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Marshall: Last of the great state tournament
Published 3/9/2010 in Sports
By the time most of you read this, the Class 1A state basketball tournament at Gross Memorial Coliseum in Hays will have tipped off with the opening boys game between Quinter (24-0) and No. 8 seed Pretty Prairie (20-4). In all likelihood, South Gray (23-1) will be playing Macksville (21-3) just about dinner time. Greeley County will play the last of the four quarterfinal games at 8:15 p.m.
If you've never been and you're a true basketball fanatic, then you should make the excursion to Hays this week. It will be the last time Class 1A will be the best state tournament in Kansas.
More than a year ago, the Heart of the Plains League proposed dividing Class 1A (101 schools) into two divisions for basketball, volleyball and scholars bowl. At its March 2008 annual meeting the Kansas Interscholastic Athletic Administrator's Association Class 1A schools discussed and a majority supported the division of the schools, much like they have done for Eight-Man Division I and II football.
The proposal was then discussed at regional administrator and board of education meetings in October of 2008. Following those meetings, in accordance with KSHSAA bylaws, each 1A school was asked to submit petitions signed by superintendents and senior high principals to demonstrate support for the proposal. Bylaws require a 20 percent show of support for a proposal to be considered. Of the 101 schools, 59 returned their petitions signed to approve of the change. There were 11 schools opposed to the proposal and 31 that did not return a petition.
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Brad Nading/Telegram South Gray High School's Garrison Hendricks, right, pulls up for a shot along the baseline past Deerfield's Cameron Cole in December during a game in the Bluejay Invitational at Cimarron. South Gray plays in its fifth-straight Class 1A state tournment starting today in Hays. Class 1A is changing its format after this season.
The proposal moved along to the KSHSAA Board of Directors which then passed it along to the 1A member schools last May for a final ballot, again to be signed by a school superintendent and principal indicating their support or opposition. A simple majority of 51 schools is required for passage. That was done in June and KSHSAA began making the transition for the 2011 state tournaments.
The larger 1A division will remain in Hays for both boys and girls, while the Division II will move to White Auditorium in Emporia, currently hosting Class 6A. The state's largest class, with only 32 schools involved, will move to Wichita next year. All other sites remain the same.
This significant change eliminates regional tournament week for the 1A schools and puts them into the same format as all the other classes — sub-states the first week of March where only three games are needed to win to advance to the state tourney. In 1A, a team has to win a minimum of four games and possibly five to make it to Hays.
One of the potential downsides in addition to diluting the quality of teams who reach state, is that more certified officials will be needed for the sub-state and state tourneys. If there are not enough certified to cover 1A games, two-man crews will be assigned by KSHSAA. There's no guarantee of three-man crews next year for the sub-state week.
"It's been the best state tournament we have in Kansas," long-time South Gray boys basketball coach and athletic director Mark Applegate said. "It will be a nostalgic tournament this week because it will never be this good again."
Applegate knows a little about 1A and Hays. He's been at South Gray for all 18 years of its existence and has taken the Rebels to Hays nine of those years. He has won the title three times (1997, 2007, 2008) and his 2010 team is there for the fifth consecutive year. Sandwiched around his two most recent titles, his teams departed after opening-round losses, including a setback to eventual runner-up Quinter last year.
"We're the No. 4 seed with a 23-1 record and the eighth seed has only four losses," Applegate said. "No other class is that deep in quality teams."
The last time Class 1A was not held in the same location was in 1973, the first year for girls basketball in Kansas after Title IX was approved and implemented nationwide. The boys played at the Dodge City Civic Center and the girls at White Auditorium in Emporia. In 1974, they moved everything to Hays and Gross Memorial Coliseum. It is the 37th consecutive year the small towns of Kansas can come together in one location and determine its state basketball champions for boys and girls.
It will be different in another year — it will be eerily similar to 6A, 5A (32 schools), 4A (64 schools), 3A (63 schools this year) and 2A (64 schools). It's all Kansas needs — a seventh championship for one of the nation's least populated states. It will be nostalgic this week in Hays.
If you want to see some great basketball from small town America, drive to Hays as soon as possible. It will never be like this again.
Sports Editor Brett Marshall can be reached at bmarshall@gctelegram.com.
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