AURORA — When Colorado’s Class 5A boys and girls basketballers soon turn Sweet 16 in the 2008-09 season-ending tournament, we should be throwing them a better party.
Specifically, fun houses to celebrate the third round as opposed to wondering which secret place they’ll end up a few days later. A surprise site for a party, we don’t need.
Reminder: The 32 boys and girls teams that survive Round 2 by Saturday will find out Sunday if they’ll next be in Colorado Springs, Denver, Golden, Loveland or Pueblo.
Instead of trying to throw a bone to an area or incorporating costly colleges and businesses, officials would do better to secure stable, sensible sites that aren’t an hour from the primary fan base.
Next week’s third round for big schools is Wednesday (girls) and Thursday (boys). Depending on which schools advance, certain areas will be deemed worthy of hosting a few games. Don’t fret; home court it’s not and it shouldn’t be — neutral sites are as vital as enjoyable.
However, make mine the Denver Coliseum and Manual’s Thunderdome, logical sites that have character.
This isn’t the NCAA Tournament or Shaq having all those Q’s for Scrabble in the Winnebago on the NBA’s road trip.
It’s high school basketball.
State officials once had a track record of working well with the city — geez, does prep hoops miss the old McNichols Sports Arena — and dealing the boys in at the Coliseum is worth a try. For girls, the Thunderdome also provides opportunity to play at one of our hoops meccas.
Timewise, it wouldn’t be a problem — the tournament lasts three weeks — and both sites are the destinations for the Great 8.
Question: Why send, say, East to Loveland, Mullen to Colorado Springs or Regis to Golden?
Keep it local. Avoid weather problems and chances for conversations across the court while a game is played because of sparse attendance.
The place to be for popular sports’ 5A playoffs is Denver. Indeed, the semifinals and title games will be played at the University of Colorado in Boulder, but it’s also the state’s main college campus and next-smartest site after the high school game was priced out of the Pepsi Center in favor of the Mountain West Conference Tournament from 2004-06.
Of 64 5A schools (63 for girls), 17 are not within the Denver area, so how come the needs of the many don’t outweigh the needs of the few?
I have zero problems with out-of- town arenas that are well lit and comfortable, come with all amenities and make some of our prep gyms look like they should have been condemned years ago.
Can’t we see what’s going on? The wrestling tournament the past weekend drew fans from all parts of Colorado. The past fall was our first try at four of the seven classifications of football titles in Denver and Aurora, and there has been no grumbling.
So why not the first of the interesting rounds of 5A basketball? Coaches and followers can sit and watch or scout multiple games. Serious hoopheads and families can go between the two sites easily, 15 minutes at most.
Sweet 16 is a memorable milestone. Let’s celebrate it at the appropriate places.
Neil H. Devlin: 303-954-1714 or ndevlin@denverpost.com
