If Cheers is the place where everybody knows your name, Wendy Larry remembers a place that could be considered just the opposite: the early days of women's postseason basketball. As a student-athlete at Old Dominion University, where she now is regarded as one of the top coaches in the women's game, Larry recalls tournaments in the 1970s when games were one after the other and the fanfare was few and far between.

"It was all about survival of the fittest," Larry said. "And not too many people knew about it."

Nowadays, though, Larry takes teams into packed campus gymnasiums, city arenas and domed Final Four venues to the cheers of those who not only know her name, but the names of her players and the opponents. Indeed, women's basketball has made a name for itself through a tournament that has created fans who don't just cheer for a team -- they cheer for a game.

They also want to see the game in person. Not only are there more local hotbeds for women's basketball, the Women's Final Four sells out early and often -- 12 straight years in fact -- and now all 63 tournament games are televised.

"The NCAA had a vision for women's basketball," said Pat Summitt, longtime coach at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, whose Lady Vols have been selected to participate in each of the 23 tournaments. "And it wasn't the type of vision that just mirrored what was going on in the men's game. It was a close examination of how to improve the women's game and the women's tournament."

For example, Summitt said as the tournament evolved, the bracket grew only as it needed to grow. "When we didn't have as much parity, rather than trying to match what the men were doing, the NCAA did what was best for women's basketball. That's significant," she said.

Not only was calculated bracket growth significant, but where to play the games and how to broadcast them have been and still are two of more compelling issues the women's tournament faces.

The tournament depended almost exclusively on campus sites at preliminary rounds for many years -- until 2003 in fact -- and recent committees have been careful not to leave that campus nest until members are sure it doesn't compromise the student-athlete experience in the tournament.

Is the game ready for totally neutral sites? Tennessee's Summitt thinks so.

"Our game is such that we're ready to pursue the neutral court," she said. "We've demonstrated more parity and increased fan support, the media interest has exploded, and it's time to take a step in that direction, which again will be good for the game.

"If we don't do that, we have to consider whether it's fair. Fairness is important now that we have been able to see the support."

Nora Lynn Finch, senior associate athletics director at North Carolina State University and chair of the Division I Championships/Competition Cabinet, said the committee will have to put a premium on the quality of the neutral site if that step is to be effective.

"Predetermined sites will help the game only if we can get a lot of quality neutral sites to bid," she said. "I'd like to see places like Greensboro, Richmond, Atlanta -- places that will draw large crowds that are close to quality teams but that could be 'neutral' courts."

Marra believes the interest will be there from potential neutral sites, simply because the popularity of the game is such that there's a financial incentive now for cities to host.

"It's somewhat lucrative now to be hosting these tournaments," she said. "The committee has taken a preliminary look at the bids for 2005-06 first and second rounds and it's going to be hard to choose. But that's a great problem to have."

On-screen exposure

Television coverage also has been a contributing factor in the tournament's growth. Though the championship game always has been televised, it wasn't until last year that the entire tournament received live coverage. That happened when the tournament moved to a Saturday-Monday/Sunday-Tuesday format for preliminary-round games, which allowed ESPN and ESPN2 to broadcast every game live.

FONT SIZE=3>As CBS has become bonded to the men's game, ESPN has become the home of the women's basketball championship. The relationship started in 1985 when ESPN televised its first tournament games -- two regional finals and both national semifinals. In 1996, ESPN began a seven-year agreement with the NCAA to be the exclusive network for the tournament. Even then, only 24 games were televised. But last year, ESPN and the NCAA began their 11-year rights contract that brought cameras to every game.

ESPN offered "whiparound-style" coverage of first- and second-round games to most of the nation, with regionalized/protected coverage in the home markets of the competing teams. All games were available in their entirety on ESPN's FullCourt pay-per-view package. Beginning with the regional semifinals, the remaining 15 games were televised nationally. The overall tournament and the Women's Final Four were the most-viewed in eight years.

The new contract also brought another format change -- moving the finals from the Friday-Sunday format to Sunday-Tuesday. That means women will be cutting down the last net of the basketball season, not men. Marra said as with every other change over time, there were pros and cons.

"The Sunday-Tuesday format allowed us to put 63 games on TV and not go head to head with the men. In order for ESPN to do that, it was important that we made the change," she said.

At the same time, Marra said, it was difficult for some fans because they had to take some extra time off. Before, fans could return to work by Tuesday at the latest instead of at the earliest.

"But you know, a lot of people are starting to appreciate the championship as an event -- as a vacation destination," she said.

ESPN certainly is appreciating the championship as an event. Tina Thornton, who coordinates tournament production for the network, said the women's broadcasts receive every bit the attention the men's games do on ESPN. And as the tournament progresses, that attention escalates.

"We increase our camera complement each round, just as other properties would," Thornton said. "You don't see the same number of cameras in regular-season NFL as you do in the Super Bowl. To that end, the Women's Final Four is where we bring out the toys."

Thornton said the toys at this year's Women's Final Four will include overhead robotic cameras, above-the-rim robotic cameras, across-the-court cameras and more. Thornton also said ESPN will employ more microphones, including under the court, where special equipment first used on the network's broadcast of the Winter X Games picks up sound via vibration. "You'll hear every shoe scuff," Thornton said.

Future challenges

Not only does the growth of the game and of the tournament challenge television, it challenges the participating coaches and student-athletes, and the administrators who run the event, to perform. But that's fine with most people, as long as the game moves forward.

"With the growth of the game we accept some of the inconveniences that come along," said Old Dominion's Larry, who serves as the current membership president of the Women's Basketball Coaches Association. "As we increase the commitment to the game, there will always be an increase in the expectations to produce. When you're trying to get the game to grow, that's one of the things that we have to deal with."

One of the things Larry said she's having to deal with increasingly is ticket distribution. Demand for access to the Women's Final Four has exceeded the ticket supply. "The corporate world has come into play with the national championship," she said. "At some point, someone has to make decisions on how tickets are distributed. Corporate money is huge in the continuation of the growth of the game, but when you put all these pieces into a small pie, how those tickets are distributed becomes one of the issues of concern.

"In the early 1980s you could get a great ticket on the day of the game. Now you need to plan a year ahead of time or you're not going. It's not just at the Women's Final Four now, either -- you see it at the conference tournament level, too, where some of your coaches now are seated in the third level instead of on the floor."

Still, Larry said it's a good problem to have -- better than the little recognition the event received in the "old days."

Summitt also does not want to take any steps backward, despite the ever-increasing demands on her time and her student-athletes' time when March rolls around.

"From a coaching standpoint, I liked not having as much attention and not as many time demands," said the coach who's won more tournament games than anyone else. "And there's more asked of the student-athletes in terms of participation in events other than the event. But as I watch our student-athletes participate in all of the activities, without question they feel very important and it's a bigger deal now. They feel that they are among the elite in women's basketball. That's the way they should feel."

"To see these young people get on the court and do what they do so well in front of large crowds -- it's just a whole different experience," Marra said. "I remember the first sellout and even the first time we had a dome -- we just stood there and looked around and felt the chill. These young women have grown their product to the point where people are there to support them. That's not something everyone has the opportunity to experience."

Summitt said the women's tournament is all its own and not a derivative of something else. "We don't need to change to be like any other game," she said.

"I'm excited about what's happened with the game and with the tournament. It's no longer just a tournament, it's an event -- it's a hot ticket and an exciting game. Because of all the hype around the Women's Final Four, the four teams that get there experience something very special as women athletes. And that's the way it ought to be."