The NCHSAA brought a ‘Final Four’ feel to high school basketball. It was a big hit

Maybe 20 minutes after his team won the NCHSAA 4A state basketball championship Saturday night, in front of a huge crowd at Winston-Salem’s Joel Coliseum, North Mecklenburg boys’ basketball coach Duane Lewis started his postgame news conference praising a new championship format that mimicked the NCAA Final Four.

When giving his opening statement, Lewis talked about “the great environment this week.”

“I can’t say enough,” he said, “about how they treated us and everything going on around here.”

And Lewis was right. The NCHSAA’s new schedule — playing its regional and state finals in a six-day window — was a big hit and is something the association should absolutely continue. There were concerns ahead of time that scheduling regional games as early as 2 p.m. during the week, and a state championship game at 1 p.m. on a Friday, might be problematic for students and fans.

The timing wasn’t a problem at all.

Fans showed up, in droves, and about the only real issue was with tickets. Online, Ticketmaster fees cost more than the $10 ticket. The NCHSAA acted quickly on that, too, alerting fans via its website that tickets sold on site were $13 total, including a surcharge.

Crowds were strong all week, even for the early games. By Friday night and especially Saturday — when the upper bowl of the nearly 15,000-seat Joel Coliseum had to be opened — the crowds were ACC large.

“It’s been a lot of fun,” Central Cabarrus boys’ coach Jim Baker said after his team won a regional championship en route to repeating as state 3A champions. “The kids will remember, every time you turn on ACC (basketball), they got to play in the big house. I think it creates a better environment.”

In the past, the NCHSAA held regional championships and state finals one week apart. Sometimes the regional semifinals and finals were held at neutral sites like Lenoir-Rhyne, East Carolina and the Greensboro Coliseum Annex. But the east and west were always split apart.

In recent years, those regional games were held at high school sites and, in 2023, there were serious overcrowding problems and issues — all over the state — with ticketed fans being denied entry.

This year, the association switched to a format modeled after one utilized by many other states: play your regional finals and state finals in the same week. For the first time, fans could see the eastern and western regional championships played in the same gym. And then the state finals would be played, same place, later in the week.

Baker brought up the one change the association should make: play two girls’ games back-to-back each day, and then the two boys.

“I think,” he said, “that may give a little bit more of a Final Four (feel). But it’s good. I think the state made a good decision.”

Here’s another idea: in the 2025-26 school year, when the state goes to eight classifications, keep this same format but play the girls’ games at one site and the boys’ games at another: maybe Joel Coliseum and UNC-Greensboro, for example.

NCHSAA commissioner Que Tucker said she was pleased with how the week went, although she was concerned with how schools would adjust to the early tip times. But she noted day games are common in many states.

“That’s one of the things our colleagues always say, ‘Y’all don’t play all week?’” she said. “I was talking to a colleague in Mississippi one year and I couldn’t hear because of all this noise in the background. I said, ‘What’s that?’ He said, ‘We’re in our basketball championship.’ It was 10 o’clock in the morning. I said, ‘What time did y’all start?’ He said, ‘9:30.’”

Tucker seemed to be a big fan of the new format, and however the association decides to modify it to accommodate eight classes instead of four, this one-week model needs to remain. Yes, some games will start early, but it’s more than worth the trouble.

“It’s about getting here,” Tucker said. “If you can get here — and I remember my time as a basketball coach in high school — if I could’ve gotten here, I don’t care when you tell me to be here, I’ll show up.”

And everyone else will, too.