NCAA – Page 11 – North Platte Post Archive

NCAA Moves Women’s Final Four to Friday-Sunday

Posted on February 13, 2014

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The NCAA approved moving the women’s basketball Final Four to a Friday-Sunday format beginning in 2017.

The Final Four had that format from 1996-2002 before switching to the current Sunday-Tuesday model in 2003.

The NCAA also will move up the preliminary rounds by a day, with the first games of the tournament played on Friday.

The moves were made to help improve attendance, which has become stagnant over the past few years. Last season, the NCAA averaged 5,466 for all rounds — 17th since the tournament began in 1982.

The NCAA hasn’t announced a site yet for the 2017 Final Four, but said last month that there were seven finalists for the 2017-2020 cycle — Columbus, Ohio, Dallas, Houston, Nashville, Tenn., New Orleans, Pittsburgh, Pa., and Tampa Bay, Fla.

This year’s Final Four will be played in Nashville.

NCAA Selection Committee Hopes for More Fairness

Posted on February 12, 2014

The chairman of the Division I men’s basketball committee believes changes made last August to the way teams are bracketed in the NCAA tournament will result in a fairer March Madness.

Ron Wellman also said Wednesday that there have been no discussions of expanding the field beyond 68 teams, and that officiating emphases put in place in the regular season to create greater movement will carry over to the NCAA tournament.

The new bracketing rules should be apparent to most college basketball fans.

Previously, the selection committee tried to keep schools from playing rematches before the regional finals, sometimes moving teams multiple seed lines in the process. Wellman said relaxing that policy allows the committee to honor their seeding, creating a fairer overall bracket.

NCAA Proposes Change to Targeting Rule

Posted on February 12, 2014

The NCAA football rules committee has proposed a change to the targeting rule that would eliminate the 15-yard penalty when instant replay officials overturn an ejection.

Last year, when a targeting penalty was called, the 15-yard penalty stood even if the replay official determined the player should be allowed to stay in the game.

The proposal needs approval from the playing rules oversight panel.

The rules committee also proposed a change to allow defenses to substitute within the first 10 seconds of the 40-second play clock, with the exception of the final two minutes of each half. Offenses would not be allowed to snap the ball until 29 seconds are left on the play clock.

The proposed change is in response to no-huddle offenses that don’t allow defenses to substitute.

$1 Billion Offered for Perfect Tournament Bracket

Posted on January 21, 2014

DETROIT (AP) — Correctly predicting the outcome of every game in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament is no layup. There’s now a $1 billion prize waiting for anyone able to pull off the feat this spring.

Quicken Loans Inc. announced Tuesday that it will team with investor Warren Buffett’s Omaha, Neb.-based Berkshire Hathaway on the “Billion Dollar Bracket Challenge.”

The Detroit-based mortgage lender says any qualified entrant who correctly predicts the winners of every game in the tournament will be paid in 40 annual installments of $25 million. A winner also can elect to receive an immediate $500 million lump-sum payment or share in that payment if there’s more than one perfect bracket submitted.

Submissions are limited to one per household.

Selection Committee Talks Strength of Schedule

Posted on December 11, 2013December 12, 2013

NEW YORK (AP) — The members of the College Football Playoff selection committee won’t say which teams they would have picked this season.

Clemson athletic director Dan Radakovich says: “We all made an agreement not to answer those questions.”

Radakovich, former Nebraska coach Tom Osborne and former NCAA executive Tom Jernstedt discussed the selection committee and how it will operate Wednesday at the Intercollegiate Athletic Forum. They did not, however, delve into which teams they would have picked this season if next year’s four-team playoff was in place instead of the Bowl Championship Series. No. 1 Florida State will play No. 2 Auburn on Jan. 6 at the Rose Bowl in the final BCS national championship game.

Nebraska Selected to Host 2015 NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball Championships

Posted on December 11, 2013

The NCAA announced on Wednesday that the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the Metropolitan Entertainment & Convention Authority (MECA) will co-host the 2015 NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball Championships at the CenturyLink Center in Omaha.

The CenturyLink Center will hold the event for the third time as the 2015 Championships are slated for Dec. 17-19. Omaha hosted the championship in 2006 and 2008 and the NCAA Division I Volleyball Regionals in 2005 and 2012.

Bidding for 82 of 89 NCAA championships began in July and 1,984 bid applications were ultimately submitted. Each sport committee, per division, selected the host sites it believed would provide the ultimate experience for the respective student-athletes, resulting in 523 total championship event sites awarded.

Nebraska is hosting one of four NCAA Division I Volleyball Regionals this weekend at the Bob Devaney Sports Center in Lincoln.

NCAA Women’s Tournament Back to Neutral Sites, Nebraska Hosts

Posted on December 11, 2013December 12, 2013

NEW YORK (AP) — The NCAA women’s basketball regionals are going back to neutral sites.

The championship committee announced Wednesday that Oklahoma City, Sacramento, Greensboro and Albany will host the 2015 regionals. The committee received criticism this Fall from some coaches about the move to have regionals on campus for this season’s tournament.

“The committee heard the concerns from the coaching community in protecting neutrality at the regional rounds and acted accordingly,” said Anucha Browne, NCAA vice president, women’s basketball championships. “In looking for ways to improve the student-athlete experience, the committee felt a move to neutral regional sites was in the best interest of the championship.”

Stanford, Notre Dame, Louisville and Nebraska will host games in March with the chance to go to the Final Four on the line.

“I’m so pleased to see the committee recognize the importance of neutral sites in order to preserve the integrity of the tournament,” Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw said. “I believe they are as happy as the coaches are that we will be able to play on neutral courts for the regionals moving forward.”

The first two rounds in 2015 again will be played on campus sites with the top 16 seeded teams in the tournament hosting the sub-regionals.

The Final Four will be in Tampa. There was talk of trying to move it up two days to a Friday-Sunday format, but while still possible it is unlikely that it will occur in 2015.

Sites for the Division II and Division III Final Fours were also unveiled. The possibility remains that all three levels may play their championship games in Indianapolis in 2016 over the same weekend.

Huskers Picked to Host NCAA First and Second Rounds

Posted on December 1, 2013

Lincoln, Neb. – The Nebraska volleyball team will spend the opening weekend of the postseason at home for the 10th straight season as the Bob Devaney Sports Center was chosen as one of 16 sites for the NCAA first and second-round play next weekend. The Huskers will be making their 32nd NCAA Tournament appearance and they will go in as the No. 8 overall seed among the 64 teams.

Play will start on Friday, Dec. 6 when the Oregon Ducks (19-11) of the Pac-12 Conference will take on the Miami Hurricanes (19-11) of the Atlantic Coast Conference at 4:30 p.m. Nebraska (23-6) will then take the court during Friday’s second match and will face the Fairfield Stags (19-12), who recently won their second consecutive Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Championship title. The Huskers’ match will start at 7 p.m. or 30 minutes after the conclusion of the first match.

The second round will take place on Saturday, Dec. 7 at 7 p.m., as Friday’s winners will compete for the right to move on to the Lincoln Regional the following weekend. The winner out of Lincoln will take on either San Diego, UC Santa Barbara, New Mexico State or Arizona, who will all be playing in San Diego, Calif.

Tickets for the first and second rounds in Lincoln will go on sale on Monday morning at 8 a.m. They will be available on Huskers.com, by calling the NU Ticket Office at 800-8-BIGRED or visiting the NU Athletic Ticket Office in person. All-session ticket prices are set at $34 (reserved A and B sections) and $30 (C section) and include the two first-round games, as well as the second-round matchup between the first-round winners.

Nebraska has never faced Fairfield. The Huskers Miami have met once, with Nebraska leading the all-time series at 1-0. The Huskers lead the all-time series with Oregon 2-1, but the Ducks ended NU’s NCAA Tournament at the Omaha Regional in 2012.

The 2013 season marks the 29th time that Lincoln has played host to first and second round competition. Last season, Nebraska hosted the first and second rounds at the NU Coliseum, where the Huskers swept UMES in the first round and Northern Iowa in the second round.

Nebraska holds a 23-6 record in 2013 and finished second in the Big Ten Conference. The Huskers are 86-28 (.754) in 31 previous NCAA Tournament appearances, ranking second among NCAA schools in both wins and winning percentage. Nebraska was one of eight Big Ten schools to qualify for the tournament.

NCAA First and Second Round Schedule
First Round – Friday, Dec. 6
4:30 p.m. | Oregon vs. Miami
7 p.m.* | Fairfield vs. Nebraska
*or 30 minutes following the conclusion of the 4:30 p.m. match

Second Round – Saturday, Dec. 7
7 p.m. | First Round Winners

2013 DI WVB Bracket is available here: http://www.ncaa.com/interactive-bracket/volleyball-women/d1/2013

Suit Seeking Money for NCAA Athletes Moves Forward

Posted on November 20, 2013

A lawsuit challenging the NCAA over payment of athletes isn’t going away soon.

The lead attorney for former UCLA basketball player Ed O’Bannon said Wednesday his client will continue to pursue his suit against the NCAA, despite a ruling earlier this month that blocked an effort to expand it to a larger group of former athletes.

Michael Hausfeld said O’Bannon’s suit — tentatively set for a trial in June — would go forward both for damages to O’Bannon and to force colleges to give current players a cut of billions of dollars earned from television contracts and ticket sales from major revenue sports.

Hausfeld also held out the possibility of other athletes joining in individual suits of their own in the wake of the ruling that denied class action status.

Former Football Players Sue NCAA Over Concussions

Posted on November 19, 2013November 19, 2013

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Three former college football players have filed a federal lawsuit in Minnesota alleging that NCAA did not inform former players about the risks of concussions inherent in the sport.

The lawsuit filed Tuesday also says the NCAA failed in its duty to establish protocols to prevent, monitor and treat brain injuries. Former University of Minnesota linebacker Joey Balthazor and former Vanderbilt players Paul Morgan and Cliff Deese are named as plaintiffs.

The suit seeks medical monitoring and testing for former players who are suffering from head injuries related to their playing days. The suit seeks class-action status, but is limited to players who did not play in the NFL.

Similar suits have been filed elsewhere around the country.