NEW ORLEANS – The Sun Belt Conference announced Thursday that the University of South Alabama will host the 2008 Sun Belt Conference Men's and Women's Basketball Tournament at the Mitchell Center. The Jaguars were awarded the bid after a vote by the conference's executive committee Thursday morning. This will be the third time that South Alabama has been selected to host this event and is the first time that the tournament has been in Mobile since 2001.

"The University of South Alabama is an outstanding institution with a long standing tradition in basketball," Sun Belt Conference Commissioner Wright Waters said. "They submitted a very competitive bid, and our conference's Executive Committee was very confident in their ability to serve as an outstanding host for our 2008 basketball championships. I congratulate President Gordon Moulton and Joe Gottfried on being awarded the tournament and commend their dedication and diligence. I would also like to thank the city of Mobile for their support of South Alabama and intercollegiate athletics. All of us in the conference office look forward to working with the entire staff at South Alabama with the common goal of producing a first-class championship experience."

"Needless to say, we are excited with being named to host the 2008 Sun Belt Conference Basketball Tournament," South Alabama Director of Athletics Joe Gottfried said. "I want to thank President Gordon Moulton, City Councilman Reggie Copeland and County Commissioner Mike Dean for their support. The past success of the 1991 and 2001 tournaments, were due in large part to the cooperation of the university, the city and county officials."

The tournament is scheduled to begin February 27, 2008 and run through March 4. The top three teams (two division winners and next best overall conference record) will receive byes on each side. The remaining 10 teams will play games at campus sites in a seeded format on Feb. 27 with the winners advancing to Mobile.

As the host in 1991, South Alabama set records for the largest total attendance for a Sun Belt Conference basketball tournament (42,200) and for the largest session average (10,550). In addition, the 2001 championship game produced one of the largest crowds ever in the Mitchell Center, when over 8,000 people attended the game between South Alabama and Western Kentucky.

USA has a 5-1 record in Sun Belt Tournament games played in Mobile and won the 1991 championship.