UTC’s Foster says NCAA needs to be in neutral sites

UTC's Alicia Payne is guarded by Connecticut's Moriah Jefferson Monday, November 30, 2015 at McKenzie Arena. UTC's Alicia Payne is guarded by Connecticut's Moriah Jefferson Monday, November 30, 2015 at McKenzie Arena.

By Gene Henley March 16, 2016 3 min read

UTC at Mississippi State

› When: 2:30 p.m. EDT Friday› Where: Humphrey Coliseum; Starkville, Miss.› Records: UTC 24-7; Mississippi State 26-7› TV/Radio: ESPN2/96.1 FM› Series history: Mississippi State leads, 3-2› Last game: Mississippi State won 103-87 on Dec. 30, 1993

Jim Foster is not a fan of the current NCAA women’s basketball tournament regional site process.

On the men’s side, regional sites are picked before the season and typically are neutral. Sure, a Duke, North Carolina or Kansas is rewarded for a great season by being ushered to a site nearby. Yet on the women’s side, the highest-seeded team in the four-team region typically hosts that region. That means at least one home game and maybe two.

Foster’s University of Tennessee at Chattanooga team will be playing in one of those regional sites this weekend, as the 12th-seeded Mocs (24-7) will face Mississippi State (26-7) Friday at 2:30 EDT in Starkville, Miss.

The other game at Starkville has Michigan State, the No. 4 seed, facing Belmont.