The University of Connecticut national championship men’s basketball team won’t have far to go for its conference tournament next year: Hartford’s XL Center was selected Monday to host the 2015 American Athletic Conference tourney.
The XL Center has hosted early-round NCAA tournament games, as well as a long run as the home of the women’s Big East Tournament.
“Today’s announcement puts Hartford back in the basketball tournament business,” Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said. “While this is great news for next year, I am even more excited for what this means in the future. I believe we can and should be in consideration for more NCAA tournament events, and I will continue to push to bring those games to our state.”
The American Conference is not one of nation’s so-called power conferences, but it is home to the 2013 and 2014 men’s and women’s national champions — with an asterisk. Louisville, the ’13 men’s champion, is departing the American for the ACC.
Hartford will be the site of 10 games: three first-round, four in the quarter-finals, two semi-finals and a championship.
The lineup of schools next season: Central Florida, Cincinnati, UConn, East Carolina, Houston, Memphis, South Florida, Southern Methodist, Temple, Tulane and Tulsa.