NCAA early rounds hosted by Rider, SBA

By Paul Szaniawski

For the first time, the highest level of women’s college basketball – the NCAA Tournament – will be partly hosted by the Sovereign Bank Arena (SBA) from Sunday, March 19 – Tuesday, March 21.

Rider University is one of the hosts of the event, but don’t expect to get to get cranberry-colored merchandise there. The combined effort of the MAAC, The Mercer County Sports Organization, the SBA and Rider will bring eight college teams from among the best in the nation to the SBA.

“We’re obviously really excited to get this event here in the local area because we really want to show women’s sports and especially women’s basketball to the people in this area, especially little girls and boys in this area,” said Assistant Athletic Director Nancy Roberts.

The national tournament has had games exhibited at colleges like Penn State, Maryland and Temple in recent years.

“If you’re somebody in this area who wanted to see a game it would be too far,” said Roberts. “We’ve been really trying to get this event here and really showcase women’s sports in the area.”

For nearly a year and a half, members of Rider’s Athletic Department have been regularly going to the arena in Trenton to meet with the MAAC and SBA staffs to plan the event. This responsibility falls mostly on Rider’s shoulders.

“We’re basically doing all the background, the event management and the organization of the marketing of it,” said Roberts. “We’ve been helping the MAAC and SBA as a team to host this event and to really put our best foot forward.”

The public relations of the event has been done by the MAAC, the Mercer sports organization committee and Rider, according to Sports Information. Throughout the season at Rider, announcements have been made at all the University’s contests and have been mentioned in game notes and in programs regarding the tournament.

“We really want to look good in this event,” said Roberts. “As a senior woman administrator, I’m extremely excited about it. It’s nice to do something with women’s sports and Rider is a great school to do this because it is so gender equitable. It shows in our community how supportive we are of women’s athletics.”

An e-mail was sent by Associate Director of the Athletics Department Karin Torchia to all students offering volunteer opportunities at the SBA. Not only will the volunteers and the arena’s interning Rider students have a free pass to see the NCAA tournament games, they get to be a real part of arguably the biggest annual event in women’s sports.

“Some of the students are going to be stat runners, bench keepers [to keep the bench clean and organized], surveyors for the NCAA and all the behind-the-scenes type of things like locker room attendants,” said Roberts.

According to the Athletics Department, there will be at least 20 to 30 student and adult volunteers to help run the NCAA tournament.

“We have students that work in the sports information desk staff, in the stat room, in the press conference helping out with getting quotes and escorts,” Sports Information Director Bud Focht.

Each team will have an escort — most are adults from the community ­— to help acquaint the team personnel and talent with the local area and get them wherever they need to go.

Although, chances are the teams that end up playing in Trenton won’t be from that far away.

“With women’s basketball they tend to keep teams more local,” said Focht. “So while it’s a very good chance that we will get a Rutgers or a Temple, there’s an outside chance we can get U-Conn.”

Tickets for the games can be purchased through Ticketmaster or at sovereignbank-arena.com. Unfortunately, Rider students will not be able to buy discounted ticket prices. The prices are determined, made and sent to the SBA by the NCAA. said Roberts. This is because most of the ticket buyers won’t be Rider students.

“No matter who it is, it will sell out as long as they’re local teams,” said Focht. “If Princeton won the Ivy-League they might be here, Temple might be here. They keep teams relatively close so the fans can go to the games. There’s a very good chance of games being sold out, if not sold out.”