The Holy Land of Hoops

Below posted on gocreighton.com today. Never thought we'd get to host a regional. Should add a little more good PR for the Big East I would hope.

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- The NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament is returning to Omaha, as today the NCAA announced that CenturyLink Center Omaha will host the Midwest Regional in 2018.

The 2018 Regional will mark the fourth time that CenturyLinkCenter Omaha has hosted NCAA Tournament Basketball action, joining Second/Third Round games it has hosted in 2008 and 2012, as well as the 2015 games the facility will host in March. The Omaha Civic Auditorium previously hosted NCAA Tournament play in 1977.

"When you look at the quality of the cities and the facilities that got Regional bids for 2016, '17, and '18; of the 12 winning bids the majority of them are in NBA arenas and majority of them are in major cities," said Creighton Director of Athletics Bruce Rasmussen.

"It is a tremendous coup for Omaha to get a Regional," said Rasmussen. "There are no Regionals in 2016, '17 and '18 that will be held in domes, so the basketball environment for the Regionals wil be tremendous."

In addition to Omaha, other Regional sites for 2018 are Los Angeles, Boston and Atlanta.

"In the end, Omaha has proven to be a very user-friendly city. The convenience of the airport, the hotels, the facility and what our staff has done were all off the charts," said Rasmussen.


2016 HOST ROUND SITE VENUE
March 15-16 Dayton First Four Dayton, Ohio UD Arena
March 17, 19 Providence First, Second Providence, R.I. Dunkin Donuts Center
March 17, 19 Iowa State First, Second Des Moines, Iowa Wells Fargo Arena
March 17, 19 NC State First, Second Raleigh, N.C. PNC Arena
March 17, 19 Mountain West First, Second Denver Pepsi Coliseum
March 18, 20 Atlantic 10 First, Second Brooklyn, N.Y. Barclays Center
March 18, 20 Missouri Valley First, Second St. Louis Scottrade Center
March 18, 20 Big 12 First, Second Oklahoma City Chesapeake Energy Arena
March 18, 20 Idaho First, Second Spokane, Wash. Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena
March 24, 26 Big West West Regional Anaheim, Calif. Honda Center
March 24, 26 Louisville South Regional Louisville, Ky. KFC YUM! Center
March 25, 27 Big Ten Midwest Regional Chicago United Center
March 25, 27 LaSalle East Regional Philadelphia, PA Wells Fargo Center
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2017 HOST ROUND SITE VENUE
March 14, 15 Dayton First Four Dayton, Ohio UD Arena
March 16, 18 MAAC First, Second Buffalo, N.Y. First Niagara Center
March 16, 18 Marquette First, Second Milwaukee BMO Harris Bradley Center
March 16, 18 UCF, Stetson First, Second Orlando, Fla. Amway Center
March 16, 18 Utah First, Second Salt Lake City EnergySolutions Arena
March 17, 19 ACC First, Second Greensboro, N.C. Greensboro Coliseum
March 17, 19 Horizon, IUPUI First, Second Indianapolis Bankers Life Fieldhouse
March 17, 19 Tulsa First, Second Tulsa, Okla. BOK Center
March 17, 19 CSU Sacramento First, Second Sacramento, Calif. Entertainment and Sports Center
March 23, 25 Big 12 Midwest Regional Kansas City Sprint Center
March 23,25 Pac-12 West Regional San Jose, Calif. SAP Center
March 24, 26 Memphis South Regional Memphis, Tenn. FedExForum
March 24, 26 St. John's, Big East East Regional New York Madison Square Garden
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2018 HOST ROUND SITE VENUE
March 13-14 Dayton First Four Dayton, Ohio UD Arena
March 15, 17 Duquesne First, Second Pittsburgh CONSOL Energy Center
March 15, 17 Wichita State, MVC First, Second Wichita, Kan. Intrust Bank Arena
March 15, 17 Big 12 First, Second Dallas American Airlines Center
March 15, 17 Boise State First, Second Boise, Idaho Taco Bell Arena
March 16, 18 UNC Charlotte First, Second Charlotte, N.C. Time Warner Cable Arena
March 16, 18 Detroit, Mercy First, Second Detroit New Detroit Arena
March 16, 18 Ohio Valley First, Second Nashville, Tenn. Bridgestone Arena
March 16, 18 San Diego State First, Second San Diego Viejas Arena
March 22, 24 Georgia Tech South Regional Atlanta Philips Arena
March 22, 24 Pepperdine West Regional Los Angeles Staples Center
March 23, 25 Boston College East Regional Boston TD Garden
March 23, 25 Creighton Midwest Regional Omaha, Neb. CenturyLink Center Omaha

Hopefully the CenturyLink will receive some renovations before the 2018 Tournament. It's still one of the top ten venues in the country, but it could be "plussed."

Agreed. I would have to think renovations were part of what ended up being a winning bid. We'll see.

Either way it's great for Creighton, Omaha, and the Big East.

Being the host isn't necessarily a good thing. I believe a school cannot be placed in a region for which it is the host. Butler used to always host the Indianapolis Regionals, but after having better years and hoping to possibly be placed in Indy, BU decided to give up the hosting duties to Horizon League.

FDS wrote:Being the host isn't necessarily a good thing. I believe a school cannot be placed in a region for which it is the host. Butler used to always host the Indianapolis Regionals, but after having better years and hoping to possibly be placed in Indy, BU decided to give up the hosting duties to Horizon League.

good point..
2016-
Providence hosting 1st/2nd rounds.
LaSalle is hosting East Regional- but given that it's at Wells Fargo- would Villanova be allowed to play there?
2017-
Marquette hosting 1st/2nd rounds.
St John's hosting East Regional
2018-
Creighton hosting Midwest Regional

If this is a problem for Creighton in 2018, I will take it. Means we're in the tournament. Plus, it will be a great event and time for the city. And it will be a great excuse for me to take time off of work.

stever20 wrote:

FDS wrote:Being the host isn't necessarily a good thing. I believe a school cannot be placed in a region for which it is the host. Butler used to always host the Indianapolis Regionals, but after having better years and hoping to possibly be placed in Indy, BU decided to give up the hosting duties to Horizon League.

good point..
2016-
Providence hosting 1st/2nd rounds.
LaSalle is hosting East Regional- but given that it's at Wells Fargo- would Villanova be allowed to play there?
2017-
Marquette hosting 1st/2nd rounds.
St John's hosting East Regional
2018-
Creighton hosting Midwest Regional

If you play more than 3 games at a site it's considered a home court and you cannot play there. Whenever the Wells Fargo Center has been a site Nova limits their games there to 3 and is allowed to play there.

Go me thinking about MSG being a site in future year. In theory the BE tournament winner will be unable to play in the East Region that year since they'll play @ St. John's and have to win at least 3 games in the BET to take home the title. That stinks. Not a huge problem if it's one of the midwest teams, but stinks for the East Coast BE teams.

stever20 wrote:
2016
LaSalle is hosting East Regional- but given that it's at Wells Fargo- would Villanova be allowed to play there?

Yes, it's happened before, in 2009 Nova on the way the FF played the first round at WFC (Wachovia Center at the time). I believe the rule is, if Villanova plays no more than 3 home games at WFC, then they can be placed there for the tournament. I assume next year Jay and Nova will only schedule 3 games at WFC.

hoyahooligan wrote:

stever20 wrote:

FDS wrote:Being the host isn't necessarily a good thing. I believe a school cannot be placed in a region for which it is the host. Butler used to always host the Indianapolis Regionals, but after having better years and hoping to possibly be placed in Indy, BU decided to give up the hosting duties to Horizon League.

good point..
2016-
Providence hosting 1st/2nd rounds.
LaSalle is hosting East Regional- but given that it's at Wells Fargo- would Villanova be allowed to play there?
2017-
Marquette hosting 1st/2nd rounds.
St John's hosting East Regional
2018-
Creighton hosting Midwest Regional

If you play more than 3 games at a site it's considered a home court and you cannot play there. Whenever the Wells Fargo Center has been a site Nova limits their games there to 3 and is allowed to play there.

Go me thinking about MSG being a site in future year. In theory the BE tournament winner will be unable to play in the East Region that year since they'll play @ St. John's and have to win at least 3 games in the BET to take home the title. That stinks. Not a huge problem if it's one of the midwest teams, but stinks for the East Coast BE teams.

I believe that conference tournaments do not apply to this criteria for NCAA Tournament locations. My logic is that Madison Square Garden also hosted the East Regional last year, and the Providence- the Big East Champion- was placed in the East.

**Edit**

it turns out that Providence's regular season game at St. John's was played at Carnesecca, not MSG. So even as Big East Champion, Providence only played 3 games at MSG and thus doesn't disprove this possibility. However, I still can't imagine that this rule applies to a tournament site.