Blake: How to embrace the NCHSAA's new final four format
There's an evergreen tweet that says something to the effect of "You know you're from North Carolina if you remember this," and attached will be a picture of a television cart that teachers would wheel into classrooms on the Friday of the ACC Tournament.
As the years move along, we graduated, the ACC expanded, the mystery of how our high schools had that many television carts available for March remains unanswered (Seriously, where did we store them all every other day of the year?), and we still hold onto those memories made in third and fourth period as part of a shared cultural history that's synonymous with growing up in the Old North State.
The N.C. High School Athletic Association basketball "final four" format for this week offers another chance at cherished, shared experiences with our state's most celebrated sport.
But the same voices who wax poetic about the ACC Tournament days are hesitant to latch onto something the state's basketball coaches have wanted for years. A big part of that is the midweek, midday games. for the first time in my 15 years of covering high school sports, state champions in a sport other than track and field are being crowned before 6 p.m. on a Friday and regional champs will be crowned before rush hour on a school night.
It's a lot of change for us.
The good news is, East Burke and East Columbus are two schools who have seemingly embraced the experience. East Burke announced a half-day for Tuesday so fans can attend. East Columbus, which plays at 2 p.m. on the first day, is offering $5 fan bus tickets to students so they can also support one of the biggest things to happen to their local community in years.
As one school community after another makes this trip all week long, the spectacle could be something to behold.
I argued last year that the first three rounds of the NCHSAA playoffs went by too fast. The three games in five days made the playoffs feel rushed. We weren't enjoying the event. I also argued that the high school gyms — no matter how big — were not suited to host regional finals anymore.
We found a format that addressed both things this year.
While the "final four" format is new here, it's not new nationally.
If other states have done a good job with this set up — and make sure to watch this roundtable where Evan Moesta shares his experience of watching the Minnesota version, which he called like attending two pep rallies at once — there's no reason to think a basketball hotbed like North Carolina can't also succeed in making this something to treasure.
In fact, it's kind of embarrassing if we don't.
I think those television carts would be disappointed in us.
