Vol. 19, No. 22

March 2, 2000

America East championships
to stay at UD two more years

UD fans preparing to enjoy the America East men’s basketball championships in the Bob Carpenter Center this weekend can feel comfortable knowing that the Newark campus will play host to the tournament through the 2001-02 season. UD has served as the host of the first three rounds of the championship since the 1995-96 season. As has been the custom in previous years, this year’s championship final, and the ones to be held the next two years, will continue to be played at the higher seed of the two participating institutions. The decision to keep the men’s basketball tournament at UD was reached by a vote of the conference’s athletics directors at their February meeting. Last season’s America East Championship attracted standing-room-only crowds in excess of 5,200 to three of the five tournament sessions. “The University of Delaware has a proven record as a first-rate host,” Chris Monasch, America East commissioner, said. “The Bob Carpenter Center provides a tremendous tournament atmosphere for both the student-athletes and the fans of America East.” 2000 tourney schedule Single-session tickets for this weekend’s 2000 America East Men’s Basketball Tournament’s first three rounds are on sale at the Bob Carpenter Center box office. In addition, single-session tickets may also be purchased at any Delaware Valley Ticketmaster outlet, by calling Ticketmaster at 984-2000, or on-line via <www.ticketmaster.com>. General sale single-session tickets are $18, $15 and $13 for adults and $8 for children under 17. Student tickets are on sale at both the Bob Carpenter Center and Trabant University Center box offices. Students must show proper identification in order to receive the special $8 rate for single-session tickets. Student tickets will be reserved seating. There will be no student section tickets with open seating for the tournament. First round action will get under way Friday night with No. 8 Boston University (6-21, 5-13 in America East) and No. 9 Northeastern (7-20, 5-13) squaring off at 6 p.m. No. 7 Hartford (9-18, 6-12) and No. 10 New Hampshire (3-24, 2-16) will follow in first round action 30 minutes after the completion of the first game. Quarterfinal play will take place Saturday with No. 1 seed Hofstra (21-6, 16-2) taking on the winner of the Boston University-Northeastern game at noon. No. 4 Vermont (16-11, 11-7) will face No. 5 Drexel (12-16, 9-9) in the day’s second game, set to begin 30 minutes after the first game’s completion. No. 2 Maine (23-6, 15-3) will face the winner of the Hartford-New Hampshire game at 6 p.m. in the first game of Saturday’s night session. No. 3 Delaware (22-6, 14-4) will take on No. 6 Towson (11-16, 7-11) in the day’s final game, 30 minutes after the completion of the previous game. Sunday’s semifinal session will begin at noon. The winners of Saturday’s day session will play in the first semifinal, while the survivors of Saturday’s evening session will face off at approximately 2:30 p.m. The championship game will be played Saturday, March 11, at the home court of the highest remaining seed. The 11:30 a.m. game will be televised on ESPN. Tickets for that game will go on sale Monday, March 6, at the competing institutions’ ticket offices.