After Diddle Arena undergoes a major facelift in order to prep itself for prime time television on ESPN and the first and second rounds of the NCAA women’s tournament, the sea of red won’t be the same place that many Western fans have become accustomed to.

Western’s facilities crew has been putting in such long hours to get prepared for the event that when you send facilities coordinator Les Forsythe an e-mail, an automatic response is returned, explaining that he basically has a limited amount of time and chances are it will be a while before he actually responds to the email.

“You know, I wouldn’t call it a headache,” Forsythe said. “It’s been a lot of work. Our first meeting was back in the first week August. The NCAA has given us a lot of deadlines to meet, and we are very prepared here on our site, and the NCAA won’t let you get behind.”

In Forsythe’s office on the wall across from his desk is a whiteboard that lists all of the things the group has to do before the teams and officials get to Bowling Green.

On the floor, it’s not exactly the Oscars.

Instead, blue carpet has been laid out, and the two corporate sponsors, Sonic and Jr. Foods, as well as the new men’s three-point line will all be covered by a special material that was ordered out of Kansas from a company that is handling all of the NCAA sites. All of the signs around the arena have been covered with a thick, black, tarp-like material that has tape on both sides.

The blue carpet is part of the NCAA’s goal to get its brand as much exposure as possible as well as providing each site with a neutral atmosphere, Forsythe said.

In pre-game and post-game news conferences there is an individual assigned to make sure that the players are wearing at least one item of their team’s apparel as well as drinking out of an official NCAA blue cup.

The facilities crew has been working backwards trying to leave the main gym floor open as long as possible, as well as the auxiliary gyms so that Western’s other teams can continue their practices.

Forsythe and the rest of the crew have been working from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., but on Friday they are scheduled to stay until midnight.

The facilities crew aren’t the only ones feeling the pressure. Assistant Ticket Manager Matt Morrison’s phone has been ringing off of the hook.

“We put it online, and we sold 500 tickets, and we’ve done about 3,000 in-office tickets,” Morrison said. “Tickets are going fast. It’s pretty steady throughout the day. The phone doesn’t quit ringing.”

The biggest draw so far has probably been Tennessee, with Head Coach Pat Summit, Morrison said.

The Iowa State faithful seem to be willing to make the trip to Bowling Green to give the Lady Vols’ fans a run for their money, according to ticket sales.

Bringing in a large crowd will also limit the amount of red displayed when the games are aired on ESPN.

Not only is the number of filled seats going to increase but also the amount of media that will be in town for the tournament.

Chris Glowacki, the associate athletic media relations director, said that things got busy in the Athletic Media Relations office on Monday when the various media outlets started inquiring about getting credentials for this weekend’s games.

The facilities crew’s work will be on display for plenty of people to see so that the next time Bowling Green’s name gets thrown into the mix for places to play, it will be an easy decision for the selection committee to make.

“It’s kind of a one-shot deal,” Forsythe said. “If we don’t do it the way they want it done, we’ll never get it done again. So, we have got to make sure it’s done their way.”