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The city of Albany is about to become the center of the women’s college basketball universe.
MVP Arena in downtown Albany will host not one but two regionals in the NCAA Division I tournament from Friday through Monday.
Eight teams will be whittled down to two Final Four entrants, and arena general manager Bob Belber says ticket demand is through the roof.
“It’s going to be sold out. There will be 14,000 people in this building for each of the four days,” he said.
If they keep winning, Iowa and LSU will face off Monday in the Elite 8, in a rematch of the 2023 title game.
In a change from recent tournaments running through Albany, nearby UConn was placed in the Portland, Ore. part of the bracket. But Belber says that won’t hurt regional interest.
“I was hoping UConn was going to be announced for Albany, but the fact that they’re going to Portland, I feel bad for their fans that they have to go all the way out there, but at the same time, it’s gotta be hard for the selection committee to decide where they’re going to send these teams,” he said.
“It’s really, for us, a turning point in women’s sports,” says Jill Delaney, President and CEO of Discover Albany.
Jill Delaney is President and CEO of Discover Albany, the county’s tourism arm. Delaney says restaurants and hotels will be jammed during a weekend projected to have an $8.5 million economic impact. It’s such a hot ticket, Delaney herself can’t get in.
“I do not have tickets, no! I probably should have bought some a little sooner, but I’ll be working the fanfest and the event at the Capital Center, so I will be there, just not physically sitting in the seats with the fans,” Delaney said.
University at Albany women’s basketball coach Colleen Mullen has led the Great Danes to an NCAA Tournament and the past two NITs over her six years, and starred in college for Rhode Island and New Hampshire. She says the sport is finally getting the attention it deserves.
“It’s really an exciting time for women’s basketball and just for women’s sports,” she said. “Really a terrific time with stars like Caitlin Clark and JuJu Watkins at USC and Paige Bueckers at Connecticut and Angel Reese, there’s just so many prolific players right now, and certainly the media channels and ESPN and the news are covering women’s sports and women’s basketball in a different way.”
Asked for a scouting report, Mullen said it’s tough to gameplan a defense against a player like Clark, who is headed to the WNBA after March Madness.
“It’s not just the Caitlin Clark show,” she said. “She’s so good, but she also has an amazing surrounding cast. Her whole team is so balanced, so you try to contain her like many people do, and a down night for her is 25 points and 10 assists.”
Games in the dual regionals in Albany begin Friday and continue through Monday.
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