The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
State moved to Dayton
The state girls basketball tournament is headed farther south next year.
The OHSAA announced May 12 it has signed a three-year deal with the University of Dayton to hold the state girls basketball tournament at UD Arena.
The girls state tournament has historically been held in Columbus. Aside from 1986, when the tournament was held in Akron, Ohio State has hosted 44 of the 45 girls state tournaments at the Jerome Schottenstein Center or St. John Arena.
In a news release, the OHSAA said schedule issues forced them to move the tournament, with a limited number of dates available to use the Schottenstein Center or St. John Arena next March.
The 2021 girls state tournament is slated for March 11-13.
Additionally, the OHSAA announced the 2021 boys basketball state tournament will be played at St. John Arena on March 1820, and there is currently no host site in place for the boys basketball state tournament in 2022.
“We are very excited to sign a three-year agreement for our member schools to experience UD Arena,” OHSAA executive director Jerry Snodgrass said. “Southwest Ohio loves and supports basketball and the people at the University of Dayton have made it clear
that they really want this state tournament on their campus. We believe that we have found a great home for the girls basketball state tournament.”
UD Arena has a seating capacity of 13,000, considerably less than the Schottenstein Center and right on par with St. John Arena’s 13,276. Dayton has hosted many Atlantic 10 Conference Tournaments, as well as NCAA tournament games.
The venue was renovated in 2019.
“We’re very proud that the OHSAA has entrusted us to host the girls basketball state tournament at the University of Dayton Arena for the next three years,” said Scott DeBolt, Senior Associate Athletics Director at the University of Dayton
and Executive Director of UD Arena. “The same ingredients that make UD Arena the ideal place for the NCAA First Four — community support and excitement for the game of basketball, our facilities, staff and tournament hosting experience — will help create lifelong memories for the young women who come to Dayton to play in the state tournament and their school communities.”
The news of the OHSAA moving the site for the state girls basketball tournament was met, generally, with surprise. When the governing body of high school sports in Ohio tweeted earlier in the day on May 12 that “breaking news” was coming, many observers felt it dealt with the novel coronavirus that canceled
the winter sports tournaments and all of the spring sports season.
That included Amherst coach Jay Valadez.
“The way that it was brought out on Twitter, I thought it was going to be something more related to COVID, which is really what we should be worried about right now,” Valadez said. “Then I saw the move to Dayton and was a little bit surprised that it was announced so early with so many other things going on in the world.”
Now it’s a matter of aiming to play in a new site at the end of the season.
“Dayton is a beautiful venue,” Valadez said. “They do a great job with the other tournaments that they hold, so it’s not like they’re new to hosting large events. I’m
sure that the OHSAA has its reasons for moving it there. I think it’ll just take a little time to get used to. The girls are always trying to get to Columbus. It’s been that way for years. Now it’s going to be a little bit different in saying we want to get to Dayton.”
Valadez added the impact of coronavirus will be a factor in these types of decisions.
“For safety reasons, being that the direction we’re heading is the new normal with all the precautions, I think that this is a move that was made in the best interest of the student-athletes and their fans,” Valadez said. “The way that it’s set up seems to be more conducive to the kind of climate we’re in right now. I fully believe there was a lot of thought that went into that.”
The OHSAA’s timing and method for delivering the news was the prevailing feeling on May 12, more than the change in venue itself.
“I feel like it came as a bit of a shocker,” Valadez said. “The way they went about it was unique. I kind of feel like we could have been notified in a different way. I think throwing it up over Twitter . ... We’re worried about so many other things in the world, and I think throwing that up over Twitter, I was like, ‘Really?’ I just found it interesting.
“I think the timing of it was a little bit too soon where just even kind of talking about girls basketball and the state finals right now brought up a lot of things that we’re just getting over.”