Showcase tourney delivers taste of March Madness
You might not know her name, but you’ve seen her highlights.
Notre Dame’s Arike Ogunbowale hit two clutch, mind-blowing shots in the 2018 NCAA women’s basketball tournament, earning a spot on The Ellen Show, the cover of Sports Illustrated, a shot on Dancing With the Stars, a hug and jersey from Kobe Bryant, and — most important to her — a national championship.
She’s bringing the Madness and her #Mambamentality and Irish teammates to the Lower Mainland this November for the inaugural Vancouver Showcase tournament at the Vancouver Convention Centre, an event that will see eight men’s and eight women’s NCAA powerhouse teams battle it out.
Ogunbowale’s Irish, the defending champions, tip off the women’s side against twotime defending West Coast Conference champion Gonzaga on Thursday, Nov. 22.
The women’s field — which saw six of the teams make last spring’s March Madness tournament — also includes 2017 National Champion South Carolina and Pac-12 power Oregon State and three Hall of Fame coaches.
The University of Washington, Santa Clara, Texas A&M and Minnesota have been confirmed for the men’s brackets, with the other four still to be announced.
“This is an incredible field in which to christen college basketball in Vancouver, and without question, the best early season tournament in the sport,” said ESPN analyst and women’s tournament director Debbie Antonelli.
“It features three teams that finished in the NCAA Tournament Elite Eight with Notre Dame, South Carolina and Oregon State, and three other teams that won their respective conference tournaments — Western Kentucky, Drake and Gonzaga. It will strongly resemble an NCAA Tournament regional weekend in Vancouver.”
Ogunbowale exploded onto the sports world’s consciousness when she hit the game-winner with one second left in the semifinal against perennial power — and Bryant’s favourite college team — UConn. Forty-eight hours later, she went a step better, draining a fallaway jumper with 0.1 ticks left to beat the Mississippi State Bulldogs and earn Notre Dame its second national title.
Bryant took note of Ogunbowale on Twitter, especially after it was revealed she’d named her dog after him.
The L.A. Lakers’ legend brought her a signed jersey on The Ellen Show, as well as one for her dog.
The Vancouver Showcase has been years in the making, officially being announced in 2015 with aims for a 2017 start. But it took until this year for all the pieces to align.
Tournament organizer Howard Kelsey said the genesis of the tournament came in 2011, when he watched
nearly 10,000 fans pack Rogers Arena for an NCAA game between Gonzaga and Hawaii in 2011.
“The Vancouver Showcase women’s tournament is as strong a draw as anything in women’s NCAA basketball, including the Final Four,” said Kelsey, who played around 400 games for Canada’s national team.
BASELINES: The convention centre has a capacity of around 3,000 in the converted space, with tickets ranging in price from $32 to $162 (courtside) for the women’s tournament, and from $37.50 to $213 for the men’s games. Tickets can be purchased by phone at 877-840-0457 or online at TicketsTonight.ca.