The NCAA Men’s Basketball Championships will have been in Buffalo four times since 2000 including next week when Canisius College and Niagara University host at HSBC Arena. It is amazing to see the building transform from a heavily branded NHL arena into an exclusively branded NCAA arena. And, as my college son explained to me, because the arena is “dry” there is a lot of pre-gaming going on!
We had a great experience in 1996 when Canisius made the tournament and played at Reunion Arena in Dallas. Our host was very helpful from just minutes after the selection show. He greeted us at the airport and helped us coordinate some meals in Dallas. I had a great deal of interaction with him as Athletic Business Manager.
In 2000 HSBC was one of eight venues for the first time and my husband volunteered to be a team host. He was assigned Oregon and for that weekend we were devoted Ducks! We hoped for a win and the opportunity to help them all weekend. It was a 7-10 game and #10 seed Seton Hall had a different idea.
Now let’s fast forward to 2007 when both my husband and I were hosts for the tournament. My husband wanted to host #6 seed Duke so I decided to host #11 seed VCU so we could have a game in the second round. Who, except for the VCU Rams, would have believed we would be cheering for VCU in the second round.
When Duke arrived, via charter, to Prior Aviation (the private air company at the Buffalo/Niagara International Airport) my husband and then high school son were on the tarmac greeting Coach “K” and his family. Coach was very gracious, introduced my guys to his family and thanked them for the welcome. That was it! Duke has a finely oiled tournament machine. They do not need the aid of any outsider, assigned by the NCAA or not.
My experience with VCU could not have been more different. I introduced myself to their staff immediately after selection and fielded questions about restaurants and ground transportation. I greeted them at their hotel, organized lunch for the team and took their staff to the Anchor Bar for original chicken wings. We had constant interaction during the tournament and I was with them when they celebrated their victory over Duke.
For a truly fun experience, you cannot beat mid major athletics.
Next time: the prep that goes into the “official travel party” of 75
Jude Russo Caserta
AthleticBudgetCoach.com/blog
Twitter: JudeCaserta Linkedin: Jude Russo Caserta
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This post was mentioned on Twitter by JudeCaserta: Life of an NCAA Team Host: http://tinyurl.com/yhk9bvq Here is my #midmajor inside look at the #NCAAM Basketball tourny….