LSU To Host 2012 NCAA Tournament First and Second Round at Maravich Center

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LSU’s Pete Maravich Assembly Center has been selected as a host site for the 2012 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament First and Second Rounds, the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Committee announced on Tuesday.

Games will be played at the Maravich Center on either March 17 and 19, 2012 or March 18 and 20, 2012. Those days will be determined in June of 2011. The NCAA Tournament returns to Baton Rouge for the first time since the 2009 postseason.

“This is a very exciting day for the program,” said LSU head coach Van Chancellor. “The opportunity to host NCAA Tournament games in your own venue is an honor. I think it reflects how hard our administration has worked and how passionate our fans are in supporting women’s basketball.”

LSU and the Maravich Center are among 16 sites selected to host in 2012. Other first and second round host sites for the 2012 NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament include: Ames, Iowa; Bowling Green, Ohio; Bridgeport, Conn.; Chapel Hill, N.C.; Chicago, Ill.; College Park, Md.; College Station, Texas; Little Rock, Ark.; Nashville, Tenn.; Norfolk, Va.; Norman, Okla.; Notre Dame, Ind.; Spokane, Wash.; Tallahassee, Fla.; and West Lafayette, Ind.. 

The four selected regional sites are Des Moines, Iowa; Fresno, Calif.; Kingston, R.I.; and Raleigh, N.C. The 2012 NCAA Women's Final Four will be played at the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colo.

Since the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament was expanded to its current 64-team format, LSU has played host to first-and-second round games six times, most recently in 2009 when the Lady Tigers defeated Green Bay before losing to eventual Final Four participant Louisville in the second round.

LSU also served as a host site for first-and-second round games in 1997, 1999, 2000, 2004 and 2008. The Lady Tigers are 13-2 all-time in NCAA Tournament games played in Baton Rouge. That record dates back to LSU’s first hosting opportunity in 1984. LSU owns a perfect 6-0 record all-time in NCAA Tournament First Round games in the Maravich Center.

Posted by Bill Martin