The NCAA News - News and Features

The NCAA News -- October 11, 1999

Championships Committee selects future men's basketball sites

The NCAA Division II Championships Committee has selected Bakersfield, California; Evansville, Indiana; and Lakeland, Florida, as cities to host the finals of the 2001, 2002, and 2003 NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Championships, respectively.

The committee approved the sites at its September 22-23 meeting. The 2001 Men's Elite Eight will be held in Bakersfield Centennial Garden in Bakersfield. California State University, Bakersfield, will serve as the host institution for the March 21, 22, and 24, 2001, event.

The Men's Elite Eight will go to Roberts Stadium in Evansville in 2002. The hosts will be the University of Southern Indiana and the Great Lakes Valley Athletic Conference. The dates of competition are March 20, 21, and 23, 2002.

In 2003, the Men's Elite Eight will be held at The Lakeland Center in Lakeland. Florida Southern College and Polk County Sports Marketing will host the event, which will be held March 19, 20, and 22, 2003.

"The committee was impressed by all the cities during the site visits in August," said John "Skip" Wagnon, chair of the NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Committee and athletics director at the University of Central Oklahoma. "We are excited about the opportunity to move the Men's Elite Eight to different parts of the country and are confident that each of the local organizing committees will do a great job."

The 2000 Men's Elite Eight will be hosted by Bellarmine College and be held at the Commonwealth Convention Center in Louisville, Kentucky, on March 22, 23, and 25, 2000.