UAA athletic director Steve Cobb was seething Tuesday and protesting an NCAA decision that will rob his school of the chance to host an eight-team regional women's basketball tournament.

Under an NCAA format change announced Monday and effective immediately for Division II postseason tournaments, if the tournament host is located in Alaska or Hawaii -- requiring all seven other teams to fly -- the playoffs will be divided into two four-team tournaments at separate sites.

The top-ranked team in a region has traditionally hosted that regional, and the UAA women's team on Tuesday was voted the top Division II team in the country for the third consecutive week.

"It's targeted at us, and I'm in process of protesting it vehemently," Cobb said. "It's awful -- just inherently unfair and inappropriate.

"They're hiding behind a bad economy. The NCAA is not having any financial problems. They're alleging it's an attempt to save money, but I'm not buying it. Who would be affected? Only BYU-Hawaii and us."

The BYU-Hawaii Seasiders men's basketball team, which played in Anchorage last March when the Seawolves hosted the regional tournament, are 16-1 overall and undefeated in conference play.

Cobb was particularly miffed at the timing of the announcement near the end of the regular season.

"Changing the rules three-quarters of the way through the season has the taste of impropriety," Cobb said. "You don't change the rules midstream in any sport."

Cobb wasn't alone.

"Normally, you'd expect it before the season started," said Ken Wagner, the athletic director and men's basketball coach at BYU-Hawaii. "And frankly, the price of airline tickets is cheaper this year, so I don't get the rush or the savings."

Cobb on Tuesday was putting the finishing touches on a letter protesting the NCAA move to Great Northwest Athletic Conference Commissioner Richard Hannan, who he hoped to enlist as a colleague for a protest to the NCAA.

But while Hannan said he had "concerns about the process," including "why was it done in secret," he didn't expect to protest the action.

"The decision has been made, so let's move forward and do it for this year and see how it turns out,'' Hannan said. "Steve is frustrated like a lot of us who don't have all the detail we'd like. When there's a change in middle of the stream, and people don't have a chance to provide input they quickly start to question it."

Hannan said the NCAA has estimated the change could save $200,000-$400,000, but much depends on which teams make the tournament.

"Three of last four years, Hawaii, Humboldt (State University in Arcata, Calif.) and Anchorage have hosted," Hannan said. "This year it looks like BYU and Anchorage, so the cost of transporting teams to those outlying areas is obviously very high."

Missing the opportunity to host an eight-team regional is a bitter pill for UAA women's basketball coach Tim Moser. Last season, his Seawolves compiled a sterling 26-4 regular season record but had to travel to Royal Brougham Pavilion in Seattle for the regional tournament because undefeated Seattle-Pacific was even better.

UAA snapped Seattle Pacific's 29-game winning streak in the championship game to advance to the NCAA Elite Eight.

"We're disappointed," Moser said. "Seems like it's kind of singling out those schools in the outlying areas."

The two four-team tournaments would be March 13-14, with the winners advancing to the regional championship game on March 17, a Tuesday, at the site of the highest remaining seed.

In a scenario with two four-team tournaments, the top-seeded team would host one and the No. 2-ranked team would host the other.

Moser said UAA has been absorbing the high cost of long trips Outside for years -- recession or no recession.

"Our costs of doing business are much higher than other team Outside," he said. "We live that every day. Our student athletes have an opportunity to host a regional and all of a sudden it's gone.

"It kind of robs the community of something as well. Last year for the men, it was exciting, it was fun."

• • •

Despite Saturday's razor-thin 56-55 victory over Montana State-Billings, the UAA women's basketball team kept its unanimous No. 1 ranking in the USA Today ESPN Division II Top 25 women's basketball poll.

UAA again earned all 28 first place votes.

California University of Pennsylvania, the second-ranked team last week, lost to Gannon University on Saturday, and fell to No. 6.

Reporter Mike Campbell can be reached at mcampbell@adn.com or 257-4329.

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