THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, April 2, 1995 TAG: 9503310264
SECTION: CAROLINA COAST PAGE: 23 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Jeff Ziegler
LENGTH: Medium: 66 lines
Much of the talk in Chapel Hill last Saturday was about that night's NCAA playoff game between the University of North Carolina and Kentucky and the return of Michael Jordan to the NBA.
But another event took place in Chapel Hill last Saturday the North Carolina High School Athletic Association's state basketball championships. It was an event that the NCHSAA can be proud of.
It takes a lot to keep fan interest in March, especially when the high school basketball season begins before Thanksgiving and overlaps both football and baseball. But unlike the hundreds of less-than-exciting regular season games that go on all winter, the state championships were run as smooth as silk, and some of the games weren't even that competitive.
The 1A girls game between Williamston and Murphy started when it was supposed to. The officiating was great. The media was treated right. The fans had a great time in a comfortable building (Carmichael Auditorium). There were no screw-ups. Everything ran like a well-oiled machine. Even the young lady who sang the national anthem was awesome, hitting notes that only dogs could hear.
The 1A boys game in the Dean Smith Center was played under similar circumstances. Parking was ample. The bathrooms were clean. The Dean Dome even had scoreboards with numbers that you could read and a p.a. system that you could hear!
The schedule of contests had the fans in mind. Games were played at noon and at 2 p.m.
Then, cleanup crews came into Carmichael and the Dean Dome to sweep up the popcorn and hot dog wrappers so that the crowd that entered for the 6 and 8 p.m. contests would not stick to the floor.
Coaches (even the losing ones) were herded into press rooms after games, so there was no chasing them down. Reporters had five minutes with each coach and two players from each team so that everyone could get their fair share of quips and quotes.
Even the local merchants were thankful for the state championships being played in their home town. According to a report in the ``Chapel Hill News,'' the tournament was expected to bring $1 million to the local economy, in just one day.
Of course, the rich get richer. The folks in Chapel Hill are used to that kind of money and that kind of sporting event in their midst.
It's a shame that the NCHSAA doesn't look to the northeastern part of the state when they schedule the high school playoffs. The state is divided into east and west sections during the playoffs and the eastern quarterfinals and semifinals are played in and near the Greenville area. It always seems that the Albemarle area teams have to travel in the playoffs.
I'm not advocating playing the state championship games at Camden County High School, but it would be nice to see Elizabeth City State University's Vaughan Center as a host site for the earlier rounds of the state playoffs.
The building could easily accommodate fans for several games and with the NCHSAA running things in their clockwork manner, we would be assured of a great show.
Plus, the Elizabeth City economy could use the bucks.
This region isn't a Chapel Hill, or even a Greenville, but we deserve to be looked at once in a while. MEMO: Jeff Zeigler covers sports for The Carolina Coast. Send comments and
questions to him at P.O. Box 10, Nags Head, N.C. 27959. by CNB