Columbus well-prepared for Final Four, NCAA official says
The annual Women’s Sports Report at the Greater Columbus Convention Center on Friday served as yet another reminder that Columbus’ first Women’s Final Four is fast approaching.
The event, which featured basketball announcers Beth Mowins and Debbie Antonelli, marked 43 days from tipoff of the Final Four at Nationwide Arena and coincided with visits by NCAA officials now in the final stages of preparation for the NCAA Tournament.
Making her first visit to Columbus in advance of the Final Four this week was Lynn Holzman, who last December left her post as commissioner of the West Coast Conference to become the NCAA’s vice president of women’s basketball.
“Today officially starts week three on the job, so the last few months have been a whirlwind, frankly,” said Holzman, a former captain at Kansas State. “This is a once in a lifetime opportunity. There’s only one of these jobs in the world and I get to do it.”
Holzman, who has worked in a sports administration capacity for more than two decades, likened the experience of on-the-job learning in the weeks leading up to the Women’s Final Four as “drinking from a fire hose” but benefits from having a host city she said is “so well-prepared.”
“It’s a city that’s used to putting on high-profile, very successful sporting events and then you add to it the fact that you have the NCAA women’s basketball staff that have years and years of experience behind them, it provides me the opportunity just to listen and learn,” Holzman said. “That’s everything about the championship, but also any and all issues surrounding women’s college basketball and how we want to continue to advance and grow the game.”
Another important NCAA group this time of year — the women’s basketball selection committee, which brackets the 64-team field — will get one final test run before the final bracket is released March 12.
The committee had a two-hour conference call Friday and will have another call Monday to complete the third top-16 seed reveal, which will be released Monday night. This iteration of the reveal, a practice that started in women’s basketball and has since trickled over to football and men’s basketball, will go a step further in identifying the hypothetical region in addition to the seed line for each of the top 16 seeds, said Meredith Cleaver, NCAA director of championships and alliances.
The practice of a preliminary seeding reveal was initially met with skepticism by some but provides the benefit of giving the selection committee additional opportunities to think critically about tournament selection and seeding criteria ahead of the final bracket process, which begins March 8 in Indianapolis.
“I think the committee has felt that the reveals have really helped them sharpen up. Once they get to (permanent) selections, I think they feel like they’re sharper just because they’ve had to dig down into it,” said Rick Nixon, NCAA associate director for championships and alliances and media services. “It’s valuable for them to do this now because once they get to March, they feel like they’re that much further ahead.”
OLEAN, N.Y. — Matt Mobley scored 26 points and grabbed a key rebound with 4.2 seconds left, and St. Bonaventure beat Rhode Island 77-74 to snap the 16th-ranked Rams’ 16-game winning streak on Friday night.
LaDarien Griffin scored 10 of the Bonnies last 14 points over the final six minutes in rallying them back from a 67-61 deficit — St. Bonaventure’s largest of the game. The Bonnies (20-6, 10-4 Atlantic 10) won their eighth straight and stayed in the hunt for the regular-season conference title.
The Rams (21-3, 13-1) had not lost since dropping a 68-64 decision at Alabama on Dec. 6. Rhode Island’s winning streak was the longest in the nation. CJ Massinburg had 24 points and 12 rebounds, and host Buffalo (20-7, 12-2) clinched the Mid-American Conference East Division title with a win over Bowling Green (16-11, 7-7). The Bulls made 12 of 20 threepointers to hold off the Falcons, who were the last team in the East with any chance of catching Buffalo.
Kameron Chatman had his ninth double-double of the season with 26 points and 11 rebounds to lead visiting Detroit Mercy (8-20, 4-11 Horizon League) over Youngstown State (8-21, 6-10).