A juicy morsel of fun news here to share, as the 2020 national championships for Divisions I, II and III NCAA Basketball will occur in Atlanta.
The 2020 national-title events for Divisions I, II and III NCAA men’s basketball will take place in Atlanta as part of next year’s Final Four weekend, the NCAA has announced. Additionally, Dallas is the recipient of the Divisions I, II and III women’s national championships during the 2023 Women’s Final Four.
These developments, which I think are truly terrific, mark the second occasion for both men’s and women’s hoops where the title contests for all three divisions are held in the same city. In 2013, Atlanta crowned the three men’s basketball champions, while Indianapolis followed in 2016 for the women.
Okay, full disclosure, I’ve got some bias for writing this particular article. In 2013, at the Final Four in Atlanta, which I attended, my alma mater, Syracuse, competed in the national semi-finals, although the Orange fell to the eventual runner-up, Michigan. Three years later, at the 2016 Women’s Final Four in Indianapolis, Syracuse advanced to the title affair, only to get smoked by Connecticut. Still, my hope is that good fortune will come the Orange’s way yet again, for the men next season in Atlanta, and for the women in 2023 in Dallas.
Putting my own homer-ism aside, let’s dive into a few more details surrounding this news. The 2020 Final Four will transpire on April 4 and 6 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, with the Division II and III championships on April 5 at State Farm Arena. The 2023 Women’s Final Four, meanwhile, will happen on March 31 and April 2, with the Division II and III national-title tilts on April 1. All of these games will get played at American Airlines Center in Dallas, also the site of the 2017 Women’s Final Four.
Dan Gavitt, the NCAA’s senior vice president of basketball, said in the press release that having all three championships in one city provides the student-athletes with a “unique experience.” He added, “What struck me when we last did this in Atlanta in 2013 were the looks on the faces of the Division II and III student-athletes when they were introduced during the Final Four in front of 70,000 people. You could tell how special it was for them, their families and the fans of those schools to get that type of recognition. Atlanta is an ideal setting for this, with venues that are walkable from each other and from downtown hotels and ancillary events.”
For the three women’s championships in 2023, according to the NCAA announcement, Dallas will serve as the epicenter of a 50th-year celebration of Title IX, which became law in June of 1972. This pleases me to no end!