Big East moves women’s basketball tournament to home of WNBA’s Connecticut Sun
NEW YORK (BVM) — The Big East has announced the new location of its next women’s basketball tournament. After hosting the tournament at Wintrust Arena in Chicago the past three years, the Big East has reached an agreement to host the Big East Women’s Basketball Tournament at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn. The agreement will cover a three-year span in 2021, 2022 and 2023.
The move to Mohegan Sun coincides with the University of Connecticut rejoining the Big East. UConn was one of the original teams in the Big East when the conference was formed in 1979. The Huskies have spent the last seven years in the American Athletic Conference.
“We’re thrilled to have the BIG EAST Tournament come to Mohegan Sun,” UConn head coach Geno Auriemma said. “We have the best women’s basketball fans in the nation in Connecticut and they’ll be excited to see UConn back in the BIG EAST. Continue wearing masks and taking necessary health and safety precautions so this tournament can take place in 2021.”
Big East commissioner, Val Ackerman, shared her excitement about the conference’s change in venue as well.
“We are very excited to bring one of the BIG EAST’s premier competitions to Mohegan Sun Arena, a one-of-a-kind facility that has long served as one of the best women’s basketball venues in the country,” Ackerman said in a conference press release. “We are proud to welcome the Huskies and their women’s basketball fans back into the BIG EAST fold.”
The move will cap off a seven-year run of the tournament being held in the Midwest. From 2014-15 the tournament was held at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Ill., before moving in 2016 to the McGrath-Phillips Arena on DePaul University’s campus in Chicago. In 2017, the tournament was hosted for one year at the Al McGuire Center on Marquette University’s campus in Milwaukee, Wis.
Depaul has dominated this tournament recently, winning in five of their last seven appearances, and will likely face stiff competition with the addition of UConn to the conference.
