Rhode Island Gearing Up For March Madness

Rhode Island Gearing Up For March Madness

While most of the college basketball world focuses in on the spectacle that is the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, people in Rhode Island and throughout southern New England have something else to look forward to.

Tomorrow the NCAA women’s basketball tournament gets underway. And here in the northeast, the road to the women’s Final Four goes through the Ryan Center in Kingston, Rhode Island.

URI will play host to the regional semifinals and final on March 25th and 27th respectively. It will be the first time ever that the NCAA women’s basketball tournament will have been held in the Ocean State.

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“We put in a bid 2 ½ years ago and didn’t get it so we bid again 1 ½ years ago and we were awarded the regional,” said URI deputy director of athletics Gregg Burke. “Any school that plays division 1 women’s college basketball can bid for it so URI, PC, Brown and Bryant can all do it. Nobody has until now and we’re thrilled to have it.”

On the floor, fans will be treated to some of the finest women’s college basketball in the country. Kentucky, Miami, Penn State, LSU and Rutgers are some of the teams competing in the Kingston region. But the team that everyone hopes will make it to the Ryan Center is the top-seed Connecticut.

“I can tell you that I chewed my fingernails down to the knuckles hoping that UConn would be in our region,” said Burke. “UConn winning the Big East championship solidified their #1-seed, otherwise we may not have had them in our region.”

The Lady Huskies open up play in Bridgeport where they face 16th-seeded Prairie View A&M tomorrow. If they can win that game and then defeat the winner of the 8-9 game between Kansas State and Princeton, they will head to the Ryan Center next weekend.

Needless to say, UConn has a terrific following and the fact that they will be playing so close to home in both Bridgeport and, hopefully, Kingston should attract more fans because of the easy access and affordability of their games.

“Obviously we hope to have big walk-up crowds but we have done a lot of work marketing these games and selling tickets prior to the games,” said Burke. “We have already sold more than 3,000 tickets and hope to get to at least 4,000 for both days.”

The reality is that attendance for the women’s NCAA tournament pales in comparison to the men’s tournament. Some first and second round games may play in front of crowds as low as 1,000-2,000 fans. But that doesn’t mean that product on the floor isn’t worthy of the fan support. In fact, that couldn’t be further from the truth.

What Rhode Islanders should also be proud of is the fact that this is an event that accomplishes two very good things. First, it provides a boost to our local economy with estimates ranging from $4-6 million dollars in revenue being generated locally. That includes 2,000 bed nights in area hotels mostly in the Warwick and Newport areas where the teams will be staying.

“Our president, Dr. Dooley, has said many times that he would like the university to be one of the economic engines for our state and this is one way that we can do that,” said Burke.

The other thing hosting the women’s regional does is show off the Ryan Center, URI and our great state. “The amazing thing is that the three games that will take place here will be on national television allowing more people to see the Ryan Center in those two days than have walked through the doors over the last 11 years combined,” said Burke.

In addition to that great national exposure, it is possible that the few thousand people that visit our state will enjoy their experience so much that they may consider coming back to Rhode Island again when the weather gets warmer and the state is at its very best.

A lot goes into pulling off an event like the NCAA women’s basketball tournament. Here is a link from URI’s website showing some of the preparation involved: http://gorhody.com/genrel/031412_ncaafloor

The games at the Ryan Center will be played on Sunday, March 25th at 4:30 and 7pm and Tuesday, March 27th at 7pm. Tickets can be purchased by calling (401) 874-RAMS, going to http://gorhody.com/splash/index or by stopping by the Ryan Center box office.

 

NOTES:

 

-Gregg Burke will be a guest next Saturday (3/24) on "The GoLocal Sports Show" on 103.7 FM with Scott Cordischi & John Rooke.  Burke will talk about everything that went into getting the women's regional to come to URI as well as the teams that will be competing at the Ryan Center.  "The GoLocal Sports Show" airs live each Saturday morning from 7-9am.