March just got a little madder in the Pacific-10 Conference.
Ten years after it discarded a postseason basketball tournament, the Pac-10 officially voted in favor of reinstating its own tourney Monday.
In order for it to be passed, eight of the 10 Pac-10 presidents had to vote in favor. The result, as expected, was 8-2 for the tourney, with only Stanford and Arizona voting against.
The vote was identical to the one that took place in early August between the Pac-10 athletic directors. It now leaves the Ivy League as the only Division I conference without its own postseason.
There will be both a men’s and women’s Pac-10 tournament, with the first one taking place in March 2002 during the week between the final league game and the first NCAA Tournament game. The winner of each tournament, regardless of what place it finishes during the regular season, will receive an automatic bid to the “Big Dance.”
“My first impression is just, ‘That’s super,’” Oregon head coach Ernie Kent said. “I think it’s an excellent opportunity to showcase this conference coming down the stretch. I think it’s great for the fans up and down the West Coast that support Pac-10 basketball.”
The Pac-10 did have a men’s tournament from 1987-90, but low attendance was believed to be its downfall.
The league has been trying to get the tournament accepted for the past three years, but has fallen just short every time with a 7-3 vote. UCLA had been joining Arizona and Stanford in opposition, but decided to be for the tournament this time around.
“I don’t know what caused them to be in favor of it all of a sudden,” Kent said.
The men’s tournament will include eight of the top 10 teams in the league and will take place every year at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. The women’s tournament will include all 10 teams and will be hosted by a Pac-10 school on a rotating basis.
With the women doing so well in attendance, McArthur Court would be an obvious choice to be one of the first schools to host.
“Obviously, this could be a great reward for the women and how much success they’ve had here,” Oregon athletic director Bill Moos said.

Not everyone is as pleased. Arizona men’s head coach Lute Olson and Stanford head coach Mike Montgomery have been two of the most vocal opponents. Montgomery didn’t hide his feelings Monday when addressing the issue.
“Gee it’s great — can’t wait,” Montgomery said. “Really, what do I want to say? I’m disappointed. There’s just a lot of things that I have trouble with.”
When asked if there was any specific conditions that would have led him to sway his viewpoint, Montgomery replied: “I don’t know what they would be.”
The Oregon basketball players seemed to be pretty pleased with the news after Monday’s practice at McArthur Court.
“It’s exciting because anyone can win it and go to the tournament,” said freshman point guard Luke Ridnour, who mentioned how he grew up watching the Atlantic Coast Conference tournaments on television.
Some Ducks hadn’t even heard about the possibility of the games.
“It was a shock to me,” junior guard Anthony Norwood said. “Freddie [Jones] came up to me during practice and was like, ‘Hey, we’re having a Pac-10 tourney.’ And I was like, ‘For what? Volleyball?’”
Senior David Jackson was pleased with the news because he remembers the importance of the league games back when he played on Utah’s Final Four team in 1998.
“It gives you big game experience, which is helpful as you go through the Big Dance,” Jackson said.
Also Monday, the league passed the right to have a year-long training table, enabling athletes from all sports to have one free meal per day. The Pac-10 was one of the few conferences not to have it year-round and Kent admitted that many schools used that to their advantage during recruiting battles.
“Both decisions were huge [tournament and training table] because we’ve been hurting and football has been hurting with recruits because of no training tables,” Kent said.
Said Ridnour, when hearing the news of free food: “That’s awesome.”