For SC basketball title games, does one site fit all? Florence draws mixed reviews
Thomas Ryan couldn’t predict that one post on social media would draw so much attention.
The Dorman High boys basketball coach voiced on X (formerly Twitter) his displeasure with the S.C. High School League moving its basketball semifinals and championship games to one venue at the Florence Center. The single-site concept meant longer travel for teams from the Upstate that were accustomed to playing semifinal games at one of the Greenville-area arenas.
In Ryan’s comments on Feb. 21, he called the move one of the “worst decisions I have ever seen.” The social media post had almost 40,000 views and, he said, resulted in his athletic director (Ryan’s boss) getting a phone call from SCHSL commissioner Jerome Singleton.
Dorman was eliminated in the third round this year but is used to playing deep in the playoffs. The Cavaliers have won five state championships since 2016 and played in venues during that span such as Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville and Bob Jones University in Greenville.
So why weigh in about the change even though Dorman didn’t participate?
“I want the best situation for student-athletes, and I feel like the year we weren’t involved is time to speak up,” Ryan told The State on Tuesday. “... I’m not sure this year’s state championship provided a more memorable experience than past state championships had.”
The State talked to several coaches who played in the semifinals or finals in Florence. Their reactions included happiness with the one site but also complaints over travel, lack of days between games and the desire to move the finals back to Columbia.
Florence Center first to test one-site concept
Byrnes High School boys coach Layne Fowler agreed with a bit of Ryan’s sentiment. Byrnes made two trips from Duncan to Florence — about 340 miles per round trip — in a week’s span, defeating Mauldin in the semifinals before losing to Lexington in the Class 5A championship game.
Byrnes went to Florence a day earlier for both games so the team wouldn’t have to travel almost three hours on a bus and then play a game, Fowler said.
“People from Florence were gracious, people worked hard and we were honored to be there. That being said, there are drawbacks from the upper state finals being there. The community couldn’t be there with a 4 p.m. game on a Friday (semifinal),” Fowler said. “... You want to maximize the experience. It just seemed off in there. At the end of the day we were honored to be there, but I do think you can make the experience better for the student-athlete and the supporters.”
This was the first year South Carolina’s basketball semifinals and state championship games were held at one site — and the first time Florence Center has hosted the finals. The deal for Florence to host both weekends of games was only for one year.
In years past, the semifinals (or final four games) were held in two different cities. The SCHSL playoff bracket is split in half geographically into an “upper state” and a “lower state,” and the winners of each side meet in the state championship — historically at a third venue in another city.
The previous two years, the upper state finals were held at Bob Jones University in Greenville, with the lower state championships at Florence Center and the state championships at USC Aiken (3,500-4,100 capacity). Florence has hosted the lower state finals for more than a decade and has a capacity of 7,686 for basketball. That means teams from the S.C. coast are used to driving two or more hours for those semifinal games.
Before Bob Jones, the upper state championships were held at Bon Secours Wellness Arena, also in Greenville. Bon Secours wasn’t available this year, according to Singleton.
The limitation with Bob Jones (4,000 seats) and USC Aiken has been capacity, at least with bigger classifications and having ticket allotments being capped per school — and sometimes no seats available to the general public. USC Aiken had a conflict last year with its men’s basketball team hosting an NCAA Tournament regional. Since the arena was under contract with SCHSL, the regional was moved to Augusta, Georgia.
Because of those reasons, Singleton came up with the one-site concept. The SCHSL executive committee voted in April to give Singleton and staff the ability to look into one arena for all the games.
The one-site concept is used in several other states including Tennessee, Florida and Ohio, among others. North Carolina is trying out a single venue this year, with semifinals March 11-14 and championships all playing played at Winston-Salem on March 15-16. Those games are playing played at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum, a nearly 15,000-seat arena that belongs to Wake Forest University.
“I personally think a final four should be together,” said Landrum girls coach Jared St. Charles, whose team drove about three hours for the 2A semifinals and championship game. “I get it: South Carolina does upper state and lower state. I have a Florida background, so from Pensacola you got five hours to the middle of the state and Miami you are coming a long way.
“To me, I like it. I think it is good for the girls to play in this kind of environment, a big arena and make it special.”
Singleton said he approached three venues for 2024 about hosting the semifinals and championships — Bon Secours, Florence Center and the North Charleston Coliseum. USC’s Colonial Life Arena wasn’t an option because of the need to use of so many dates, Singleton said. The league played 20 semifinal games spread across five days, followed by 10 state championship games over two days.
Bon Secours and North Charleston also weren’t available on the dates the SCHSL wanted, according to Singleton.
Florence Center checked all the boxes.
“It solved a problem for us. In the past, we had to find three different venues. Now, we just had one venue,” Singleton told The State. “One ticket gets you in all day. We have the place to accommodate that.”
Singleton said his office received many complaints — mainly from fans and parents — about the move. While he understood the frustration, he said fans needed to give the concept a try.
“I think it has great potential,” Singleton said.
The move to Florence made financial sense for the SCHSL, which builds more than 60% of its operating budget with revenues generated from the football and basketball state championships. Singleton said the cost for renting the Florence Center totaled $50,000. The league also received revenue from parking to help offset those costs. Florence Center kept the money made from concessions.
The league also gets 20% of ticket sales, with the rest redistributed among the participating schools.
Total unofficial attendance for the semifinal games was almost 10,000. That’s down from the previous year.
Some coaches from the Upstate pointed out that attendance could have been better for semifinals if games were played closer to the participating schools. Two of the boys semifinal matchups, Wren vs. Powdersville (Class 3A) and Riverside vs. Greer (Class 4A) were between teams that are less than 10 miles apart.
Attendance for the two-day championships was just over 12,000, with 7,407 tickets sold for Saturday’s six games.
The options for 2025 and beyond
What happens in future years remains to be seen.
“Most coaches like the idea of a final four, one site. The issue is, is Florence central enough for everybody?” said Spring Valley athletic director John Combs, who is on the board of the S.C. Basketball Coaches Association. “This year, there were a lot of Greenville teams in the upstate final four.
“But no one has been turned away. I talked to a lot of people that just came in to watch basketball. They haven’t been able to do that in three or four years. So that is a win. It is great for basketball fans to be able to stay here the entire day.”
Still, Combs understands the drawbacks of having the event at the Florence Center. In the past and this year, coaches have complained that the Florence Center isn’t a traditional basketball arena with the bad sight lines behind the portable goals. Some coaches said the arena, which opened in 1993, is in need of such upgrades as better lighting, a new scoreboard and floor.
There also is the nostalgia factor of wanting to still hold the championships in Columbia, which hosted the games for than three decades but not since 2020.
Fowler remembers going as a kid to watch the Lower Richland vs. Hillcrest championship game.
“Colonial Life Arena, that is a place people grow up wanting to play there one day They see the Gamecocks men and women playing there and NCAA Tournaments playing there,” Combs said. “It is a venue that carries more cache than the Florence Center, but the people here at the Florence Center worked really hard to put on a good event.”
Fowler said he would like championships rotated between Florence, Columbia, North Charleston and Greenville. Ryan is still in favor of keeping the semifinals in two separate spots, and it’s possible that Dorman (with a capacity 3,200) puts in a bid to host the upper state championships next year.
Combs plans to survey the coaches who played in the Florence semifinals and championship to get additional feedback. The basketball championships will also be a topic of discussion at next week’s league meetings with athletic directors around the state, Singleton said.
Singleton said he was contacted by North Charleston and Bon Secours this week about hosting next year’s semifinals and championships.
The S.C. High School League would like to lock in a location for next year as soon as possible, according to Singleton, and he will go in the direction that membership wants him to go.
After next week’s discussion at spring meetings, it will be brought to be voted on before the SCHSL Executive Committee in April. With new-look classifications starting for 2024-25 that include splitting Class 5A into two for the postseason, they’ll have to plan for four more semifinal games and two more state championships.
“I think personally it’s a great opportunity and we are just on the tip of the iceberg,” Singleton said. “There could be opportunity to have educational experiences for the athletes where we can take them by colleges or universities or have service projects. All that needs to be worked out.
“I just think the concept allows for it to be expanded. I always thought it should be more than just the games. There is opportunity around it that could be beneficial for everyone.”
