2024/2025 High School Boys Basketball

[tetoncat]

Actually, divisionals was the historic norm in AA through about 1990, maybe later. I am not sure when it went away, but came back around 2017.

Here is an article why it went away this year. I really don’t get it as A, B and C have districts and divisionals.

https://www.swxlocalsports.com/montana/ ... c0757.html

I've been to a lot of divisional tournaments in every classification. The smaller the classification, the bigger a deal it is for the most part. First of all, as someone else mentioned, there are more teams in the lower classifications, so you have to pare that down somehow. It's a bummer that some kids don't get a tournament experience, but I kind of think playing in a tournament is a privilege earned by the top players and teams. Just like a trophy is earned by the better players and teams, not by all who participate.

But these tournaments are a much bigger deal the smaller the community, although a few towns in bigger classifications are exceptions (Butte, Dillon, Browning, Columbia Falls, Lewistown, Havre, and probably others). At a AA divisional or even state tournament, you get parents, boyfriends/girlfriends of players, the band, and maybe a few die-hard older people coming out to cheer on their team. At a Class C tournament, you have to remember that between the players, pep band, and cheerleaders, you might have half the student body already there...if not more. So then the rest of the student body might as well show up, plus the parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. At this point that crowd is already the same as a AA tournament, because it's about the same amount of players and families. But when Scobey or St. Regis makes a tournament, you can count on about half the town showing up, because it's the biggest thing going. Plus it's their chance to get to the big city and shop in a Target or eat in an Olive Garden. Give me a class B or C state tournament any day over a AA tournament, even though that AA tournament is better basketball.

In most years, the highest-earning state tournaments are Class B and C, bringing in over $100,000 that goes back to the participants to cover their costs, then is split among all the teams in that classification. In a lot of years, the highest-grossing tournament in Montana is the Southern B Divisional, held at the Metra. I'm a big believer that the Southern B won't split up and reconfigure (even though Western and Northern B each have far fewer schools) because they get a big chunk of money from that tournament.

Class B 12 in West, 13 in North going to 15 next year, 20 in South. Seems like 3 or 4 of those are newer? Joliet, Lone Peak, Park City, Ennis and St Labre seems like they bounce. Definitely larger now. With change in enrollment requirements they may not have a choice.

You are correct in smaller school divisionals.Class C get great crowds going to bigger regional towns. B depends on where they are at and West and North don't get same crowds except maybe Fri and Sat night if teams are within driving distance

My beef with the Southern B is how they've always gotten more teams in to state because they have more teams. Yet there have been many years they could have split into two divisions or maybe sent a couple teams like Townsend or Three Forks or Manhattan over to a southwest division to get somewhere closer to an even number of teams among the divisions. Then the North and West (where the majority of boys' state champions have come from in the last 20 years or so) are only getting two teams in to state while the south gets four. And it's a totally different divisional experience for them in terms of how they qualify. You could lose TWICE at Southern B divisionals and still get to state, while a team from the north or west often loses once at divisionals and doesn't get a chance to qualify for state.

And I'm not sure if you've been to a Class B state tournament where you have Shelby, Wolf Point, Rocky Boy, Bigfork (now Class A), or Malta...those schools/towns travel as well as anyone in the Southern B, and better than most. Although you're right about the west...I'd say none of the current schools/towns in Western B travel particularly well compared to much of the Northern and Southern B.

I agree on the 4 teams making it. Not sure that 4th place South team has ever won a game at State. I think 4th from. South should be a play in game vs 3 from North every year.