Julie Roe Lach, second from right, deputy commissioner of the Horizon League, announced at the Jan. 4 luncheon meeting of Rotary of Grosse Pointe that Horizon League's Men's Basketball Championship, dubbed "Motor City Madness," will be held this year in Detroit — March 5-8 at Joe Louis Arena. She as introduced by Sandy Richmond along with Programs Committee Chair Jennifer Boettcher, left, and President Fred Ollison III. Photos by John Minnis
 
 
Richmond came to Detroit from Baltimore, where he was a founding member of the Rotary Club there. He also spoke of the revitalization of Detroit. "That's why I was excited to join Olympia Entertainment," he said. He said the $650 million, 45-acre Detroit Red Wings arena and entertainment district project was just two years from completion and that it already has a partnership with the Horizon men's basketball league.

And All-American basketball player from Millikin University, Roe Lach is in her first year with the Horizon League, having spent 16 years prior with NCAA, rising from intern to vice president of enforcement. She also earned her law degree at the Indiana University McKinney School of Law.

Founded in 1979 as the Midwestern City Conference, the Horizon League comprises 10 schools: University of Detroit Mercy, Oakland University, Cleveland State University, University of Illinois at Chicago, Northern Kentucky University, Valparaiso University, University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Wright State University and Youngstown State University.
She told the Rotarians that the participating schools were disappointed with the attention the league's men's basketball championship was getting. So the league sent out requests for proposals from host cities. Since Horizon's board chairman George Hynd, is president of Oakland University, and Jeff Konya, director of athletics at Oakland, serves as chair of Horizon's executive council, they were able to get a chance to meet with Olympia Entertainment.

"We came March 17, St. Patrick's Day," Roe Lach recalled, "and we were blown away with what is going on in Detroit. We were totally won over."

In fact, the talks went so smoothly, that the timetable for coming to Detroit was moved up a year. "Initially we were talking 2017," she said, "but we said, 'Why not now, 2016?'" 

Rooms have already been been reserved for the teams at the Ren Cen Marriott, Roe Lach said. Motor City Madness will be televised on ESPN, and all Horizon League games are streamed live. Rounds 1 and 2 will be held Saturday and Sunday, March 5 and 6, culminating with the Semifinals on Monday, March 7, and the Championship on Tuesday, March 8. Individual and full-session tickets packages are available at Ticketmaster or by calling (313) 471-7575. For more information, go to motorcitymadness.horizonleague.org.
 
Rotary of Grosse Pointe meets Mondays at noon at the Grosse Pointe War Memorial. Optional lunch is $20, and the public is always invited to attend.