Greenville replaces Greensboro as 2017 NCAA tournament men's site

[Calista241]

Source: ESPN

Greenville, South Carolina, will host first- and second-round games of the NCAA men's basketball tournament in March, seizing the games away from Greensboro, North Carolina, as the state of South Carolina benefited from a ban of championship events from the state of North Carolina.

The NCAA announced the move Friday, giving South Carolina its first championship men's basketball event since 2002. The move comes a year after the Confederate flag was removed from the state capitol in Columbia. The flag was the reason the NCAA previously wouldn't place official championship events in the state.

...

The NCAA, along with the ACC, followed the lead of the NBA, which pulled its All-Star Game out of Charlotte, by removing any championship events in 2016-17 from North Carolina over the controversial HB2 law.

The law, commonly known as the "bathroom bill,'' was deemed discriminatory by LGBT groups over its determination for transgender people to use the bathroom of the gender indicated on their birth certificate, rather than their identity.

Read more: http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/17737922/greenville-south-carolina-host-relocated-ncaa-tournament-games

[SCliberal91294]

1. Sweet

My hometown!

[LynneSin]

2. I'm glad they picked another southern state

Two reasons

First - shouldn't totally punish the south for the stupidity of NC laws
Second - if GOP in South Carolina are considering HB2-type laws, hopefully they will think twice knowing they have benefitted because of NC Stupidity.

[Calista241]

3. They really had to. The NCAA bracket system is really a regional playoff.

Everyone is placed into their region by the selection committee, and they all play until there is 1 team left. The Final Four are the champions of each region, who then play for the national title.

And placing the playoff elsewhere would have other consequences. The ACC is arguably the best basketball conference of them all. They're based in the south, and the conference itself is based in North Carolina. Especially when the ACC agreed with them and removed their own neutral site games from NC. The NCAA can't afford to offend its best draw in basketball, or they'll risk losing power like they did in the fight over College Football.

But I agree with you, Southern states benefitting from NC stupidity can only cause the other states to look at each other and ask "do we really want to do that?"

[GOLGO 13]

4. Greed & Money will forever triumph over blind hatred & religious fanaticism

Nice to win one every now & then.

[Blue_Tires]

5. Seriously??

They couldn't put it in Richmond or something?