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NCAA Tournament's First Four to be played in Dayton

Thu 9th, September 2010

Indianapolis, IN (Sports Network) - The University of Dayton has been selected as the host for the NCAA Tournament's new "First Four" games.

In April, the NCAA announced an expansion of the men's basketball tournament to 68 teams for 2011, and in July came up with a new format featuring eight teams playing in the "First Four" round. Those four winners will advance to the second round.

Dayton has previously hosted the tournament's Opening Round since the field was expanded from 64 to 65 teams in 2001.

"Dayton hosted the opening round game for the past 10 years and consistently attracted extraordinary crowds, including over 11,000 in 2009," said Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith, the chair of the Division I Men's Basketball Committee for the 2010-11 season. "The enthusiasm the UD staff and the local fans demonstrated for hosting that game did not go unnoticed, so it makes sense to us to conduct the inaugural First Four in Dayton."

The new format features two games with teams battling to advance as two of the tournament's No. 16 seeds, while the other two games will pit the last four at-large teams selected to the field. Those four games are set to take place Tuesday and Wednesday, March 15-16.

"We explored different options, including playing the first-round games at multiple sites as well as the possibility of playing all games on one day, but we came to the conclusion that Dayton is the best location to host all four games for the 2011 tournament," Smith added. "Moving forward, we will conduct a thorough evaluation, as we do with all rounds of the championship, with the student-athlete experience being our top priority."

The tournament field will be selected on March 13.