导出博客文章NEW YORK -- College womens basketball is exploring ways to change the format of the NCAA Tournament, including moving the Final Four back a week to avoid overlap with the end of the mens tournament.
Wholesale Custom Braves Shirts .In a survey given to the conferences and obtained by The Associated Press, the womens basketball oversight committee laid out a few potential changes that wouldnt take place until 2019 at the earliest. The date change would put the womens Final Four on the same weekend as the Masters.The committee is asking the schools and conferences for feedback on several alterations, including having the opening round at 32 sites and having the second round and regionals played at the same location. Moving the Final Four would add a bye week to the tournament schedule.The survey has a variety of implications, NCAA vice president for womens basketball Anucha Browne said in a phone interview Tuesday. Its an opportunity to see if the current format is where we should stay or look into doing something different. We want to talk to the practitioners on campus -- the senior womens associates, the coaches, we hope there is some feedback from the student athletes. Student athlete input is pretty important.The surveys are due on Dec. 2, and oversight committee chairwoman Jean Lenti Ponsetto, who is the athletic director at DePaul, said it would take a while to digest the information.For sure its going to take us a couple meetings to work through all the details without having a good idea what the results are going to look like, she said.Browne and Ponsetto both stressed that it would be nearly impossible for anything to change in the immediate future because regional sites and Final Four locations are already locked in through 2018, including with a new Friday-Sunday setup for the Final Four beginning in 2017.I think there seems to be a perspective in membership that we need to do something in womens basketball. The championship isnt broken and womens basketball is in a good place, Browne said. We want to deliver a strong crowd and going to a Friday-Sunday format this year will be an opportunity to see how that plays out.Shifting the entire tournament back to avoid a bye week wasnt discussed on the survey. Thats not a proposition that coaches would enjoy. Some dont even want to move the Final Four back a week.I like playing the following weekend, Louisville coach Jeff Walz said of the current format. At the same time, I see what were trying to do. Whats best for womens basketball for attendance? Thats my only issue with that move. Its a big break. That would be the biggest break in the entire season, including Christmas. We dont have a break that long at any time when the season starts up. It would be something completely different.Expanding to 32 teams hosting in the first round would potentially help expand the womens basketball fan base by allowing more schools to have tournament games on campus.If youre right on that bubble line, thats a great opportunity to host games, Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference commissioner Rich Ensor said. Thats a good way of growing the game.The downside of having 32 first-round sites would be the travel cost. Those are a big reason why the womens NCAA Tournament is operating at a deficit, according to Browne.Its the highest revenue producing sport for women. If you take travel out of it, its doing extremely well, Browne said.The womens tournament travel party, including the band and cheerleaders, is the same size as that of the mens NCAA Tournament. The NCAA is estimating based on the survey that going to 32 first-round sites and the revised regional format would increase costs between $1.2-1.4 million.ESPN, which broadcasts the NCAA Tournament, was opposed to most of the changes in the survey because of costs and feasibility.Our research has shown that moving the NCAA womens Final Four to Masters weekend would negatively impact ratings, and would cause a loss of the cross-promotional benefits of the mens Final Four, said Carol Stiff, ESPNs vice president of womens sports programming.According to the survey, ESPN estimates that viewership could drop 30 percent if the Final Four is moved back. The network, which has been the exclusive home to the championship since 1996, also was against the idea of having 32 first-round sites.With the bracket being released on selection Monday, we expressed to the NCAA that it would be extremely challenging, if not impossible, for us to secure all the necessary resources in such a short time frame if the first-round games were expanded to 32 sites, Stiff said.Most of the ideas were originally discussed in a White Paper put together by Big East Commissioner Val Ackerman in 2013 on the state of womens basketball.---Follow Doug Feinberg on Twitter at
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http://www.custombravesjersey.com/custom-babe-ruth-jersey-large-77z.html . - Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco is not a fan of his teams use of the wildcat formation, saying "it makes you look like a high school offence. CANCUN, Mexico -- Jordin Canada made the plays down the stretch to lead UCLA to another win.Canada scored 27 points and to lead the ninth-ranked Bruins to a 75-73 victory over Toledo on Friday in the Cancun Challenge.With the game tied at 68, Canada hit consecutive baskets, including a spinning shot with 51 seconds left.I was trying to get a shot off, Canada said. I picked up my dribble so she was pressuring me. Luckily when I did the spin I was open for the shot.Trailing by 14 points at the half, Toledo (4-1) cut it to 74-73 with 32 seconds left on Mariella Santuccis 3-pointer. When Canada missed a shot with 3 seconds left, Monique Billings was there for the rebound and she was fouled. She hit the second of two free throws and the Rockets couldnt get a tying shot off.Billings finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds for the Bruins (5-1).They are a great team. They gave us all they had, Canada said. We started out well, getting a lot of stops. Up at the half and they came back. ... We found a way to win which is the most important thing.Santucci and Janice Monakana scored 16 points each for Toledo.Im very proud of my teams effort, Toledo head coach Tricia Cullop said. They never gave up, and we gave ourselves a chance to extend the game at the end.
Chipper Jones Jersey Large. We have nothing to hold our head down about. We played toe-to-toe with a very talented, nationally ranked team.Trailing by one midway through the first quarter, UCLA closed the opening period with a 14-5 run spurred by Kari Korvers two 3-pointers. The Rockets got within 24-19 before Canada scored the final 11 points for the Bruins before the half, including two 3-pointers, to give UCLA a 38-24 lead.We went up 16 and we werent tough enough to close it, UCLA coach Cori Close said. If were going to be a great team were going to have to learn to do that.BIG PICTURE:Toledo: The Rockets started the season with four consecutive wins for the first time since 1996-97. UT has started a season 3-0 on four occasions in school history.UCLA: The Bruins have a challenging schedule ahead with a game against Michigan in early December before visiting No. 3 South Carolina at the end of next month.BOMBS AWAY:Toledo was able to hang around hitting 12 of its 25 3-point attempts.UP NEXT:Toledo: The Rockets host Illinois Chicago on Thursday.UCLA: The Bruins have a week off before hosting Hawaii on Sunday, Dec. 4. ' ' '
