According to a press release issued July 8 by the NCAA Women’s
Basketball Selection Committee, Vanderbilt University’s Memorial
Gymnasium (14,168) has been selected as one of eight pre-determined
sites for the first and second rounds of the 2006 NCAA Women’s
Basketball Championship.
Other pre-determined sites include: Allstate Arena (Chicago,
Ill./DePaul host), Pepsi Center (Denver, Colo./Colorado host), Ted
Constant Convocation Center (Norfolk, Va./Old Dominion host), Sovereign
Bank Arena (Trenton, N.J./Rider and MAAC Conference hosts), McKale
Center (Tucson, Ariz./Arizona host), Bryce Jordan Center (University
Park, Pa./Penn State host) and Mackey Arena (West Lafayette,
Ind./Purdue host).
"It’s a tremendous asset for us to be able to host an event of this
magnitude at Vanderbilt," said David Williams II, the Vice-Chancellor
for Student Life and University Affairs at Vanderbilt. "Bringing
the NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship to Memorial Gymnasium does a
lot for the competitive spirit within our athletic department, and
allows our fans an opportunity to see some of the best that the sport
of basketball has to offer."
This marks the 10th time that either first-or second-round women’s NCAA
Tournament action has been hosted at VU, with the last occurrence
coming in 2002. That season the Black and Gold defeated Oakland
(63-38) and Arizona State (61-35) to advance to the NCAA Regionals in
Ames, Iowa.
The first- and second-rounds for the 2005 and 2006 championships will
be conducted at eight predetermined sites each year, which represents a
format change from the previous 16 first- and second-round sites.
Media Contact: Brian Davis, office: (615) 343-4198; cell: (615) 351-5136
brian.davis@vanderbilt.edu