The NCAA News - News and Features

The NCAA News -- November 23, 1998

Women's basketball group proposes preliminary-round host restrictions

The NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Committee reviewed format recommendations and championship officiating evaluations during its October 26-28 meeting in San Jose, California.

Last July, the committee designed a recommendation that will be forwarded in February to the Division I Championships/Competition Cabinet that would allow the committee to select predetermined sites in the first and second rounds of the Division I Women's Basketball Championship.

The committee amended the recommendation during the meeting by adding that host institutions would not host first- and second-round competition in no more than two consecutive years. Also included in the recommendation is that host institutions would not be able to host first and second rounds in addition to hosting a regional round in the same championship. The committee determined that regardless of the cabinet's decision on selection of predetermined first- and second-round sites, the committee would ask that a host institution not be permitted to host first and second rounds along with regional competition in the same year.

In other action, the committee reviewed a proposal that would al-low tournament coaches the chance to have input in evaluating the performance of officials working their games. The committee decided to provide each participating head coach with a form to evaluate the game officials' performance at the site of the game. The committee representative then will collect the official evaluations and send them to Marcy Weston, national coordinator for women's basketball officiating, and to the NCAA national office. The evaluations will be considered by the committee when selecting officials to advance in the championship.

Members of the committee also met with representatives of the Women's Basketball Coaches Associa-tion (WBCA) to review plans for the 1999 Women's Final Four to be held March 26 and 28 in San Jose, California. The WBCA will conduct its All-Star Challenge, a game featuring outstanding players not participating in the Women's Final Four, the morning of Saturday, March 27, in San Jose.