April 7, 2010
· Eight teams have qualified to compete based upon the regular season. NCAA Field
· Tourney Format: Seven team games on Thursday will seed the field for the championship bracket with won-loss records – not pin fall – the determining factor. Best-of-seven Baker games begin Friday morning with a double-elimination format in place. Tourney Preview
· Media Coverage: NCAA.com will have a live webcast of Friday’s play. The finals are Saturday, April 10 at 7:30 p.m. CT on ESPN2 and re-aired Sunday, April 11 on ESPN at 2 p.m. CT. Follow at NCAA Central
· Definition of Team Game: Five bowlers per team each complete the standard 10-frames. All final scores are totaled and the team with the highest pin fall wins.
· Definition of Baker Game: The five bowlers rotate with each person handling two frames in the game. The lead-off bowler has frames 1 and 6, the second spot takes frames 2 and 7 and so forth. Scores are totaled with the high score winning. Television prefers the Baker format because of its faster pace, which is why the NCAA finals use Baker.
· History of NCAA Bowling: The NCAA began sponsoring women’s bowling seven years ago. Vanderbilt began its program six years ago.
· Vanderbilt and the NCAA Championship: The Commodores have qualified for the NCAA finals the past five years. In 2006 the program finished fifth, in 2007 it won the school’s only national championship, in 2008 it was a semi-finalist and last year it was fifth.
· Current Ratings: Maryland-Eastern Shore was rated first in the last poll of the National Ten Pin Coaches Association. Vanderbilt was No. 2, Fairleigh Dickinson third, Nebraska fourth, Delaware State fifth followed by Central Missouri, Arkansas State and New Jersey City. These ratings have no impact on the tournament.
· Defending Champion: Nebraska won the 2009 title in Detroit.
