Colleges

Forum tests its readiness

USF, FSU part of venue's preparations for ACC tournament.

By BRIAN LANDMAN
Published December 29, 2006

TAMPA - You'll have to forgive Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton if he hopes tonight's game against Providence at the St. Pete Times Forum is a belated Christmas gift.

One that keeps giving until March, which is when the tradition-rich ACC men's basketball tournament makes its historic stop here.

"It's a unique and special opportunity for us," Hamilton said. "It's going to be a tremendous game and setup, and we get to go in and get familiar with the facility. Many times, you don't have the luxury of doing that, so we hope that it gives us a better feel and might be of some benefit when we play in the tournament."

Wake Forest coach Skip Prosser sure buys into that possibility. Last year, he scheduled a game against Elon at the Greensboro Coliseum in early December and returned to that building in March for the ACC tournament, where his struggling Demon Deacons upset FSU and North Carolina State to reach the semifinals and lock up an NIT berth. Next season, Prosser's team plays Charlotte at the Charlotte Arena, which hosts the 2008 ACC tournament.

"I think it's prudent for us to do that to give our guys any edge we can," said Prosser, whose team faces USF in the first game today.

Hamilton and Prosser aren't the only ones looking for any advantage that can come from familiarity.

So, too, are bay area officials.

"There's things we know we need to work on, and it today's doubleheader will give us a barometer and let us know where we're at," Tampa Bay Sports Commission chairman Jeff Adams said. "But our goal isn't to provide the ACC with its standard fare. We're trying to raise the bar. A whole lot."

There's a lot riding on hitting that shot.

Ever since the ACC decided to move its marquee event around its geographic footprint, some questioned the wisdom of taking it so far away from Tobacco Road and into football country, no less. How this community embraces the tournament March 8-11, given that there hasn't been a public sale of tickets for 40 years, might determine if there's a return engagement or if this is Halley's Comet.

Beyond that, the ACC tournament tips off an impressive lineup of collegiate events coming to the Times Forum: first- and second-round NCAA Tournament games and the Women's Final Four in 2008, the SEC men's basketball tournament and the NCAA women's volleyball championships in 2009 and the NCAA Frozen Four in 2012. The ACC can set the tone for the area.

Success does breed success.

"We've been working on this, literally, for years," said sports commission board member Ron Campbell, the president of the Lightning and the Times Forum. "From our point of view, we're very comfortable and confident we'll put on a great show in March. But you do have people who are paid to worry about what can wrong, and as you get closer to marquee events they want to be reminded we're going to do all the small things and take care of the details."

Although the Times Forum hosted NCAA Tournament games in 2003, Orlando Magic preseason games and another college doubleheader (Florida-Florida A&M and USF women-Vanderbilt) on Dec. 17, Campbell said the building needs a "dry run" to test new backboards with the three-sided shot clocks and a different timing system.

ACC associate commissioner Fred Barakat, who has run the tournament for years, has been to the bay area numerous times and attended hockey games, but he hasn't been in the Times Forum for basketball.

He will be checking out the lighting and the view from different seats and luxury suites and examining how security is handled, how smoothly fans enter and exit, the traffic flow before and after the games, concession lines and just about anything else one could imagine.

"I know it's not going to be like the (ACC) tournament, but I want to see things in operation. If they don't work for 5,000 people, it's not going to work for 21,000 people," he said. "I'm glad they're having it. I'm glad I have a chance to come down and see it, taste it and smell it. It's a help for all of us."

Brian Landman can be reached at landman@sptimes.com or at (813) 226-3347.

[Last modified December 28, 2006, 23:34:40]