No Same Seats, No Donor Clubs: Why WVU Game Day Will Be Different This Weekend

For the first time since 1992, the West Virginia Mountaineers women's basketball will serve as a host for the NCAA Tournament.

Mark Kellogg's squad did everything necessary to put themselves in position for this opportunity and the argument could have been made that they should have been rewarded a top 16 spot even if they didn't win the Big 12 title game. The Mountaineers took things into their own hands and removed all doubt by cutting down the nets in Kansas City, beating the TCU Horned Frogs handily.

While Hope Coliseum is going to be rocking this weekend and jam packed to the Coliseum's shell, there will be a handful of things that are going to be different because of it being an NCAA championship event.

WVU athletic director Wren Baker made a post on X on Tuesday describing some of the changes fans will need to know before they arrive.

"Mountaineer Nation,
We are fortunate our team earned the right to host an NCAA champ event this weekend. However, the game presentation has to be neutral and fair for all teams from an operational standpoint. No donor clubs open, parking is first come, first serve. Our fans weren’t guaranteed their same seat, etc. We know Mountaineer Nation will create a tremendous home court advantage at Hope Coliseum for WVU women's basketball. But operationally, we have to be neutral. Let’s Go!"

This also means West Virginia is not permitted to have some scheduled promotion either. I've seen some fans on social media suggest handing out rally towels or gold t-shirts, but that too, goes against the NCAA's rules for the tournament. It sounds ridiculous, but it's the NCAA's world, and we're just living in it.

The first game on Saturday will be the matchup between No. 5 seed Kentucky (23-10) and No. 12 seed James Madison (26-8) is scheduled to begin at 2:30 p.m. ET and will be broadcasted on ESPNU. Shortly after, No. 4 seed West Virginia (27-6) will take on No. 13 Miami-OH (28-6), tipping off at approximately 5 p.m. ET, also on ESPNU.

On Monday, WVU announced that sales of the tickets for the first and second round games have been halted, "pending additional returns by the participating teams," although single-session tickets for the second-round game are still available in limited quantities. WVU has not provided an update on tickets since, but will likely do so sometime in the next 24 hours or so.