I agree that the Championship Game would be best on its own day. Set it apart and make it special. Allow more fans from the two schools to have time to make it to the game. Put it on Monday night so it never overlaps with NCAA tournament games (UK). I think the crowd would be much bigger and the Championship Game play would also be much better. (I thought both teams made some mistakes because of fatigue in the game.)

 

 

So how much more school do you want the "students" to miss? Play it on Sunday like the All "A" does!

So how much more school do you want the "students" to miss? Play it on Sunday like the All "A" does!

 

The All "A" doesn't play the semis and finals on the same day? Sacrilige!!:sssh:

I agree that a change is needed. I think the Saturday morning format diminishes the accomplishment of making the final four and also hurts the crowd. We all know that many people like to "party" during the state tournament and find it difficult to make it to the 10:00 am game. Also, if you have a team from the far Eastern or Western part of the state make it on Friday night, there might be more fans travel to the final four games if they were not held so early in the morning. But hey, that's just my opinion.

The way the schedule is set up, the team playing the late game can't have the first game the next morning. The teams that win the early session on Friday will play the first game Saturday morning.

 

Its not like the teams going into the tournament don't know they could possibly be playing multiple games within a short period of time. Deal with it the best you can and move on.

 

The only question I have is do you really think these athletes can't play multiple games within a 48 hour period? Most of the players who get deep into the tournament are usually playing AAU ball and play multiple games in a single day.

 

Even after seeing my high school (Rockcastle County) was eliminated from the Girls Sweet 16, do I think they could have been effected by the lack of time between Friday night's game and Saturday morning's games....potentially, but that shouldn't be and wouldn't be the reason why they lost.

 

:thumb:

 

I agree! I like it the way it is now, and this set up will never change! Add an extra day? Then the KHSAA will need to pay an extra days rent on the arena, many people who are not from a participating school would not want to pay an extra day for a hotel either, so it could possibly hurt the attendance.

No one has mentioned the cost of the average fan renting a hotel for an extra night to watch another game either.

Dont change it. Heck, people want to continue to live in the stone ages in this sate. Why give them electricity now.

Why not play all the 1st round games on wednsday? The semi's friday evening and the finals like at 5 on saturday? I don't know if you could play all 1st round games logistically but that would solve the extra day idea.

Playing the semi's and final's on the same day is crazy! I wonder how many other states do this? Come on Kentucky, it's time for a change in the format.

I wouldn't mind it played on Sunday.

 

Everything else stays the same though.

Playing the semi's and final's on the same day is crazy! I wonder how many other states do this? Come on Kentucky, it's time for a change in the format.

Illinois used to do it, but a change in the number of classes caused a change in the format. The same is true for Indiana.

 

Most other states, as far as I know, don't play the semifinals and finals in one day, but very few states bring 16 teams to the state tournament.

It's just the way it is. This is one of the few things that I truly believe needs to be changed about the state tournament format. I will never forget how this format probably cost fans a chance to see what should have been one of the most exciting games in the 1980 state tournament held @ Freedom Hall. Owensboro led by Dwight Hicks came into the tournament as the favorite @ 30-2 and Covington Holmes led by Dickie Beal came in @ 32-2. Both regions had drawn into the bottom bracket and were on target to meet @ 10:00am on Saturday morning in the semi-finals. Everyone had pretty much figured that the winner of that game would be the state champion. The problem was that with the format the way it is Holmes would have to play 4 games in approximately 48 hrs to win. They were a team that relied heavily on speed and full court pressure on defense. The Saturday morning spectacle never occurred. On Friday night Holmes played Ashland who had a very tall and very good team themselves. The game got started late and due to halftime chearleading awards and 2 overtimes Holmes game wasn't over until nearly mdnight. Holmes pulled the game out 97-92 and the players were exhausted. Coach Flynn did everything he could to get them out of there quickly so they could get some rest back at the hotel. That would have been great had they been staying at the Executive right there on the grounds but the party atmosphere there would have been too much so the team chose to stay somewhere away from the arena. He got them on the bus and onto the Watterson and more delays occurred. They sat in traffic from a wreck for over an hour and he didn't get them into bed until around 2:30am. They had an early wakeup call naturally and showed up @ Freedom Hall Saturday moring looking like thay had been dragged under the bus. The rest is history I guess you could say and Owensboro buried them 91-64 in that game and went on to win the championship over Louisville Doss. Anyone that you talked to in Louisville that weekend said they felt that they had been robbed of a chance to see the matchup that had been the talk of the tournament since the first day. I can't say that Holmes would have beaten Owensboro because they had a great team but I feel that given the luck of the draw and the Saturday format of the tournament they never really had a chance to prove it. This format has taken it's toll on other teams as well I'm sure and maybe a more fair format could be developed but I guess if that year didn't give them a reason to look at it none will.

 

If you'll remember, those two weren't the only heavyweights in that bracket. All the top ranked teams were, including Oldham County (entered the tournament 31-2, with a team that had already beaten Ballard and Moore when each was ranked #1 and who had whipped eventual state runner-up Doss by 15), Moore (with Manual Forrest, ranked #1 much of the season), and Ashland, which had upset Oldham and beat Doss, both in the Ashland Invitational Tourney. All were in the same bracket with Holmes and Owensboro...

 

Part of the luck of the draw. I felt Oldham was one of the state's top 2 that year, but they were unfortunate enough to meet a revenge-minded Moore Mustang team in the very first round. Bad luck for the Colonels, but that's just the way it goes... Had they defeated Moore, they would have had to get by the Ashland / Holmes / Owensboro gauntlet still to reach the finals...

Way too many issues with this format. A team may play late Fri. night and then have the 1st game Sat. morning. And say the team that wins in the 2nd semifinal wins in say a 3 or 4 OT game. No way they have the energy to perform at their peak in just a few short hours. From blind seeding to this idiotic Sat. format it almost seems a deliberate action to not having the best teams playing each other in peak condition. Like I said the fear of changing something in this state is bordering comical.

 

The team's that play Friday night always play the second semi-final on Saturday. Always have.

The team's that play Friday night always play the second semi-final on Saturday. Always have.

 

OK. Thats even worse. Let's look at this. The two teams that play early on Sat. Have a day of rest before their semis. Then the winner of those two have the longer rest period before the finals. Sounds fair to me. Another question. What time does the late Fri. night game usually finish? I see the start time 8PM. Wonder what time those guys are finally in their racks at the hotel, to get back up and play an 11:30AM game? Ah this all making a lot of sense to me now.:isurrender:

I think it's great the way it is. The weirdness of the start time adds to the anticipation of the morning session. Those morning games are the reward for us diehards who drug their butts in there the next morning on three hours of sleep.

 

Playing a late game on Friday didn't seem to bother SV too much.

The change is needed. You don't see the NCAA playing the final four in one day. I know this isn't the NCAA.

 

Does anyone know when this format started? I know its been this way since the 70's.