For the next two years the ETSU men’s basketball team will have a chance to qualify for the NCAA Tournament in their own backyard.
Atlantic Sun Conference Commissioner Bill Bibb announced Tuesday that the A-Sun Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament will be held in Johnson City at the Memorial Center in 2006 and 2007.
The A-Sun Tournament was held in Nashville the past two years at Belmont University’s Curb Event Center.
Bibb was impressed by the 5,000 seat facility and he expects the same kind of atmosphere at the Memorial Center.
“The last two years of the A-Sun Tournament have been really good years. ETSU has a great staff and athletic department and I have no doubt that we are going to have the same success here,” Bibb said.
One of the main reasons that the A-Sun chose Johnson City as its 2006 and 2007 host is because of the local media coverage.
With four TV stations and five newspapers Bibb knows that the tournament will get the coverage that it deserves.
“Nashville did a really good job covering the tournament. Last year Thursday, Friday and Saturday our tournament made the front page of the paper,” Bibb said.
The 2006 A-Sun Tournament will be held March 2-4, with quarterfinals scheduled for Thursday, March 2, semifinals on Friday, March 3, and the championship will be on Saturday, March 4.
The tournament differs from the Southern Conference Tournament because only eight of 11 teams are qualified for the A-Sun Tournament, where in the SoCon all teams are eligible for the conference tournament.
Bibb also explained that all but two A-Sun Conference Tournament games will be televised. Two night games on Thursday, March 2 will be the only games not televised.
CSS will carry all the tournament games except the championship on Saturday which will be on ESPN.
Bibb knows how deep ETSU’s basketball tradition is because he coached against the Buccaneers in the days of Madison Brooks while he was at Kentucky Wesleyan.
ETSU’s coaches and players are looking forward to the chance to host the championships next year.
“It’s always exciting to have the conference tournament at home. Johnson City will be a great host city,” said head coach Murry Bartow. “This is also an opportunity for our fans to see all of the A-Sun’s teams in one building.”
The player’s in attendance at the press conference at the Carnegie Hotel were Tim Smith, Ben Rhoda, Brad Nuckles and Andrew Reed.
All four were pleased by the announcement of Commissioner Bibb.
ETSU President Dr. Paul Stanton was also in attendance for the announcement and he believes that the A-Sun made the right choice.
“To have the opportunity to have the tournament here at ETSU is tremendous and I am very thankful that the Atlantic Sun chose us,” Stanton said.
ETSU Athletic Director Dave Mullins thinks that there is no better way to make the transition in to the A-Sun than to host the conference tournament.
“This is a great way to start our membership in the Atlantic Sun and it will allow visiting fans to see what ETSU brings to the conference,” Mullins said.
The 2006 A-Sun Men’s Basketball Championship in Johnson City will be the 27th year of the championship.

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