They aren’t lined up at the ticket windows yet, but University of Colorado officials are expecting a healthy turnout of local basketball fans for the women’s NCAA Tournament first- and second-round games March 18 and 20 at the Pepsi Center.
With eight teams coming to Denver, there should be plenty to choose from for Colorado’s large transplant population, said Lindsay Lew, the CU associate director of sports information in charge of marketing the event.
“Right now, we’re just trying to reach out to local groups that we think should have an interest in the tournament,” Lew said. “Until we know what teams we’re going to get, there really isn’t much more we can do.”
CU hosted first- and second- round women’s games in 2003 and drew a total of just 9,033 fans for the two nights of competition, despite having the Buffaloes in the field along with North Carolina, Brigham Young and Austin Peay. But that was in the last year of the old format of bringing four teams to 16 sites, hosted by a competing school.
With twice as many teams at a neutral site battling for two spots in one of the four regional tournaments in the NCAA’s new “pod” format, it should help attract a better field.
“You’re guaranteed to get at least one of the better teams, at least one top-four seed,” Lew said. “But you still have the problem of not knowing which team it is until they make the selections. They still try to make it geographically convenient, so I wouldn’t be surprised if we get some Big 12 kids and some Mountain West kids in here.
“I’d love to see a No. 1 seed in here. But if I could pick a team, I’d love to bring one of those Highlands Ranch kids (the Waner sisters, Abby and Emily, at Duke or Ann Strother at Connecticut) in here. I think we’d have a nice packed gym if we got the Waner sisters, but those schools are probably just too far away.”
The only speculation she’s seen, Lew said, was on ESPN.com, which projected Baylor, Wisconsin-Green Bay, Florida State and Notre Dame out of one region, then Michigan State, South Florida, BYU and Tulsa out of another region.
“That’s probably pretty good thinking,” Lew said. “But I still want a No. 1 (seed).”
Quotable
“She sees herself in a very clear way, which I think is atypical for most 18-year-old kids, 18-year-old girls particularly. She looks in the mirror and sees pretty much who she is and what she is. ‘Well, I scored 31 points tonight and I should have. I was 3 inches taller and 40 pounds heavier than the girl that was guarding me. And I got 20 rebounds, and well, I ought to. We missed a bunch of shots.”‘ – Oklahoma coach Sherri Coale, on 6-foot-4 freshman sensation Courtney Paris, selected Big 12 rookie of the week for the sixth time
Joseph Sanchez can be reached at 303-820-5458 or jsanchez@denverpost.com.
