[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.0.91″ custom_padding=”0px|0px|0px|0px” next_background_color=”#000000″][et_pb_row custom_padding=”2px|0px|8px|0px” _builder_version=”3.0.47″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.0.92″ custom_padding=”2px|0px|37.9062px|0px” prev_background_color=”#000000″][et_pb_row custom_padding=”0px|0px|18.9531px|0px” custom_margin=”10px|||” _builder_version=”3.0.92″][et_pb_column type=”2_3″][et_pb_text admin_label=”News Story” _builder_version=”3.19.17″ custom_margin=”0px||0px|”]<\/p>\n
Barring an unforeseen twist in the regular season, South Carolina women’s basketball will host its\u00a0first and second round NCAA Women’s Tournament games for the sixth straight season.<\/p>\n
But home this year won’t be\u00a0home court at Colonial Life Arena. Columbia’s role as a host city for the first two rounds of the NCAA Men’s Tournament triggered a series of conflicts that will force the Gamecock women to host in Charlotte, North Carolina.<\/p>\n
The first two rounds of the men’s and women’s tournaments will be played on the same weekend, March 22-24. NCAA rules \u00a0prohibit a school from hosting\u00a0men’s and women’s tournament games simultaneously.<\/p>\n
After Columbia was chosen to host the men’s tournament, the Gamecocks requested a waiver from the NCAA to host the women’s tournament at an alternate site. Columbia doesn’t have another venue that meets NCAA requirements, and acceptable venues in Charleston and Greenville already had events scheduled for the weekend in play, sending the team across state lines.<\/p>\n
They were given permission to use UNC Charlotte’s Halton Arena on Feb. 14.<\/p>\n
John Rotrow, a Columbia resident who often attends games at Colonial Life, said he will withhold judgment on the decision to move the women to Charlotte\u00a0until their games are over.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s ok as long as they win,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
In a statement announcing Charlotte as the team’s alternate site, head coach Dawn Staley said she’s optimistic that the team’s home court advantage will travel.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“Our Gamecock FAMS have shown their loyalty to our program through the postseason every year, and I know they’ll continue to do that with us in Charlotte,” she said.<\/span><\/p>\n Athletics director Ray Tanner stressed Charlotte’s proximity to Columbia in the same statement.<\/p>\n “Charlotte is important for Gamecock Athletics,” he said, “and this will also be a great opportunity to have the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament in a large market.”<\/span><\/p>\n Proximity was also on the minds of fans like Marie Correro, who has traveled to nearby locations like Greenville to see the women play before.<\/p>\n \u201cI would have loved to have seen them here, but at least it\u2019s Charlotte. It\u2019s not cross country,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Although he is disappointed that the women’s team is hitting the road so early in the postseason, Rotrow said he’s excited for the area to get a chance to “show off our city” during the men’s tournament.<\/p>\n That attitude is something Experience Columbia SC Sports executive director Scott Powers hopes will be felt throughout the city during the tournament. Powers, who led the city’s effort to bring the men’s tournament to town, said a strong showing would go a long way towards attracting other events.<\/p>\n \u201cI think we\u2019ll be feeling that pride from the locals that we\u2019re hosting this event again,” he said, “and the pride from the fans of the visiting teams that they made the \u2018big dance.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Powers said the economic\u00a0impact of the men’s tournament\u00a0on the city is hard to measure without knowing which eight teams are coming, because different teams will bring different numbers of fans. Still, he estimates that upwards of 25,000 people could travel to Columbia for the event, an economic impact that could top $9 million.<\/p>\n That’s a number Powers said is simply “not comparable” to the impact of hosting the women’s tournament, which only brings in three visiting teams.<\/p>\n He added that he’s hopeful the men’s tournament event will also help “grow the sport of basketball in South Carolina,” something that helped his team get Staley’s approval for the project despite the impact on her team.<\/p>\n \u201cWe got the blessing of the athletic department before we ever put a bid together,” he said. “That was something that Coach Tanner had a discussion with Coach Staley about.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Although Staley’s Gamecocks won’t officially find out if they are\u00a0a host team until March 18, they’ve been projected to host throughout the season.<\/p>\n The program has already announced details for official bus trips to Charlotte. Round-trip tickets are $65 for one round and $100 for both. The package includes transportation to and from Columbia, a general admission ticket, a T-shirt and food. Tickets are available now and will be refunded if the team isn’t selected as a host.<\/p>\n They will also host a selection show watch party at Williams-Brice Stadium on March 18.\u00a0Tickets for that event are $25.<\/p>\n As for whether the Gamecock faithful will join visiting fans at Colonial Life for the men’s tournament, Rotrow said his decision depends on which teams are sent to Columbia.\u00a0<\/p>\n “If there\u2019s teams that I really don\u2019t like, I won\u2019t come,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_3″][et_pb_image admin_label=”Image 1″ show_in_lightbox=”on” show_bottom_space=”off” _builder_version=”3.19.17″ custom_margin=”||2px|” custom_padding=”|||” animation_style=”slide” box_shadow_style=”preset2″ box_shadow_horizontal=”4px” box_shadow_vertical=”4px” src=”http:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/0225TournamentP1_W.jpg”]<\/p>\n <\/p>\n [\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text admin_label=”Caption 1″ _builder_version=”3.19.17″ text_font=”|600|||||||” text_font_size=”12px” text_line_height=”1.4em” custom_margin=”8px|||2px” custom_padding=”|||”]<\/p>\n Halton Arena, where Gamecock women\u2019s basketball will play their first and second round NCAA Tournament games if they\u2019re selected as a host, is located on the campus of UNC Charlotte. (Courtesy of Creative Commons)<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image admin_label=”Image 3″ show_in_lightbox=”on” show_bottom_space=”off” _builder_version=”3.19.17″ custom_margin=”||2px|” custom_padding=”|||” animation_style=”slide” box_shadow_style=”preset2″ box_shadow_horizontal=”4px” box_shadow_vertical=”4px” src=”http:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/0225TournamentG1_MR.jpg”]<\/p>\n <\/p>\n [\/et_pb_image][et_pb_image admin_label=”Image 2″ show_in_lightbox=”on” show_bottom_space=”off” _builder_version=”3.19.17″ custom_margin=”||2px|” custom_padding=”|||” animation_style=”slide” box_shadow_style=”preset2″ box_shadow_horizontal=”4px” box_shadow_vertical=”4px” src=”http:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/0225TournamentP2_W-1.jpg”]<\/p>\n <\/p>\n [\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text admin_label=”Caption 2″ _builder_version=”3.19.17″ text_font=”|600|||||||” text_font_size=”12px” text_line_height=”1.4em” custom_margin=”8px|||2px” custom_padding=”|||”]<\/p>\n The City of Columbia installed new directional signs around the city\u2019s downtown entertainment districts in preparation for hosting two rounds of the 2019 NCAA Men\u2019s Basketball Tournament in March. (Mary Ramsey \/ The Carolina Reporter)<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image admin_label=”Image 4″ show_in_lightbox=”on” show_bottom_space=”off” _builder_version=”3.19.17″ custom_margin=”||2px|” custom_padding=”|||” animation_style=”slide” box_shadow_style=”preset2″ box_shadow_horizontal=”4px” box_shadow_vertical=”4px” src=”http:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/0225TournamentG2_MR-1.jpg”]<\/p>\n <\/p>\n [\/et_pb_image][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The return of March Madness to Columbia means fans of Gamecock women’s basketball will have to travel to see the team in action in the postseason.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":173,"featured_media":18145,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":""},"categories":[38,69,66],"tags":[601,599,603,602,600],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18118"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/173"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18118"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18118\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18295,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18118\/revisions\/18295"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}