big South Conference Women’s Basketball tournament will allow us to showcase not just UNC Asheville but the city of Asheville as well,” added Cone. “We are planning on providing a wonderful experience for the coaches and student-athletes of the Big South Conference. Hosting the tournament will also allow us to give back to the Asheville community. We are establishing a Tournament Legacy Fund that will be used to support athletic opportunities for young women in sports in the Asheville area.”

Ticket prices and sale dates for the 2007 Advance Auto Parts Big South Women’s Basketball Championship will be announced once it is finalized.

[A.G.]

Wow! Holding it in the dumpiest HS gym in the league. Can they even do TV in that place? That's our Kyle--sell out to the highest bidder even at the expense of league exposure. Hey, our women can add it to the list of floors they've danced on.

[ATrain]

A.G.-just be glad its not CSU

Anyway, I'm sure our Lady Flames will have no problem bringing the championship home from any city in the league.

[thesportscritic]

are they kidding me!!!!!!! We will be ready to bring home #11 at Asheville.

[PAmedic]

that's called- "we're tired of LU winning it every year on their home court"

what a joke

[TIMSCAR20]

Truth be told I heard that LU bid way higher than Asheville but they still gave it to them! I won't reveal my sources but I am pretty sure it happened that way. Coach Green was not pleased to say the least. I was gonna put this in my rant about the Men's schedule and other big south (can't capitalize it anymore) complaints but I knew they hadn't announced it yet. The reasons to not like the conference keep mounting up.

[LUconn]

How come the women's doesn't do the higher seed thing? It seems like a low attendance sport like this would benefit from this much like the men's tournament does. If you even look at the NCAA tourney, they do it. Every year the big programs host most of the rounds just so someone will go to the games. It's not that fair but it makes sense.

[TIMSCAR20]

You will have to send KK another email and watch that go unanswered I have no idea why they changed it. It just seems silly.

[A.G.]

Truth be told I heard that LU bid way higher than Asheville but they still gave it to them! I won't reveal my sources but I am pretty sure it happened that way. Coach Green was not pleased to say the least. I was gonna put this in my rant about the Men's schedule and other big south (can't capitalize it anymore) complaints but I knew they hadn't announced it yet. The reasons to not like the conference keep mounting up.

Well, if this is true, then I will happily join the rant about bsc anti-Liberty bias--and Kallander is even more of an idiot than I've given him credit for.

[thesportscritic]

Truth be told I heard that LU bid way higher than Asheville but they still gave it to them! I won't reveal my sources but I am pretty sure it happened that way. Coach Green was not pleased to say the least. I was gonna put this in my rant about the Men's schedule and other big south (can't capitalize it anymore) complaints but I knew they hadn't announced it yet. The reasons to not like the conference keep mounting up.

Well, if this is true, then I will happily join the rant about bsc anti-Liberty bias--and Kallander is even more of an idiot than I've given him credit for.

ditto AG and SCAR if this is the case.

[bigsmooth]

another idiot move by KK and the big south staff....not to mention another let's screw LU ism.

[givemethemic]

I will get an answer and have it for this weekend's show

[Chris Lang]

To answer LUConn's question: I had a discussion with Kyle about this at the last women's tournament, and he said the overriding feeling among the women's coaches was to have the tournament in one place over three days because it felt like it was more of an event. Plus, it was a lot easier and financially friendly to potentially only have to travel once instead of twice.

[A.G.]

That makes pleanty of sense, Chris. The question remains, did LU get hosed out of it, or did UNC-A win it fair and square?

[LUconn]

Well, if that's the answer, then it's plenty fair that UNCA gets it. If you're a socialist. To the victor go the spoils, I say.

[TIMSCAR20]

I won't reveal the numbers but our bid was way way higher than Asheville's and so was another school's. I really don't understand why it is not in Lynchburg.

[A.G.]

SCAR. This sounds like this would be something that Chris could jump all over and make VERY public. Of course, hearing any explanation from JB would be good, too. Justice. We want Justice.

[PAmedic]

sounds like a job for Liberty Counsel.

[TIMSCAR20]

I have not even discussed this with Chris. Not sure there is a real story here though. News flash, the big south doesn't like Liberty. It won't sell papers but it makes a great conversation on a message board. Still though, just like the Radford/Liberty Men's game over Christmas break, it makes no economic sense to hold this thing in Asheville. Hard to understand some of these decisions.

[LUconn]

well, maybe they believe because of it's proximity to Tennessee, that Hashville simply needs exposure to a live women's tournament to catch fire in the area. Kyle could be a super genius but he's more than likely a bumbling dolt having overseen the destruction of one conference already. But we'll never know because they won't return your emails!

[A.G.]

Perhaps, like the LA Sparxx, Kyle is hoping to attract a more, shall I say, diverse clientel by holding it in Ashville.

[WinthropEagleFan]

Now the league decisions don't make sense to me sometimes as well (ie. Radford coming to LU during winter break twice in a row...I don't have a problem with it if it is only every once in a while, but it seems weird that it happened twice in a row)...but I have a few theories about the choice of Asheville...

1) The women's championship had 898 people attend it last year according to the box score (with the home team as one of the teams competing in it) in an arena that holds 8000 people. Maybe the league's prime objective was to have the game in a smaller facility so that it would fit the crowd support better...After all, Asheville could've had the event at the Asheville Civic Center (which is about the same size as Vines I think), but they chose to have it at the Justice Center instead.

2) And I know you guys hate Kyle, but he isn't a dictator. Decisions like these are made by the Council of Chief Executive Officers (aka the school presidents)...so maybe the league does hate Liberty, but at least it is done democratically.

3) Fair or not, the fact that Liberty has hosted the championship game the last few years probably played a role in the decision. If the men's tourney moved back to this format, I'd be shocked if Winthrop would be chosen as host, no matter what the bid. The league members seem to prefer the championship locations to change (ie. the baseball tourney has now gone to a rotation system, though Birmingham-Southern has messed up things by dropping their team the year their team was supposed to host).

So maybe there is a conspiracy, I don't know...but I can see some reasons why this choice would be made, even if other places had higher bids.

[Chris Lang]

Good post, WEF.

There really isn't a story here. I know you guys are unhappy that the tournament won't be in Lynchburg (and I'm sure I'll enjoy my three days in Asheville ...), but WEF brings up an excellent point about attendance. It doesn't help that the tournament falls on spring break and no students are around. The place was pretty empty last year for the tournament, and it looks awful on TV. I think they made people sit on one side so it looked better for TV.

WEF: You hearing any scuttlebutt about where the baseball tournament will be next year? Rock Hill?

[A.G.]

WEF--nice post. Makes sense. Still stinks, though, but I could understand the rationale.

[WinthropEagleFan]

Good post, WEF.

There really isn't a story here. I know you guys are unhappy that the tournament won't be in Lynchburg (and I'm sure I'll enjoy my three days in Asheville ...), but WEF brings up an excellent point about attendance. It doesn't help that the tournament falls on spring break and no students are around. The place was pretty empty last year for the tournament, and it looks awful on TV. I think they made people sit on one side so it looked better for TV.

WEF: You hearing any scuttlebutt about where the baseball tournament will be next year? Rock Hill?

I haven't heard anything official, but the Big South website has Winthrop as the host this year:

http://www.bigsouthsports.com/ViewArtic ... LID=541754

And what you said about the game looking bad on TV was probably one of the factors. Say what you want about the size of the Justice Center, but even if there are only 500 people at the championship game, it will feel like more when you watch it on TV because it'll pretty much fill up the side that is seen on TV.

And Asheville is a cool town...I had alot of fun there the two times I went there for conference tourneys in the past. I didn't have nearly as much fun in Lynchburg the time I went there (though Winthrop losing in that tourney probably had something to do with it, but I also felt like there was more to do in Asheville).