KHSAA Girls’ Sweet 16 basketball moving to NKU in 2016
LEXINGTON, Ky. – For the Kentucky High School Athletic Association’s Board of Control, the lure of a new arena and the possible growth of one of its signature events ultimately outweighed what has become a sure thing.
The board voted Tuesday to award the 2016 and 2017 Girls’ Sweet 16 basketball tournaments to Northern Kentucky University’s Bank of Kentucky Center. The event has been held at Western Kentucky University’s E.A. Diddle Arena since 2001, and the current contract will run out after the 2015 tournament.
Northern and WKU were the only two to bid for the 2016 and 2017 tournaments, and discussion during Tuesday’s meeting indicated a nearly even split among Board of Control members.
KHSAA commissioner Julian Tackett and several Board of Control members are hopeful moving the event to a more populated area will mean bigger crowds for the tournament.
“If a tie was broken, it was over the ability to expand the event,” Tackett said. “What a message it sends, though, that there’s competition for people wanting a tournament that they didn’t always want. That’s a tribute to Bowling Green building it up all these years and a tribute to Northern Kentucky bringing a next-generation facility and saying, ‘Hey, we’re interested in holding it here.’”
The Bank of Kentucky Center opened in 2008 and has a seating capacity of 9,400. E.A. Diddle Arena, which opened in 1963, holds 7,326.
Holmes athletic director Stan Steidel, a member of the Board of Control, was in favor of moving the tournament to his region in Northern Kentucky. When Tackett suggested keeping the event at WKU, Steidel responded, “Are we going to have all our events in Bowling Green? We need to move them around some if we can.”
“The university and the Bank of Kentucky Center were excited to bring the event to Northern Kentucky,” Steidel said after the meeting. “They’re going to get a chance to show off what they can do and show off their facility and show off an area of the state that a lot of people around the state haven’t been to.”
It was a busy day for the Board of Control, which also awarded the state softball tournament to Owensboro’s Jack Fisher Park from 2015-18. Jack Fisher Park, which has hosted the event since 2008, beat out Bowling Green’s Buchanon Park.
Bowling Green did get a measure of good news as Tackett announced the state football finals will stay at WKU’s Houchens Industries/L.T. Smith Stadium through 2018.
The Board of Control originally had planned to award the Girls’ Sweet 16 through 2019 but instead decided on a two-year deal with the Bank of Kentucky Center.
Tackett said the two-year deal provides a safeguard for both the KHSAA and the host venue.
“They said in their proposal … ‘Really, we’d rather commit to two (years) and see how it goes,” Tackett said. “They may not like it. We have to remember that. It sounds really good now. At the same time, will an injection of enthusiasm in a new place grow it? You won’t know until you try.”
The last venue to host the Girls’ Sweet 16 other than WKU was Eastern Kentucky’s McBrayer Arena in 2000. A record crowd of 43,679 fans attended the tournament at WKU in 2011.
In other news:
• Regarding the state softball tournament, Tackett said Owensboro’s proposal was financially superior to Bowling Green’s. He also said Owensboro has made necessary improvements to Fisher Park, including scoreboards and infrastructure.
“Every single thing we asked them about last year, they addressed,” Tackett said.
• The KHSAA made a few changes to the football realignment plan for the 2015-18 seasons that was drafted last month. Shelby County was the only Louisville-area school affected Tuesday, as its request to move from Class 5-A, District Six to Class 4-A, District Four was granted. Shelby County originally had requested to play up to Class 5-A.
• Tackett said discussion Monday to allow a one-time transfer for all athletes — without having to sit out a year — was immediately rebuffed.
“We found out for sure what I knew intuitively: There’s no interest in that right now,” Tackett said. “But it’s not an unknown concept. It happens in other places. Sometimes you study other options to validate what you’re doing now.”
Here is the final alignment:
CLASS 6-A
* District One: Daviess County, Henderson County, McCracken County, Muhlenberg County, Ohio County
* Two: Central Hardin, Meade County, North Hardin
* Three: Butler, Male, Manual, Pleasure Ridge Park, St. Xavier
* Four: Ballard, Eastern, Jeffersontown, Seneca, Trinity
* Five: Conner, Cooper, Ryle
* Six: Boone County, Campbell County, Simon Kenton
* Seven: Bryan Station, Henry Clay, Paul Dunbar, Scott County
* Eight: Clark County, Lafayette, Madison Central, Tates Creek
CLASS 5-A
* District One: Apollo, Christian County, Graves County, Marshall County, Owensboro
* Two: Barren County, Bowling Green, Grayson County, Greenwood
* Three: Bullitt Central, Bullitt East, Nelson County, North Bullitt, Oldham County, South Oldham
* Four: Atherton, Doss, Fairdale, Fern Creek, Iroquois, Southern
* Five: Covington Catholic, Dixie Heights, Grant County, Highlands
* Six: Anderson County, Madison Southern, Montgomery County, Woodford County
* Seven: Lincoln County, Pulaski County, Pulaski Southwestern, South Laurel
* Eight: Harlan County, Letcher County Central, North Laurel, Perry County Central, Whitley County
CLASS 4-A
* District One: Calloway County, Hopkins County Central, Hopkinsville, Logan County, Madisonville-North Hopkins
* Two: Allen County-Scottsville, Franklin-Simpson, South Warren, Warren Central, Warren East
* Three: Breckinridge County, John Hardin, Valley, Western
* Four: Collins, Franklin County, North Oldham, Shelby County, Spencer County
* Five: East Jessamine, Marion County, Mercer County, Taylor County, West Jessamine
* Six: Clay County, Knox Central, Rockcastle County, Russell County, Wayne County
* Seven: Bourbon County, Harrison County, Holmes, Mason County, Scott
* Eight: Ashland Blazer, Boyd County, East Carter, Greenup County, Johnson Central, Rowan County
CLASS 3-A
* District One: Caldwell County, Fort Campbell, Paducah Tilghman, Trigg County, Union County
* Two: Adair County, Edmonson County, Elizabethtown, Hart County, LaRue County
* Three: Bardstown, Central, Henry County, Moore, Thomas Nelson, Waggener
* Four: Boyle County, Garrard County, Lexington Catholic, Western Hills
* Five: Bath County, Fleming County, Lewis County, Pendleton County, Russell, West Carter
* Six: Belfry, Lawrence County, Pike County Central, Sheldon Clark
* Seven: Breathitt County, Estill County, Knott County Central, Magoffin County, Morgan County, Powell County
* Eight: Bell County, Casey County, Corbin, Jackson County, McCreary Central
CLASS 2-A
* District One: Ballard Memorial, Mayfield, Murray, Webster County
* Two: Butler County, Hancock County, McLean County, Owensboro Catholic, Todd County Central
* Three: Clinton County, Glasgow, Green County, Metcalfe County, Monroe County
* Four: Christian Academy, DeSales, Shawnee, Washington County
* Five: Carroll County, Gallatin County, Owen County, Trimble County, Walton-Verona
* Six: Covington Holy Cross, Lloyd Memorial, Newport, Newport Central Catholic
* Seven: Danville, Lexington Christian, Middlesboro, Somerset
* Eight: Allen Central, Betsy Layne, East Ridge, Leslie County, Prestonsburg, Shelby Valley
CLASS A
* District One: Crittenden County, Fulton City, Fulton County, Russellville
* Two: Bethlehem, Campbellsville, Caverna, Fort Knox
* Three: Eminence, Frankfort, Louisville Holy Cross, Kentucky Country Day
* Four: Beechwood, Bellevue, Dayton, Ludlow
* Five: Berea, Bishop Brossart, Bracken County, Nicholas County, Paris
* Six: Fairview, Paintsville, Raceland
* Seven: Harlan, Hazard, Lynn Camp, Pineville, Williamsburg
* Eight: Jenkins, Phelps, Pikeville, South Floyd
Jason Frakes can be reached at (502) 582-4046 and followed on Twitter @kyhighs.