Northern Illinois women’s tennis coach Ryun Ferrell announced the dates for the Northern Illinois tennis clinics and high school team camp on Wednesday. The program begins with two free clinics, on Wednesday, June 2 and Thursday, June 3. 

 

Ferrell and head men’s tennis coach Patrick Fisher will hold seven elementary school clinics, and seven junior high/high school sessions. Both programs will be kicked off with a free clinic – the complimentary elementary clinic is scheduled for June 2 from 6-7 p.m., while the junior high/high school session will be held the next day (June 3), beginning at 6 p.m., free of charge. The remainder of the clinics cost $10/person.

The NCAA unveiled its plans for the newly expanded 68-team men's basketball tournament Monday: Beginning next March, eight teams will play early the opening week in a "First Four" round, with the winners advancing to games on Thursday or Friday.



Two of the games will match the tournament's lowest seeds, Nos. 65 through 68. The other two games will include the last four at-large qualifiers.



The format appears to be a compromise. Including the lowest at-large teams will probably prevent mid-majors from being over-represented in the first round, but it could also mean that two teams from bigger conferences – those generally seeded between 11th and 13th – will be out before the tournament really gets going.



"You're not going to come up with the perfect model," committee chair Dan Guerrero said. "You're not going to come up with a model that is going to appease every constituency out there. But we felt that this model provided the opportunity to do something special for the tournament."



There has been only one early "play in" game since 2001, when the field expanded to 65 teams in a move that essentially added a 34th at-large team. Now, there will be 31 automatic bids and 37 at-large bids.