Bluegrassrivals

2013 BOYS’ SWEET 16® CHAMPIONSHIP GAME SET FOR SUNDAY

For the first time in the 95-year history of the KHSAA Boys’ Sweet 16®, the tournament championship game will be played sometime other than Saturday night.

The traditional state tournament format will undergo a transformation for the 2013 event due to potential scheduling conflicts with Rupp Arena.

“We received a request a few days ago from the University to consider other Saturday (and potentially Sunday) alternatives in the event that the final schedule for 2012-2013 necessitated the Wildcats playing at home on Saturday, March 9,” said KHSAA Commissioner Julian Tackett. “The 2013 scheduling has been a constantly evolving challenge for a while as we had previously surrendered our contracted dates for the arena to allow UK to host the NCAA Second/Third round that year.”

The semifinals, a doubleheader that has been played on Saturday morning for more than fifty years, will move to Saturday night while the championship will be played at 2 p.m. on Sunday afternoon. The opening and quarterfinal rounds will remain on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday as in previous years. Exact tip-off times for the semifinals have not been confirmed and will be announced at a later date.

The decision was made on the part of the Association to eliminate the potential scheduling conflict with the University of Kentucky men’s basketball program on Saturday, March 9 and measure affects the 2013 tournament only.

“It is important that the two largest and most tradition rich clients sharing the arena work together on a solution when there comes that time that we both need the facility,” Tackett noted.

“They say that necessity is the mother of invention,” Tackett continued. “While we all like to be reverent to tradition it’s not a bad idea to try something new and we have certainly been willing to do that in the last few years. The format of our tournament, particularly Saturday, has been a discussion topic for years with coaches, fans and media. Circumstances have created both a need and an opportunity for us to try something different for one year and we will see what happens with it. The worst that can happen is we go back to the formula we know has worked for most of our 94 years.”

Tackett emphasized the reason the Association decided to make the change at this time is twofold. First, it gives longtime fans of the event ample time to make changes to travel and lodging plans in Lexington for the week of March 6-10 prior to any final announcement by the SEC as to the Kentucky schedule. Second, since both the KHSAA and University of Kentucky have a scheduling overlap, the KHSAA’s preemptive decision is a simple case of wanting to be a good neighbor and partner to not only to the staff of Rupp Arena, but also the University, which has assisted the Association over the years through use of its facilities and personnel for championship events.

“We appreciate the KHSAA not only for their working with the University on hosting the second/third rounds of the NCAA, but in helping through this unprecedented schedule conflict,” said DeWayne Peevy, Executive Associate Athletic Director / External Operations at the University of Kentucky. “We both need the arena and in this way, we both have access.”

The format of the Houchens Industries/KHSAA Girls’ Sweet 16® at E.A. Diddle Arena in Bowling Green the following week will not change.

“Without the necessity due to scheduling conflicts, we did not think it would be fair to the participants and fans of the girls’ tournament to revise that schedule, and arbitrarily switch them to a new format that has not been tried yet,” said Tackett. “This change is being made because of a scheduling conflict with the boys’ tournament. No such conflict exists with the girls’ event in Bowling Green. But after the 2013 tournament, we will review the situation as we do each year, and make any necessary future decisions.”

http://khsaa.org/73112-sweet-16-champion...or-sunday/

Copy and pasted the forum title, so for some reason the words aren't capitalized when they should be.

What is everyone's thoughts on this? Personally, I like the idea.

i like the idea, it will give fans of the final 2 teams more time to get bigger crowds to come.

from the tweet i read, this sounds like something that may happen for a few years

Good thing Pikeville will not be playing in the state championship. Local preachers would revolt if Pikeville played on Sunday.

I like it for the teams...
but I have enjoyed spending my Saturdays watching basketball in Rupp.

Maybe I'll catch the UK game this year as well lol

I am a traditionalist, therefore, I hate this idea about as much as the 6-Class system. I have gone to this tournament every year for 20 years and it is by far my favorite week of the year. There is nothing that can top it. I just don't like it being tweaked. Saturday night, prime time, just cannot be compared to Sunday at 2 PM. It does add an extra day, which I like, because I can't get enough of it, but I wish it was not at the cost of the tradition. Which few seem to care about anymore.

^ I feel ya
I don't see why they don't do it on Sunday night versus Sunday afternoon.

About time. There's really no reason a team should have to play two games on the same day in a championship event like this.

Great move. Although, I would have preferred to start the tournament on Tuesday and finish on Saturday night. Asking kids to play 3 games within 24 hours and 4 games within 48 hours is completely ridiculous.

I like it. Think it is best for the players and this is what it should be about.

PT i'm with you as far as tradition, but also sometimes change is necessary. I feel the change will be better for the teams competing. It will give them some much needed rest before the championship game.

It will be good for the players, but overall don't think it will stick. How many people are going to stay another night to wait to watch the final Sunday afternoon, especially if their team isn't playing? Plus like it was mentioned kinda earlier, i would say a lot of people are not going to miss church for it. I'm sure the Hyatt and other hotels are happy with it. Just my opinion though.

^ i think you'll see each school bringing in more fans then before, giving them that extra day to makes plans to go watch them for a day. It would be much better if it were on a Sunday night though.

I'm sure we could organize a church service in the arena prior to the game to keep everyone happy. haha

It will be interesting to see how this turns out. Seems to me like the trend among the annual, all-week attenders has been for more and more to head on home on Satruday night after the title game. With economic times as they are, saving a nights hotel
bill makes a difference. Obviously they will have to stay over to see that game now,
so WILL that trend reverse, or will even MORE people just pack it on in and skip the finals? Of course either way, that's not really going to affect ticket sales as most
of those folks buy the 8 session packets anyway.

As for the participant crowds, will it make a difference? Looks possible. It certainly
will give people an opportunity to plan to get to Lex on Sunday to watch their school
play for a state title that wouldn't have been able to swing it if they found out at 2PM
on Saturday that they needed to go to Lex for Saturday night. And I HIGHLY doubt
there will be very many that worry about missing a day of church for a State title
game, so my suspicion is that it will increase attendance a little bit. Of course
you also have to factor who's in the title game. A small school with little fan base
or a school from say Paducah or Carlisle, aren't going to send many more fans on
down on Sunday that weren't there on Saturday.

As for the future, my best guess is that a marked increase in attendance on Sunday
will make it a permanent change. A small increase or a decline, and it will return to
Saturday night.

As long as they keep the one class system and play with 16 regions... I could not care when the tourney ends. It is one of the most exciting and traditional sporting events in the country.

I like the playing 2 games on 1 day. It shows which team is in better condition and shows how good a coach you realy have. I think it will be all about the money. If they bring in more money it will stay on Sunday. If they loose money it will go back. Tradition goes out the window when it comes to money.

It is all about the money. Why not play all first round games on Wednesday? Quarters on Thursday. Semi's on Friday and Championship on Saturday. No unfair advantage for any teams.
The hotel packages of Tuesday through Saturday is what they want to continue.

I do not like the Sunday idea.