High school basketball in the Springfield area is a special thing to cover each year . Fans always flock to gyms for the biggest games and tournaments. I'm always appreciative of how much folks in this community care about the traditions and effort that go into every single event. But there are always ways to make things better. I'd like to see a handful of changes made in high school basketball, both locally and statewide. Some ideas are more prominent and realistic than others. Other ideas seem more far-fetched, but it's always OK to dream.
I've finally come around to thinking Missouri needs to adopt the shot clock
I've always been indifferent about the need to add a shot clock in high school basketball in Missouri. I saw both sides of the argument. Yes, it would better prepare athletes for the next level. At the same time, it always seemed to be a good equalizer for the smaller programs when competing against the bigger ones. But I saw enough this year that I've finally been converted to thinking they need to be added. Far too many games saw teams hold on to the ball with no intention of playing actual basketball. I think of Branson against Logan-Rogersville at the Blue and Gold. I think of Aurora girls' basketball during districts. Those teams elected to stand there with the ball and do nothing else. You could also rightfully argue that teams can play defense and force action. At this point, I don't care. I just want to watch basketball. There is no sport where seeing who stands around the best wins. It happened far too often this season. I'm ready for change.
Neutral courts should be brought back to Missouri playoffs post-districts
It wasn't too long ago when Missouri had a great postseason system set up where games were always played on neutral courts. That included the district, sectionals, and quarterfinals. The latter two are now played at a team's home court. Recently, quarterfinal games were played all day at places like Southwest Baptist or Central Missouri. Kansas City or Jefferson City area teams met Springfield's best with no clear home-court advantage or forcing teams from the bootheel to travel for what were essentially road games. Neutral-court postseason games, especially when more than one is played in a single location, turn into great events. It'd be nice to have those back.
A way to reseed the postseason post-districts should be explored
Hartville gave eventual Class 2 state champion Eugene the best game of the postseason. It was played in sectionals instead of the state championship when both were touted as the best teams in the state all season. Exploring a way to get the best four teams in their respective classes in the state semifinals would better represent the postseason. Instead, it's regionalized, and it turns into worse semifinal and championship games. Re-seeding the tournament after districts is one of the various ideas to make it happen. I'd support a formula that calculates a team's performance against its strength of schedule. This would encourage teams to continue playing tough schedules and reward their performances. With the rankings, we'd also hopefully avoid seeing the top teams play each other before reaching the state's showcase event.
The Blue and Gold Tournament should allow all SPS teams and adopt relegation
Could we be in for changes at the Blue and Gold Tournament? Greenwood coach Darren Taylor, who served as the tournament's director, has retired, so that possibility appears to be open. It's no secret that those who love the Blue and Gold
love the traditions that have been passed down for generations, and it's led to few changes over the years. I love the Blue and Gold, but I'm all about finding ways to make anything better. The most obvious way to make the Blue and Gold better would be to allow all the Springfield Public Schools programs in the field, or at least get more than two in there. Central should have been allowed to defend its title this past season. Parkview, a team that made a semifinal run, should have had the opportunity to show why it's among the area's best in a tournament that brings all of the area's best together. Far too often, all of the area's best teams aren't in the tournament. Instead, we get a lot of blowout games and teams who enter the field hoping to make a run in the consolation bracket. Let's get the best teams in there. Open it up for all SPS teams. Have at-large invitations that will allow the tournament to invite a program like Chadwick amid two seasons of winning state championships. Boot out some teams that haven't performed well in recent years and rotate them back in through some sort of relegation system.
Return to a three-day format for Missouri state championships
Playing games Wednesday through Saturday for two consecutive weeks in Columbia is a little too much. Going back to the three-day format, Thursday through Saturday, with games played in two different gyms, would be ideal. MSHSAA's format was good when it played three days of semifinals, championships, and third-place games between Great Southern Bank Arena and Hammons Student Center in Springfield. Since it's moved up to Columbia, the event has been expanded by a day, all played in Mizzou Arena, forcing some parents and fans to take off multiple days of work in the middle of the week rather than getting as close to the weekend as possible.
When Columbia won the bid to host the Show-Me Showdowns, it pitched it with Mizzou Arena and the Hearnes Center as hosting venues and that the format wouldn't change. That hasn't been the case. Columbia has the championships through 2027-28.
