March Madness for college women’s basketball will begin this week at venues around the country.
By Sunday, it will be clear which eight teams will head to Spokane the following weekend for the regional semifinals and finals at the Arena.
Spokane Sports, the Public Facilities District and University of Idaho are the host organizations.
Spokane Sports CEO Ashley Blake said many of the logistics are being handled by the National Collegiate Athletic Association.
"When are they arriving? How are they arriving? Is it on private planes or are they coming commercial? What are hotels doing to be welcoming them? Logistics around transportation and police escorts," she said.
"The framework of the tournament is planned and built and now we start plugging in the more granular details."
She said Spokane Sports will focus on trying to prepare the city for the onslaught of fans from around the country as her team works to "make sure that our retail segment is ready, make sure our airport's ready and just really have our residents can play a part by rolling out the red carpet and ensuring a warm welcome when they see these teams or they see members of the media or traveling spectators in our market.”
Blake said the college basketball tournament is just one of several high-level events for women’s sports in Spokane this spring.
The city hosted Washington state high school and middle school basketball championships earlier this month.
It will host the Northwest regional volleyball qualifying tournament for the Girls National Championships later this month and the USA women’s national wrestling championships in early April.
Meanwhile, the Gonzaga men’s basketball team heads to Wichita, Kansas, this week for its 26th consecutive appearance in the NCAA tournament.
The Bulldogs are seeded eighth in the Midwest Regional and will play another team of Bulldogs, the University of Georgia, Thursday around 1:30 p.m. in a game that will be televised on TBS.
It’s been a bumpy season at times for Coach Mark Few’s team.
For one of the few times during the last quarter century, it didn’t win the regular season West Coast Conference championship.
But the Zags won their last five games and the postseason conference tournament.
"You know, we’ve done it so many times that I think there’s a sense of entitlement around here that people — I hope they appreciate it after there were times this year where it was probably looking like we wouldn’t make the tournament," Few said during a press conference after Sunday's selections were announced.
If Gonzaga wins its Thursday game, its likely second-round opponent would be the first-seeded University of Houston Cougars on Saturday.
Gonzaga's women's team wasn't selected for the NCAA tournament, but it will play in the Women's Basketball Invitation Tournament. It will host the University of Texas-San Antonio Roadrunners Thursday at the McCarthey Athletic Center. The time hasn't been announced.
The Washington State women's team will play in the Women's National Invitation Tournament. The Cougars will receive a first-round bye, then play a second round game against the winner of Friday's game between Air Force and Utah Valley. The date, time and location of that game will be announced later.
