MSU now is one of 30 finalists in the running to host the first and second rounds for the 2006 NCAA women's basketball tournament.

Breslin Center, which seats 14,759 people, already hosts the Michigan High School Athletic Association Boys' Basketball finals each year and is home to MSU men's and women's basketball. The building opened in 1989 but never has hosted the event.

The NCAA Basketball Sports Committee sent a letter to Shelley Appelbaum, MSU's associate athletics director and senior women's administrator, confirming the school's position as a finalist.

Appelbaum said because of the central location of East Lansing and the addition of the Berkowitz Basketball Complex, MSU now is better equipped to host what would be an eight-school first and second round of the tournament.