City to host women's basketball NCAA tourney regional in 2016

Sioux Falls will be the last stop for somebody on the road to the Final Four.

The NCAA on Thursday awarded to the city the right to host a regional round of the Division I women's basketball tournament at the Denny Sanford Premier Center on March 25-28, 2016. That means four teams will be coming in to play three games during the Sweet 16 and the Elite Eight portion of the 64-team event, with the survivor earning a trip to Indianapolis for the national semifinals.

It'll be the first Division I championship event ever held in South Dakota – the last state to field D-I teams – and represents a significant promotion for Sioux Falls in terms of its status as a tournament host. The boon comes just three days after the city was rejected in its attempt to land part of the Division I men's basketball tournament between 2016 and 2018.

Turns out the success and the shortcoming were directly related. The Sioux Falls Sports Authority bid to host early round games in the men's Big Dance despite lacking the required number of full-service hotels. However, the NCAA liked what it saw enough to suggest that the city try for the women's regional round.

Sioux Falls previously hadn't planned on doing that due to uncertainty about forthcoming format changes for the event. It went to work throwing together a late bid package – the deadline had to be extended – with input from Summit League commissioner and NCAA championships committee member Tom Douple. And that's how it landed what Sports Authority director Wes Hall called the biggest sporting event in the history of the state.

The Summit League will serve as the official hosting entity with assistance from member schools, including South Dakota State and South Dakota.

"This is the first step on a big journey for this little city," said Sports Authority board member and Sanford Health Vice President Kevin Lampe. "Our events center and everything we've got planned – it's starting to come into place, it's starting to happen."

Yes, the 12,000-seat, $117-million Premier Center that opened this fall was a key component to the bid, according to Hall. Venue general manager Terry Torkildson said that this hosting opportunity will elevate its status in the national sports community.

Also, NCAA Vice President for Women's Basketball Championships Anucha Browne cited during the online unveiling, that the area's fan base, the success of local programs – South Dakota State or South Dakota have qualified for the last six Division I tournaments – and an element of Native American involvement were viewed as desirable by the selection committee.

The region's zeal for D-I women's hoops has been on display annually since 2009 when Sioux Falls began hosting the Summit League tournament to record crowds, media coverage and corporate sponsorships. Some of those elements will come into play for the Big Dance and some of them won't. For example, the NCAA generally strips host sites of signage.

Hall said that he'll create in short order an operations committee in order to begin planning. However, there's prior business to attend to.

Last December, Sioux Falls was awarded eight Division II championships across a variety of sports between 2015 and 2018. The first in that run will be the D-II women's basketball Elite Eight in 2015. The NCAA this week made a site visit for that event. If the visiting rep knew the outcome of the D-I regional selection process, she didn't let on, Hall said.

Douple said he was in position to offer advice during the bid process and to ensure that fellow committee members were properly informed about what Sioux Falls had to offer. He learned last Thursday and Friday, respectively, that the city would be shutout of the men's tournament and successful in landing the women's event.

Just eight years ago, there were questions about Sioux Falls' facilities and tournament-hosting capabilities when it came to landing the Summit League event.

Now this: Somebody will make the Final Four by winning the Sioux Falls Region of the NCAA tournament. It'll be part of a basketball marathon, the city hosting in March 2016 the Summit League men's and women's tournament, the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference men's and women's tournament, the Division II women's Elite Eight, the Division I women's regional and the Class AA boys and girls state tournaments.

"It started with the Arena and just asking, 'Can we get bigger locker rooms, better restrooms?'" Douple said with a chuckle. "And now we have a brand new arena and all of this."

WHAT ROUND? Sioux Falls has been tabbed to host the regional round – that's the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight – of the NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament.

WHEN/WHERE: March 25-28, 2016, at the Denny Sanford Premier Center.

OTHER SITES: Bridgeport, Conn., Lexington, Ky., and Dallas.

EARLY ROUNDS: First- and second-round games will be hosted by the top 16 seeds in the 64-team tournament. Regional champions will advance to the Final Four in Indianapolis.