It’s time for the NCHSAA to move its basketball regionals to bigger gyms. Here’s why
On Tuesday night, Gary Richmond will have to make a choice that he really doesn’t want to make.
The North Mecklenburg High graduate and longtime Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools teacher and girls basketball coach wants to watch North Mecklenburg’s boys and the Vikings’ girls play in state quarterfinal games. Unfortunately, he can’t see both.
North Meck’s boys are hosting Chambers at 7 p.m. North Meck’s girls are playing at Lake Norman at 6.
“I really wish there was a way to stagger these games,” Richmond said. “Or even play them on different days.”
Playing girls on Monday and boys on Tuesday — or vice versa — could’ve pretty easily been accomplished and would make sense. The regional finals are not until Saturday, giving teams would have plenty of rest and plenty of prep time.
But there’s an even better solution.
The NCHSAA should return to the way it used to handle regional week.
The old way was better
Years ago, the regional semifinals and finals were held at the Greensboro Coliseum annex in the West and at East Carolina in the East. Both venues were big enough to hold the crowds and helped make these big games memorable for the players. These kids play on campus every Tuesday and Friday. This was different. Big gym. Big locker rooms. Lots of press.
Richmond fondly remembers riding up to Greensboro for the Monday media conference before games, something that’s no longer held.
Under the old format, each of the state’s classifications played regional semifinals on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday or Friday, and then there was a “Super Saturday” when all eight boys and girls championship games were held. In Greensboro, some of the regional championship games were held at UNC-Greensboro for scheduling purposes.
“It made the regionals feel even more special,” Richmond said. “I remember one year, three Charlotte teams went, and I was coaching at (Chambers) and we rode up with the Mallard Creek coaches for the press conference. During the games, we were cheering for the other Charlotte teams.”
Times have changed.
On Tuesday night, lots of fans throughout the state will probably be turned away at high school sites because of capacity limitations. On Saturday, when the regional championships are scheduled for neutral high school sites, even more fans may not be able to get into the gyms.
North Mecklenburg’s gym, for example, doesn’t sit anywhere close to 1,000 fans. The school sent out notice over the weekend that parents and students could buy tickets before they went on sale to the general public Tuesday morning. Those tickets will be long gone before then. Media will also be turned away once both baselines are full.
It’s not ideal.
Travel concerns led to changes
NCHSAA commissioner Que Tucker said schools had expressed concern with the old format, which had them traveling to Greensboro and Greenville twice during the week, and that was one reason the association began holding regional week on campuses.
“Think about how many times Charlotte schools had to drive to Greensboro to play each other” in regional finals, Tucker said.
Tucker said the NCHSAA is willing to reverse course if that’s what its membership wants. She said cost is an issue, and if costs increase for facility rentals, schools would get less back from the association from the event.
There is no perfect solution for travel, cost and attendance.
But the best mix is the old format with regional semifinals and finals at the larger sites. Tucker said the association would look at a site like Charlotte’s Bojangles Arena, which seats 8,600, or UNC-Charlotte if directed by the membership. And, for a college or university, being able to host some of the state’s best boys and girls high school basketball players every year would be something I might make my facility available for annually at a pretty significant discount.
And, just saying, Charlotte Hornets owner Michael Jordan did play high school basketball in North Carolina, is quite philanthropic, and has a really nice facility in uptown Charlotte.
Anyway, that’s a good future plan.
Potential for big crowds Saturday
More immediately, Saturday’s 4A regional championships will involve at least two Charlotte teams with strong fan bases. In Tuesday’s boys regional semifinals, North Meck hosts Chambers and Myers Park hosts Charlotte Catholic.
In the girls regional semis, Charlotte Catholic is at Watauga and North Meck is at Lake Norman.
Six Charlotte schools have offered to host Saturday’s regional finals — Butler, Harding, Hough, Independence, Rocky River and West Mecklenburg. But, no venue’s capacity exceeds 2,000. A year ago, the NCHSAA moved the 4A regional finals to McDowell High, about a two-hour drive from uptown Charlotte, trying to find a large venue for schools to play in.
Charlotte Catholic’s girls played eventual state champion Chambers. North Meck’s boys played eventual state champion Weddington. If those games had been played in Charlotte at a good-sized facility, those games would’ve produced once-in-those-players’-lifetimes type high school crowds.
Played so far away, McDowell’s gym — in Marion — was about 70 percent full.
So what about this year?
The association is planning to announce regional championship sites Wednesday morning. It might take a little scrambling, but there are some possibilities in the Charlotte area.
Bojangles Arena is hosting the Big South conference tournaments this week and the Charlotte 49ers have a home game Saturday. But maybe Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools and the NCHSAA could think about Davidson, which seats 5,300, or Wingate, which can hold 2,500 or Queens University.
Any combination of this year’s potential 4A regional finals could draw crowds close to 7,000 to 8,000, I’d guess, if the venue was large enough. In future years, CMS and the NCHSAA should look to host regionals — in the old format — and well as the three CMS conference tournament championships at, say, Bojangles Arena.
It would make those conference tournaments and regional games even more special.
And Richmond, the longtime CMS teacher and coach, wouldn’t have to choose.
This story was originally published February 28, 2023 at 6:00 AM.
