Class A state hoops to begin a new era

Over the last decade and even over the last few years, there have been a lot of changes to high school sports in Montana. But one change hasn't happened quite yet, is a combined state tournament for Class A basketball.

However, that change is coming around the bend, in fact, it will take place next season, as Class A will follow in the footsteps of Class B and Class AA, by combining the boys and girls tournaments in one location. The first ever combined Class A state tournament will take place next March, at the Four Seasons Arena in Great Falls.

"What's been happening, even this year, is five of the eight teams had girls and boys teams in the state tournament," HHS activities director Dennis Murphy said. "So what you are doing is splitting your fans. Financially, it's also very difficult for school districts to send support personnel and teams on separate weekends, instead of just putting them on one weekend."

Cost was a factor when Class A made the decision to combine its state tournaments, but the financial impact considered was not just about school districts, but about fans and families as well.

"One thing that was brought up was if, say, I had a daughter and a son both playing at the same time," Murphy said. "We have had that brought up several times. More than anything, it reduces out-of-school time for your support groups. The girls basketball teams had their weekend and the boys basketball team had their weekend, but those support groups had both weekends. So we had a lot of students out of school, a lot of administrators out of school, and being able to combine all the resources into one venue makes sense."

Certainly, Class A looked at the success Class B and Class AA has had with combined state tournaments and used that as a model. And not only has it led to less school disruption, but greater attendance as well, for both boys and girls.

"Another thing is that (combined tournaments) have brought great crowds to both genders, when they play together," Murphy said. "We have seen a tremendous amount of success when we have had our divisional tournaments, when it's been a combined gender. At single gender tournaments, the crowds have been less and so it provides that championship type atmosphere."

Of course, any time changes are made, not everyone is in agreement. One thing that most everyone agrees will be a negative consequence of the combined state tournament, is having games played from morning until night.

"The downside of it, is that you have to play games all day long for three straight days," Murphy said. "Is that the best environment? I don't know, but for the schools I think it outweighs the negativity of having to play 9 o'clock games by having both tournaments in the same place at the same time."

Curt Leeds, the long-time head coach of the Havre High boys basketball team agreed with Murphy's assessment.

"I would say that there are more positives than negatives," Leeds said. "The positives are for those schools that have two teams going, boys and girls, you get a lot more people to come because they don't have to think about hotel rooms for this weekend or that weekend. It will save families a lot of money, so that's a good thing."

In addition to the financial benefits, Leeds also said the attendance and the atmosphere will be much improved.

"There is just going to be a lot more people in the stands," Leeds said. "When we went to the combined Eastern A tournament, look at how many more people were in the stands because both boys and girls were there. The only downfall is that someone is going to have to be playing a state tournament basketball game Thursday at 9 a.m."

While the early games on all three days are a concern, they are just a fact of life at combined state tournaments. Yet, another concern is the possibility of a state championship game being played before primetime, which is something Murphy said, will not be the case.

"It will be pretty similar to what we have done in our combined divisional tournaments," Murphy said. "If the boys consolation game is first, then the boys championship would be first and that would be a rotation basis. We do a lot of things with Title IX to make sure that both genders will get the chance to be in the last game or in primetime. We will rotate that so the genders take turns being the last game."

Even with that consideration, Havre girls basketball head coach Dustin Kraske said he would prefer that the tournaments remain separated.

"I kind of like the tournament the way it is," Kraske said. "I don't know that playing a state tournament game at 8 or 9 a.m. will be really exciting for a player. For the fans, it will be great. You can go and enjoy it and watch a boys and girls team play. For a team like Hardin, which made both this year, that would be wonderful for that community to see both teams and not have to spend an extra three nights in a hotel and all that goes with that."

Kraske is not necessarily opposed to the idea of a combined state tournament and he sees why it will be great for fans and the community, but as a girls basketball coach, he also said he would like to keep things separated and give the girls their own spotlight.

"I like it being the girls basketball state tournament," Kraske said. "Years ago, you had your own divisional and then it was combined into a super divisional, which is fine, it has been successful. Being a girls basketball coach, I like that it's been a girls basketball state tournament. From a fan's perspective it's fantastic, from a community perspective, it's fantastic. I just think it takes away a little from girls basketball statewide."

This season, Hardin was a perfect example of why a combined state tournament can be a good thing. Fans would have gotten to see the Hardin boys and girls play in back-to-back state championship games, which would make travel and other costs for fans much easier to bear.

Of course, with its strong tradition in basketball, Havre could also benefit from the changes. In fact, it wasn't long ago when the boys and girls teams both made the state tournament three years running, in 2014, 2015 and 2016. For fans, that meant either taking two trips or deciding which team to follow. Now, supporters won't be forced to choose or fork out extra money to get to both. And because of that, players should have the benefit or even more fan and community support, which at the end of the day, is what high school sports are all about.

"For Havre fans, if you go to a state tournament the ticket prices might be a little higher because you have 24 games," Murphy said. "But it's extremely cheap entertainment and when you have both teams in the tournament, what a bonus for your community and for your fans to watch both genders play and be apart of what they are trying to do. I think it's great for fans. If you love basketball, than the combined tournaments are absolutely wonderful."