In a move destined to disappoint Brigham Young University Hawaii men's basketball fans, the NCAA has dictated a change in the NCAA II West Regional Tournament. Accordingly, the regional championship game originally scheduled for Tuesday night at the Cannon Activities Center will now be moved to Wednesday night, March 18, at 7:30 p.m. in the CAC, barring, of course, any further directives from the NCAA.
In a terse e-mail received by members of the BYU-Hawaii Athletic Department this morning from Jeff Jarnecke, assistant director for championships for the NCAA, BYU-Hawaii was told that "Due to the travel issues we face in sending Cal Poly Pomona to Honolulu, the West region championship is moved to Wednesday, March 18. In consultation with the NCAA travel department and approval from the Division II leadership, we believe the change in the schedule is most fair for the competing institutions and necessitated by the issues at hand."
The scheduling snafu comes as a result of the NCAA's decision in the middle of the season to implement a sub-regional contingency in an effort to save money that would establish two sub-regionals in place of a single regional tournament in the event that all seven visiting schools would have to fly to the host site in order to compete. In essence, the rule is aimed directly at Alaska and Hawaii schools. When the Seasiders completed the season with a 25-1 record and an unblemished region mark and thus could not be denied the top seed in the regional tournament, the sub-regional plan was put into effect.
The original plan, as presented to BYU-Hawaii, called for the sub-regional games to played on Friday and Saturday with Sunday set aside as a travel day for the regional finalists and the championship to be played on Tuesday. However, no airline reservations were made or plans made with any airlines in advance to accommodate the travel needs of the winner of the sub-regional held in Bellingham, Washington. The result is a tremendous inconvenience to the Seasiders and their fans.
With hundreds of advance tickets sold for a Tuesday night game, there will undoubtedly be problems encountered, especially with fans that have traveled to Hawaii just to watch the Seasiders and have travel plans calling for a Wednesday departure from the islands. In addition, it has been announced to the media worldwide that the game will be featured on BYU Television by satellite on Tuesday and BYU-Hawaii will now have to attempt to negotiate a Wednesday broadcast by BYU Television and, if acquired, attempt to get the word out to multiple media outlets regarding the change. This is in addition to the on-site changes required for use of the Cannon Activities Center, which is a multiple-use facility that requires classes being inconvenienced, moved, or cancelled in order to accommodate the change.
BYU-Hawaii Athletic Director and Head Basketball Coach Ken Wagner expressed his disappointment with the change by saying, "I really don't think it's fair to BYU-Hawaii and our fans. I don't think that the NCAA should change the rules in the middle of the tournament and it makes it difficult for us to prepare to play when our staff is, instead, working on accommodating the changes dictated by the NCAA."
Wagner indicated that all tickets purchased for Tuesday's game would be honored for Wednesday's date or a full refund will be given to those unable to change their plans and make it to the game on Wednesday.