The American Athletic Conference is moving its men's basketball championship to the center of the college basketball universe.

At least that's the way AAC commissioner Mike Aresco described the state of Connecticut, home to national champions for both the men and women, during a conference call on Monday that officially named the XL Center in Hartford as the 2015 conference tournament host.

"Hartford submitted an outstanding bid and should be given tremendous credit for doing that," Aresco said. "And they have an excellent overall plan. There will be many activities for our visiting fans.

"We also recognized there is enormous excitement in Hartford. And with the UConn men's and women's national championship, Connecticut is now the center of the college basketball universe."

The last time Hartford hosted a men's conference tournament was 1982 when the Big East played in the same building, then called the Hartford Civic Center. The arena has been the site of both men's and women's NCAA tournament games as well as the Big East women's championship from 1994 to 2013.

The 16,294-seat XL Center will undergo about $35 million in improvements before the AAC tournament begins next March, according to Global Spectrum's Chris Lawrence, the general manager of the XL Center.

"We plan on rolling out the red carpets and making this an event to remember," said Andy Bessette of the Capital Region Development Authority. "The response in the business community has been second to none when it came to support for this event. Our motto is, if we fill the seats, the rest is all good."

Coach Kevin Ollie is obviously thrilled the tournament will be held on one of UConn's home courts.

"We want to keep Connecticut in the college basketball spotlight," Ollie said in a released statement.

The move from Memphis, which hosted the inaugural tournament last month, also fits into the conference's master plan to rotate the event to various points in the AAC's footprint that spreads as far as west as Texas and south as Florida.

"We're a new conference," Aresco said. "We're developing our brand and identity."

Six different cities bid on hosting the 2015 tournament. Orlando is considered a frontrunner to be the next stop after Hartford. The AAC will make an announcement today on the 2016 and 2017 hosts.

The women's, according to multiple reports, will return to the Mohegan Sun Arena.

"It's an unusual situation but again the women's tournament was extremely successful at Mohegan," Aresco said. "We have a one-year option there. Our membership was unanimous in supporting Hartford for the men's tournament in 2015 and was unanimous last year in supporting Mohegan."

The men's tournament format could change. Last year the event started on a Wednesday while Louisville and UConn played for the championship on a Saturday. A Thursday to Sunday schedule is an option.

The AAC will have a new look next season, with Louisville and Rutgers departing for the ACC and Big Ten, respectively, and Tulane, East Carolina and Tulsa joining the league to push the membership to 11 teams. Every program will qualify for the conference championship.

"Today's announcement puts Hartford back in the basketball tournament business," said Governor Dannel P. Malloy said in a release. "While this is great news for next year, I am even more excited for what this means in the future. I believe we can and should be in consideration for more NCAA tournament events, and I will continue to push to bring those games to our state."

g.keefe@theday.com