Following form but changing venue, the first two rounds of the America East women’s basketball tournament are to be hosted by Binghamton University’s Events Center in 2015-16, the conference announced Monday.
“We are honored as a University to be chosen by the conference as well as the member institutions to host this tournament,” said BU’s Director of Athletics Patrick Elliott at the official press conference held this afternoon. “We pledge that Binghamton University and our loyal community and fan base will strive to make it a great event.”
Unlike the men’s championship tournament, which will change its structure in the upcoming season so that the higher seed hosts each individual matchup, the women’s will remain virtually the same. All four quarterfinal and both semifinal games will be held at the Events Center. The title match will then follow, hosted by the highest remaining seed.
America East Commissioner Amy Huchthausen explained that the women’s tournament is keeping this structure because of the support it received from the participating teams’ coaches.
“We wanted to be very responsive to our coaches and their desire to provide a very quality experience for their student athletes,” Huchthausen said. “They feel, and our administrators agree, and our staff personally agrees, that bringing all of our teams together in one location for a majority of the games is really important.”
BU, which has not hosted the tournament since 2009, was one of four institutions that submitted a bid to host the championship. Ultimately, Binghamton was selected above the others due to the facilities on its campus as well as its local community support.
“Clearly this is one of the best basketball facilities in our conference and within the region,” Huchthausen said. “This was a competitive process. We had four schools submit bids that were very competitive and ultimately Binghamton rose to the top.”