The national champion Connecticut Huskies enjoyed a little home cooking during the NCAA East Regional at Madison Square Garden in New York. In 2015 UConn will get a taste of what it is like to be at home for the American Athletic Conference championship tournament.
Commissioner Mike Aresco announced Monday that the XL Center in Hartford, Conn., has been chosen as the site of the 2015 American Athletic Conference Men’s Basketball Championship. Hartford was tapped to host the second AAC tournament. The FedEx Forum in Memphis hosted the first tournament in 2014, which was won by Louisville.
The last time the Huskies played their conference tournament on a home court was 1982 when the Hartford Civic Center was the site of the Big East Conference tournament. The next season the Big East moved the tournament to Madison Square Garden and it never left.
The announcement came just one day after Hartford hosted a parade celebrating national championships for both the UConn men’s and women’s basketball programs.
“We are excited and proud that the American Athletic Conference has chosen the XL Center as the site for next season’s men’s championship tournament,” UConn coach Kevin Ollie said in a statement. “It will give more of our great fans in Connecticut a chance to watch the intensity and competitiveness of postseason play.
“Last year’s tournament in Memphis brought together some of the top teams in the country and I know next year in Hartford will do the same. We want to keep Connecticut in the college basketball spotlight.”
Aresco said a decision regarding the site for the 2015 women’s AAC is expected to be announced by the end of the week. The 2014 event was held at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville.
“This doesn’t effect the women’s tournament,” Aresco said. “We never opposed having the two events in the same state or the same community. I did express reservations at one time about whether the same venue could hold both tournaments. I thought that would be extremely difficult. We try to take the bids as they come and evaluate them independently.”
Hartford bid coordinators say they plan to “roll out the red carpet” for the men’s tournament.
“A lot of the planning will be around the XL Center but also around the region and the city of Hartford,” said Andy Bessette, board member of the Capital Region Development Authority. “We’re in the process of making approximately $35 million for improvements in the XL Center. It’s really going to enhance the participant and fan experience going into the facility. It will be a destination as much as anything coming into the conference tournament. That’s very exciting.”
Global Spectrum’s Chris Lawrence, general manager of the XL Center, said the goal right now is to complete all improvements by Oct. 1.
“I am very excited that the American Athletic Conference men’s basketball tournament is coming to Hartford in 2015,” UConn athletic director Warde Manuel said in a statement. “I want to congratulate Governor Dannel Malloy and the state of Connecticut, UConn alumnus Andy Bessette and the Connecticut Region Development Authority and Chris Lawrence and the staff at Global Spectrum for submitting an excellent proposal that resulted in the event coming to our capital city.
“We believe that our loyal UConn fans will once again fill the XL Center for our men’s and women’s basketball games in 2014-15 and that will continue during the 2015 American men’s tournament.”
Dates for the 2015 tournament will be announced in the coming weeks. It’s possible, Aresco said, that the AAC could change the format of the tournament, which included a Saturday night championship game in 2014.
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