In the ever evolving world that is the women's NCAA Tournament, more change is on the way. And just about any coach will say it can't happen too soon.

When the first-round games get under way this weekend, a new format is already taking shape for 2005. Get ready for eight teams at a site and maybe even "pods,'' the system adopted in the men's tournament to put teams as close to home as possible in the first two rounds.

Now, there are four teams at each of 16 first-round sites. Next year, there will be eight sites with eight teams each, the same as the men.

"I think it has the potential to be very advantageous,'' Texas coach Jody Conradt said.

Eight teams at a site should enhance the tournament atmosphere, said Cheryl Marra, who chairs the Division I women's basketball committee. Some administrative duties could be streamlined, she said, and there's the potential for bigger crowds because twice as many teams will be selling tickets at a site.

What pleases Conradt and other coaches the most is that the current format will be scrapped.

For the past two years, the 16 subregional sites were chosen in advance -- "pre-determined sites,'' the NCAA calls them. If a team is hosting a subregional and makes the NCAA Tournament, it plays at home and three other schools are shipped there. If the host team doesn't get in, four teams travel there.

While that system has given the tournament some neutral sites, it also has resulted in some high seeds playing on the home court of lower-seeded opponents. Before 2003, sites for first- and second-round games were awarded on Selection Sunday to the top four seeds in each region.

Coaches knew their sport was criticized for a system that allowed the best teams to play NCAA Tournament games at home. But they preferred a system in which home sites were earned by what a team did during the season over one that awarded them to the highest bidders.

The basketball committee thinks it has hit on a way to do that with next year's plan, which by having fewer sites reduces the number of teams that could play at home.

Marra also said the committee is looking at the possibility of mixing regionals at one site to bring in as many nearby teams as possible.

"One of the things that we are trying to remember along the way is we need to bring our fans with us as we are making these particular changes,'' said Marra, senior associate athletic director at Wisconsin. "Trying to protect the integrity of the bracket, where can we send people to ... geographically allow those schools to be followed by their fans.

"I think that's something that certainly we will take a good look at ... because part of the student-athlete experience is having the people there to support them.''

ESPN, which televises all 63 games in the women's tournament, likes the eight-site plan because it cuts in half the number of announcing and production teams needed for the first two rounds.

"It's difficult to find 16 quality production teams,'' said Tina Thornton, the network's coordinating producer for the tournament. "Having eight sites will allow us to continue to pare down those folks and put the best possible people in those positions.''

NCAA officials frequently have said their ultimate goal is neutral sites for all games in the women's tournament, something they have been hesitant to implement because of fears the games would not be well attended without a local draw.

Don't wait, Baylor coach Kim Mulkey-Robertson said. Do it now.

"We need to get there and get there fast so we can stop all the controversy and stop all the negative things being said and written out there,'' she said. "We need to get to neutral sites. We need to bite the bullet and get it done quickly.''