Women's Basketball

Eddie King Gym Could See Some Madness
March 5, 2006

By Rick Ryan
The Charleston Sunday Gazette-Mail

Are you ready for some basketball, Kanawha Valley?

High school boys regional showdowns begin on Tuesday, the girls state tournament starts the next day and West Virginia University’s bid to capture the Big East tournament in New York gets underway Thursday.

But save a little room in your viewing schedule — and wallet — for the NCAA Division II regional tournament.

The University of Charleston most likely earned the right to play host to the East Regional next weekend with Saturday night’s 81-59 victory over Glenville State in the West Virginia Conference women’s finals at the Civic Center.

Coming into the game, Glenville State was ranked No. 1 in the region, one spot ahead of UC. Regional assignments and first-round pairings will be announced late tonight by the NCAA.

Will Prewitt, the associate commissioner of the WVC, said he "couldn’t foresee’’ anything that would keep UC from holding the eight-team East Regional at Eddie King Gym Friday through Monday — even though the crowds would conceivably be much larger at Glenville State.

Glenville, for instance, averaged 1,133 in attendance for its nine home games this season, one of the best Division II figures in the nation, compared to an average home crowd of 185 for the UC women.

"There is a minimal financial agenda involved in it,’’ Prewitt said. "A lot of things in Division II are mathematical-based that would make the BCS look like third-grade math. The [regional selection] committee submits their one-through-eight seeding to the NCAA national committee, which then ratifies [it].

"They could juggle it if they didn’t think the regional committee adhered to the set criteria — but as far as drawing a crowd, it’s not a consideration. The boys in Indianapolis aren’t going to go broke no matter where you hold the tournament. If you’re the top seed and you have adequate facilities, you’re [the host]. I foresee that [tonight] at 10 when the bids come out, that will happen [for UC].’’

Teams in the regional rankings who would like to stage the postsesaon tournament must put in bids to the NCAA. Two of the stipulations are having enough hotel rooms within a 30-mile radius to house seven visiting teams and the other is a guarantee that the event will produce a profit of at least $3,000 for the NCAA. If revenues don’t reach that mark, the host school must come up with the difference.

Glenville State and UC each come into the regional with two losses, but both of the Pioneers’ have been administered by the Golden Eagles. UC won on Jan. 26 in Glenville 85-77.

"I can’t really see [Glenville remaining first in the region],’’ Prewitt said late Saturday. "They both played similarly tough schedules, they had the same record and UC has the head-to-head [advantage], with one of the wins being at Glenville. Strength-of-schedule, lots of things go into it, Division II wins, losses in conference.’’

UC coach Sherry Winn has to be pleased that her team has apparently dodged another potential game against the Pioneers at Glenville. In their regular-season game, a crowd of 1,600 jammed into the gym.

"Their crowds are always phenomenal,’’ Winn said. "Their student section started coming in at 4 o’clock and they were screaming all during our warmups. That’s great fan support.’’

Of course, having Glenville State play in a regional at UC could do nothing but boost attendance, as the Pioneers fans have proven to travel well. In fact, they outnumbered UC fans in the stands at the Civic Center on Saturday despite being 90 minutes away.

At least, Winn hopes it all works out that way.

"I can’t believe it wouldn’t be a lock,’’ she said. "We beat them twice. You have to put in a bid in and we put in a bid. You have to show you can [handle the financial end] and I don’t see any reason we wouldn’t. I know I don’t plan on doing much of that part. I fully expect our support staff at the University of Charleston will take that over and let me coach.’’

The Kanawha Valley could have seen another tournament in its backyard, but that notion was wiped out in part when Barton (N.C.) beat Mount Olive (N.C.) 102-100 in overtime in the men’s Carolinas Virginia Athletic Conference finals Saturday.

West Virginia State, which faced Salem International Saturday night for the WVC tournament championship, had a chance to jump from No. 4 to No. 1 in the men’s East Region with a victory over the Tigers and a Barton loss.