The weekend seemed destined for disaster.
The Oregon basketball team was greeted with a familiar cheer from its McArthur Court fans as the Ducks hit the hardwood Friday to face Washington State in the first game of the first Pacific-10 Conference women’s tournament. Not much else went right that night.
First, there was the Pit’s pesky scoreboard, which on more than one occasion this season has flashed and moaned out of order. The scoreboard had to be reset twice in Oregon’s first two games of the tournament.
Then there was nearly an early exit by the host team, which would have surely diminished attendance for the rest of the weekend. Washington State, the first team to lose every Pac-10 game in one season, trailed the by just one point late in the first half before the Ducks pulled away late.
To cap it off, the fire alarm went off in the middle of the game. The Cougars immediately tried to leave the building, but were escorted back to the court after the false alarm.
It’s safe to say, though, that after the shaky start, everything seemed to go off without a hitch at Mac Court over the four-day event — the scoreboard stopped whining, the alarms were held in check and the seats were occupied (most of them, anyway).
“We expected great crowds and great basketball in a wonderful environment. We got all that and much more,” said Christine Hoyles, the Pac-10 assistant commissioner who organized the tournament. “Our biggest challenge next year will be to top this.”
The tournament averaged almost 5,500 fans per session during the weekend, with a crowd of 5,842 greeting the Ducks on Friday. Oregon led the Pac-10 this season in attendance with more than 4,600 fans per game.
“We don’t have to apologize for having the tournament here,” Oregon head coach Bev Smith said. “The atmosphere was unbelievable. What you saw (from the crowd) was what’s special about Mac Court and the people of Eugene.”
A large crowd also showed up Monday night for the tournament’s championship game, which pitted Stanford, the regular season Pac-10 champ, against No. 3-seed Arizona State. The Sun Devils stunned Stanford, ranked No. 2 in the country, 70-63, in one of the more entertaining games of the year.
Despite the loss, Stanford head coach Tara VanDerveer said the Pac-10 Tournament provides teams with good experience for the Big Dance.
“For us, it’s been a really good weekend,” VanDerveer said. “The intensity that people saw is great. This tournament is great preparation for the NCAA Tournament.”
Next year, the Pac-10 Tournament will be held at a neutral site — the Compaq Center in San Jose, Calif., beginning March 7, 2003. While the Pac-10 has only committed to a one-year deal with the Compaq Center, Hoyles said it is likely that the tournament could be in San Jose for a few more years.
“We would very much like to extend that contract,” Hoyles said.
The Pac-10 will have to pay to play at the Compaq Center, but there are trade-offs with space issues for the 10 teams and the media.
“I don’t think it will be that much more expensive,” Hoyles said. “The general cost of doing business should be the same” as having it on a campus site.
Just as long as they keep a close eye on the scoreboard and the fire alarms next year.