Eastern Washington celebrated their second trip to the NCAA women’s basketball tournament after winning the Big Sky Conference Tournament. However, the team faced logistical challenges when they had to stay in a hotel 40 miles away from the arena due to limited availability near Oregon State’s facility. This highlights one of the issues that come with relying on host schools for opening-round games, where variables like hotel availability and location can impact the experience for teams and student-athletes. Utah also reported experiencing hate crimes while staying in Idaho for their games in Spokane, Washington, before changing hotels.
Texas A&M’s Kristen Brown emphasized the importance of consistent standards across all host sites in areas like hotel accommodations, nutrition, and competition facilities to ensure a positive student-athlete experience. Lynn Holzman, NCAA vice president for women’s basketball, is pushing for a review of the championship format after the 2025 tournament, potentially starting this year. The balance between home-standing teams playing at their own facilities and the boost in attendance versus playing at neutral sites is a key consideration, especially with the record-high attendance numbers from this year’s tournament.
Top teams being picked as hosts based on their season success has become a standing reward, with benefits like loud home crowds providing a competitive edge. N.C. State exemplifies how managing logistics can be easier in certain locations like Raleigh, where hotels and facilities are readily available for tournament teams. In contrast, smaller towns like Corvallis, Oregon, where teams like Eastern Washington, Nebraska, and Texas A&M played, may face challenges due to limited hotel options meeting NCAA requirements.
The issue of consistency in hosting requirements and offerings is being raised, with calls for minimum expectations to be met during tournament play. This includes criteria like having bathrooms inside locker rooms, full-service host hotels capable of providing proper nutrition, and reasonable distances from competition venues. If these expectations cannot be met, alternatives such as neutral sites or predetermined campus sites should be explored to ensure student-athletes have the overall experience they deserve. These discussions come at a time of unprecedented growth and popularity for women’s basketball, with a need to address logistical challenges while maintaining the integrity of the tournament experience for all involved.
