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March 19, 2010

OKC metro hosting NCAA men, women back-to-back

By MURRAY EVANS

Associated Press Writer

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Central Oklahoma may not be the center of the college basketball universe, but it could appear to be in coming days when both the NCAA men’s and women’s tournaments kick off in the Oklahoma City metropolitan area.

First-round men’s games were to begin Thursday at the Ford Center in downtown Oklahoma City, with second-round games scheduled for Saturday. Twenty miles south in Norman, the University of Oklahoma will host a pair of first-round women’s games Sunday, with the winners meeting Tuesday.

“It’s a good problem to have in a metro,” said Tim Brassfield, the executive director of Oklahoma City’s All Sports Association, which is helping organize the men’s event.

Men’s tournament sites are selected years before the event, Brassfield said, and Oklahoma City knew in 2007 it would host this year. The women’s tournament uses campus sites and follows a different selection process, and OU’s bid to host was approved last year.

The men’s tournament being in Oklahoma City “wasn’t a factor at all” in OU’s decision to bid for the women’s event, athletic department spokesman Kenny Mossman said.

“When you bid on those, you have two things in mind,” Mossman said. “That’s a fan interest in that sport and ... competitive advantage. You’re always looking to give an opportunity for your teams to play on the home court.”

Oklahoma City and Norman also hosted games for both tournaments in 2003 and metro areas from Los Angeles to Tampa, Fla., have pulled it off. Seattle has hosted both events seven times and Knoxville, Tenn., has done so on four occasions.

“I would think it’s a good thing,” Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett said. “There will be more people coming in from out of town.”

The men’s games originally were scheduled for Friday and Sunday, which would have overlapped with the first round of the women’s tournament. But Brassfield said television considerations led the NCAA to ask that the men’s dates be moved to Thursday and Saturday.

The tournaments are logistically separate events. The eight men’s teams will stay in Oklahoma City hotels, while the three visiting women’s teams will have hotels in Norman. Even with all 11 teams — and their fans — coming in, there should be no shortage of hotel space, said Mike Carrier, the president of the Oklahoma City Convention and Visitors Bureau. He said there are 22,000 hotel rooms in the metro area.

No school has a team at both sites, so there’s not expected to be much crossover attendance, except among local fans who get a chance to catch both events. Marquee teams at the men’s site are Kansas and Kansas State, both of which have drawn thousands of fans to Oklahoma City. The University of Oklahoma, meanwhile, has a history of fan support for women’s hoops.

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