Arkansas high school basketball coaches are keeping an eye on weather forecasts this week almost as closely as they are their own teams or their opponents.
After completing the first six weeks of 2015 with little or no interference from any inclement weather, the high school postseason basketball schedules have been ravaged by snow, sleet and ice. In the past two weeks, district and regional tournament officials have scrambled to complete tournaments and now the seven state tournament sites will apparently be facing the same headaches this week with another round of snow and sleet expected to hit the state Wednesday.
"In my 25 years, it's never been like this before," Benton Harmony Grove boys coach Jeff Hogue said. "But I'm not going to worry about it. I'm just going to take it as it comes."
Only two of last week's 15 regional tournaments managed to finish on schedule last Saturday. All three of the 4A regionals, two of the 3A regionals and two of the 2A regionals completed play Monday. One 2A regional will attempt to complete play this afternoon. Three of the four 1A regionals played their consolation and championship games Sunday.
"That's usually a no-no," said Lance Taylor, the Arkansas Activities Association Executive Director. "I don't like to play on Sunday, but we have to get the games in."
This is not the first year the basketball tournaments have been delayed. Some regionals were played on a Sunday in 2014 and last season's state semifinals were played on either Monday or Tuesday instead of the usual Saturday.
But many coaches are in agreement that this season has been anything but normal.
"Last year, the state tournament got pushed back two days. That's not an issue," Harding Academy girls coach Rusty Garner said. "This year, our district tournament got postponed, our regional got postponed. And if the state plays on schedule, I'll be surprised."
Three state tournaments -- the 5A in Greene County Tech (Paragould), the 3A at Cossatot River (Polk County) and the Class 1A in Nashville (Howard County) -- are scheduled to tip off at 1 p.m. today. The 7A, 6A, 4A and 2A tournaments are scheduled to start Wednesday, but with 3 to 6 inches of snow in the forecast, playing basketball may be a perilous proposition.
"The first thing we've got to do is make sure the kids will be safe traveling," Taylor said. "We've got to make sure the fans, the students and the parents are safe, too. We've got to take them into consideration. It affects their whole school and community. ... It's these kids' time to shine. We're going to watch [the weather] closely."
With some regionals completing play Monday, several teams are having to come back today to compete in a state tournament.
"We've got to go back home tonight, get up and go school in the morning, then get on the bus, travel three hours and play [tonight]," said Episcopal Collegiate boys coach Micah Marsh, whose team won its regional championship game Monday at Rose Bud. "That's not easy. That's not easy on anybody. But we're going to do it. There's no excuses. Everybody else has to do it."
Like Episcopal, Harding Academy's girls will make a three-hour plus trip to Cossatot River a day after winning its regional championship game at Rose Bud.
"Traditionally, when the regional tournament ends on a Saturday, you've got two or three days to prepare and rest," Garner said. "You get to look back and see what you did right and what you did wrong. For us, we get to enjoy this until about dinner and go to bed thinking about tomorrow. We'll look back on this later. But right now, we need to go get the next one. I told the girls in the locker room that we will treat this as a continuation of the tournament we're in. Tomorrow is just one more day of this tournament, we're just not playing in the same building."
Benton Harmony Grove is scheduled to play its first-round game Wednesday night.
"The weather is supposed to be really bad Wednesday and that's when we're supposed to play," Hogue said. "If it gives us another day of practice, so be it."
Sports on 03/03/2015