2022 Hercules Tires MAAC Basketball Championships Program

F E AT U RE S T O RY

F E AT U RE S T O RY

The MAAC and NCAA – Decades of Successful Championship Collaborations By Hamilton Cook

KeyBank Center, and member institutions, Canisius College and Niagara University, have combined to host eight prosperous NCAA events, all producing attendance numbers above 53,000, respectively. The quartet’s success officially tipped-off in the year 2000, with the East Region of the Men’s Basketball First and Second Rounds on March 17 and 19. As games coincided with the arena’s first name change from Midland Arena to HSBC Arena, the event calculated an astonishing 58,046 attendees combined through the three sessions. Four years later in 2004, the Men’s First and Second Rounds would welcome 55,840 fans from March 18 to March 20, another sellout crowd. Those fans would get to witness the Connecticut Huskies defeat Vermont and DePaul in Buffalo before eventually winning the national title on April 5. In 2007, not only did the MAAC pack HSBC Arena with a three-sessions total of 56,290, they also produced the biggest upset of the First Round when No. 11 VCU upended N0. 6 Duke, 79-77 behind a shot from Eric Maynor with 1.8 seconds left, ousting the Blue Devils in the opening round for the first time since the mid-90s. A sellout crowd that included 56,535 guests on March 19 and 21, the First and Second Rounds of the 2010 Men’s Tournament at the Buffalo arena was all chalk with No. 1 Syracuse and No. 2 West Virginia each advancing out of the region. The 2014 Men’s First and Second Rounds for the MAAC was the most successful while also being arguably the most entertaining site of that respective year’s NCAA Championships. Hosting a combined 57, 256 fans through the course of the event, the MAAC and HSBC Arena sold more tickets than any other opening round sites for that year. They also gave the country its Cinderella and its eventual national champions. No. 11 Dayton broke the hearts of national powerhouses Ohio State and Syracuse in Buffalo, to start its run which eventually ended to the No. 1 overall seed Florida in the Elite 8. On the other side of the bracket, No. 7 UConn would move past Saint Joseph’s and then Villanova in Buffalo, eventually edging Kentucky in the national title game at AT&T Stadium for their 4 th program crown. The most recent NCAA Men’s Basketball First and Second Rounds held at what is now KeyBank Center, was in 2017, (54,686 total attendance), putting the quantity at six total completed NCAA Men’s First and Second Rounds.

From that inaugural NCAA event in 1995 and since the turn of the millennium, the MAAC has successfully hosted 17 additional NCAA Championships, ranging from indoor sports such as basketball and ice hockey to outdoor sports like cross country and rowing. “The MAAC has been and continues to be a leader in its commitment to hosting NCAA championships. From basketball to rowing, the diversity of events hosted sets the MAAC apart from other conferences,” remarked Michelle Perry, President & CEO Gamechangers Consulting. A TRACK RECORD OF SUCCESS IN WESTERN NEW YORK That sellout crowd at the 1995 NCAA Basketball First and Second Rounds for the MAAC would only be the beginning of what would be a long run of sellouts and successful NCAA events. The most notable counterpart of the conference would come from Western New York, in the city of Buffalo. An alliance with the premiere destination for sports and entertainment in downtown Buffalo, the multipurpose indoor arena, now known as KeyBank Center, is the largest indoor arena in Western New York, seating 19,070 fans in its normal configuration. The collaboration of the MAAC,

A s March Madness concludes and the newly crowned NCAA Men’s Basketball National Champions cut down the nets, the college basketball national theme song “One Shining Moment” blasts through every sound system in the facility, a tradition that has been carried out to end each men’s basketball season since 1987. The song plays to the tune of a montage of highlights from the recently completed tournament, displayed on every video board in the bowl and simultaneously on the national broadcast. But exactly one month before a national champion can be crowned, before the Final Four team’s tip-off, before the Elite Eight and Sweet Sixteen, there are the opening rounds. The First and Second Rounds: where Cinderella is born, where unknown players become household names, where upsets are inevitable, and where mid-major conferences like the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference can put together a first-class stage for the aforementioned events to be born. The MAAC has had the privilege to make these dreams, and many others come to fruition since the mid 90’s.

HOW IT STARTED Dating back to 1995, the MAAC and NCAA have partnered on an array of championships, enabling the conference and its member institutions the chance to gain national exposure, furthering the mission of the conference. The collaboration between the conference and NCAA began with the 1995 NCAA Men’s Basketball First and Second Rounds in Albany, New York, at what is now known as MVP Arena. Alongside member school Siena College, the duo successfully co-hosted the sellout event, with 45,300 attendees through three sessions on March 17and March 19. “In 1990, when the MAAC moved its basketball tournament to what was then the Knickerbocker Arena in Albany, I, among others, recognized the options the facility presented the league for hosting NCAA Championships,” said MAAC Commissioner, Rich Ensor. “This led the MAAC to partner with the arena and Siena College on hosting its first NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball First and Second Rounds in 1995. Pretty much since that sellout experience, the MAAC has been aggressive in seeking out bids to a wide variety of NCAA Championships in multiple venues throughout its geographic footprint.”

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