WNIT Article that didn't make the paper.

The excitement that last year’s WNIT caused is about to begin again next week on the SDSU campus.

With the announcement of the WNIT bracket being made on Monday March 17th, the Jacks will soon find out who there opponent will be, if they will receive a first round bye and if Frost Arena will host sellout crowds of rabid Jackrabbit fans for the second March in a row.

Associate athletic director Rob Peterson put in the bid for SDSU to host a tournament game. The bid goes to Triple Crown Sports, the company that owns the WNIT. Peterson said that his bid to host a game this year is “comparable” to last years bid. “This may be a team’s only opportunity to experience post season so we try and dress it up and make it more then a normal basketball game. We can’t buy games like other schools that guarantee the WNIT money. We have to compare what our expenses are versus what our profits could be,” said Peterson.

Even though at least one of this year’s games will being during spring break, Peterson doesn’t think that it will affect attendance. “I think that we are still going to have pretty good attendance on the student side regardless. There’s enough fans in the community that will show up that will make up for those that won’t show.”

The crowds for the two WNIT home games last season against Illinois State and Indiana drew crowds of 5,719 and 6,053, the most since the transition to Division I. The combined attendance of both games would have made Frost Arena the eighth largest city in South Dakota based on population.

According to an article in last years Argus Leader, SDSU made $17,000 off of the two WNIT home games

The Frost Arena crowds were some of the loudest ever heard in school history. Peterson said that the students and the public really stepped up and met what our dreams were. Watching how excited all the students and everyone else in attendance were during the game will be a lasting memory.