July 12 – Sorry sophomores. No NCAA Regional for you after all.

Roughly a week after the NCAA announced the Carrier Dome would host a Regional in 2010 — and then decided hours later 2009 would work better — it officially determined today in another e-mail to the media 2010 would be the year.

There was no reason given for either change, continuing a bizarre and embarrassing sequence. Now, only this fall’s freshmen will be on campus for the games — which will take place March 25 and 27.

The night of July 6, the SU athletic department released the following statement via e-mail:

‘The NCAA has made an adjustment to the list of cities scheduled to host first- and second-round and regional games for the 2009 and 2010 men’s basketball championships. Syracuse University and the Carrier Dome will host a Regional in 2009. In its original announcement, the NCAA had scheduled Syracuse to host the Regional in 2010.

‘The Syracuse University Athletic Communications Office will provide further information when it becomes available.’

Syracuse Director of Athletics Daryl Gross commented on the original announcement the afternoon of July 6.

‘This is outstanding,’ Gross said in a press release. ‘Syracuse has always been at the forefront when it comes to hosting NCAA events. We thank the NCAA for recognizing what we have done in the past and look forward to making this one even better. We are excited to maintain our leadership role when it comes to NCAA basketball.’

It will mark the sixth time that the Dome has hosted the regional championship, and the eighth overall time that the Dome has been the site for the NCAA Tournament.

Syracuse hosted regionals in 1983, 1997, 2000, 2002 and 2005, and the first and second rounds in 1986 and 1993.

In 2005, North Carolina defeated Villanova and Wisconsin at the Dome on its way to winning the national championship against Illinois.

Though the topic is broached every time Syracuse hosts tournament games, the Carrier Dome will never host the Final Four. The city of Syracuse does not support the population or infrastructure for such an event.

Tickets for such events usually go on sale at least a year in advance. In 2005, it cost $90 to attend the three games at the Dome, the lowest price of the four regionals that year.

From the D.O. archives: ‘Four-get about it: Syracusewill never host a Final Four, so give it up’
(By Scott Lieber, 3/24/05)

Published on August 7, 2006 at 12:00 pm