The boys’ high school basketball state championship day will have a slightly different look starting with the 2013 finals at Michigan State University’s Breslin Center.
The MHSAA noted that, following closely the format of the MHSAA girls’ basketball finals, the boys will go to two sessions. The first session will start with the Class D Final at 10 a.m. followed by the Class A title game. The second session will begin tentatively at 4:30 p.m. with the Class C game and end with the Class B championship tilt.
Previously, the Class A and B Finals were separate sessions, with the Class A final tipping off at 4 p.m. and Class B at 8 p.m. The other two games were in one session earlier in the day.
MHSAA officials say the change will make for a shorter day for spectators wishing to attend all four games and will also allow them to buy tickets for two sessions instead of three.
Geoff Kimmerly of the MHSAA’s communications staff said that the previous format goes back at least to 1994, which was the first year the finals were held at the Breslin Center.
“Last year, we had roughly 2,000 fans that attended all four games,” Kimmerly said. “This makes for a situation that hopefully grows that number. It makes it a shorter day, and you only buy two tickets instead of three. Hopefully, it will make people want to stick around for all the games, which makes it great for us for a lot of reasons.”
The A and B games have long been considered the showcase games, mainly because of class size.
“They have the primetime spots, and they’re certainly the biggest draw with the biggest fan base, Kimmerly said. “You look at that traditionally, and it has the biggest fan base. But it gets people there earlier in the day for the A game…the fans for D game enjoy sticking around for the A game.”
Boys’ basketball coach Mike Schreiber of Lakeview, whose team played in the 1995 Class C final, has high hopes for the new format. “I believe the shorter day will increase attendance for all the contests,” he said.
Ionia boys’ coach Mark DeLap agrees. “I feel that it will give more quality time and more to see in the time that is allotted. I do not see any disadvantages other than less options.”
DeLap doesn’t believe any other changes in the current format are necessary.
Marshall Gray, who coaches at Midland Dow High School, agrees. “I honestly don’t think it makes much of a difference,” he said. “From a spectator prospective, you are seeing a double header as opposed to a single game. From a coaching perspective, a 10 a.m. game is pretty early.”
He does see some major advantages to the new format. “Spectators will be able to see two games and get more bang for their buck,” he said. “Crowds will be bigger for the Class C and D games because of the fact that they are both part of a doubleheader with a larger school.”
Gray also sees other possible changes that the MHSAA eventually may want to consider.
“Push the game times back,” he said. “I don’t really see the desire for a fan to go see a game starting at 10 a.m. You could even do it split into two days like the MHSAA does with football.”
Football fans buy a ticket for a whole day at Ford Field for the two-day state finals. At this time, there has been no talk of doing the same thing for basketball games.
Coach Jerome Cleveland of Alma likes the new changes.
“This will be better for fans. It will make it much easier to watch all four contests,” he said. “ A shorter day is an advantage for everyone.”
But Cleveland is a coach who would like to see other changes.
“The whole state tournament should be changed to neutral site games,” he said. “It should be seeded and set up more like football to reward teams’ play during the regular season.”