The NCAA News Digest

September 15, 1997

• FINAL FOUR APPLICATIONS
• MEMBERSHIP -- Number of active members at all-time high of 933
• WOMAN OF THE YEAR -- Women's athletics committee to choose from 10 finalists
• EXEMPTED CONTESTS -- Subcommittee warns members about noncertified events

FINAL FOUR APPLICATIONS

Notification has been provided to individuals in the general public who will receive tickets to the 1998 Men's and Women's Final Fours. Thousands of people submitted applications for both events earlier this year. Those whose names were not selected have been provided with refund checks.

About 144,300 entries were received for the Men's Final Four, which will be played March 28 and 30 in San Antonio. That is the third-largest number of entries received. The Alamodome will seat about 40,500 for the event. Of that number, about 10,300 were allocated to the general public (25 percent). The remaining tickets are reserved for the participating institutions (35 percent), the host institution and local organizing committee (12.5 percent), representatives of the NCAA membership, such as conference commissioners, presidents and various committee members (13 percent), members of the National Association of Basketball Coaches (8.5 percent) and Division I member institutions (six percent).

This was the first year for Women's Final Four tickets to be distributed through a random computerized drawing, although it has been sold out every year since 1993. Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Missouri, will seat about 17,500 for the Women's Final Four, and about 43 percent of those seats (7,500) have been designated for the general public. The remaining allocation: participating institutions, 16 percent; host conference and local organizing committee, eight percent; members of the Women's Basketball Coaches Association, 17 percent; and representatives of the NCAA membership and affiliated entities (Division I conferences, member institutions, committees and ESPN), 16 percent.

MEMBERSHIP

The number of NCAA active members stands at a record high of 933, although overall membership is down slightly.

Effective September 1, there are 1,200 active, provisional, conference, affiliated and corresponding members in the NCAA, down three from last year's total.

All of the growth in active membership was the result of provisional members moving up to active status. Thirty-one provisional members became active in either Division II or III.

The total number of provisional members decreased by 40 from 93 to 53. Because of the moratorium on new members, no colleges or universities were added to the provisional ranks.

Staff contact: Donna M. Mabry.

WOMAN OF THE YEAR

The award recognizes young women in intercollegiate athletics for their outstanding achievements in athletics, academics and community leadership.

The finalists are Shelly L. Bartlett, University of Nebraska, Lincoln; Sara Bloom, Bucknell University; Virginia Bolenbaugh, Seattle Pacific University; Lisa Ann Coole, University of Georgia; Julie Anne Roe, Millikin University; Ann Sieckert, Augustana College (South Dakota); Natasha W. Taylor, West Texas A&M University; Stacey Williams, Wilmington College (Ohio); Meredith P. Willard, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa; and Wendy L. Wolff, University of Wisconsin, Parkside.

The 10 finalists were selected by a special committee made up of athletics administrators from NCAA institutions.

The NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics will select the 1997 Woman of the Year from the finalists, and the winner will be announced at an awards dinner October 19 at the Westin Crown Center Hotel in Kansas City, Missouri.

Billie Winsett-Fletcher, a volleyball player for the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, won the award last year.

Staff contact: Jeffrey S. Hiller.

EXEMPTED CONTESTS

The Exempted Contests Subcommittee of the Division I Championships/Competition Cabinet has asked the Championships/Competition Cabinet to approve a change in the procedure for certifying events as exempted contests.

The cabinet will consider the subcommittee's report when it meets September 23-25 in Dallas.

Subcommittee chair Richard J. Ensor said the subcommittee wants to help institutions avoid situations in which they sign contracts to participate in an event that has been incorrectly portrayed as being exempt from contest limits.

The subcommittee has recommended to the Championships/Competition Cabinet that, if the sponsor of an exempted contest does not attach a letter of certification approval with any contract, the cabinet should encourage the Administrative Review Panel to deny requests from institutions seeking relief to participate in that event until the event is certified. Certification is done on an annual basis.

Staff contact: Louis J. Spry.