The women’s basketball community in Iowa is still buzzing about having Des Moines as one of the regional sites of this year’s NCAA Tournament. Even without a local team playing, more fans came to Wells Fargo Arena than any of this year’s other regionals.
U.N.I. women’s basketball coach Tanya Warren says that just proves how much fans in Iowa appreciate the sport. Warren says it continues to increase the profile of women’s basketball in the state, and she says people understand that there is great basketball in our state.
Warren says that when you put programs like Baylor and Tennessee in a region, it’s no surprise that basketball fans will show up in droves. U.N.I. served as the host school for the Regional, and Warren says that the school’s administration deserves a lot of credit for getting the word out about this weekend’s games.
“There’s no question that our administration has done a great job, everybody’s done a great job,” Warren says. She says it helped to have Brittany Griner, one of the top players in the country and a woman who can dunk the ball.
The NCAA will bring championship events back to Iowa again next winter when the state plays host the national wrestling championships in both Division One and Division Three.