It's Not Small-Time

For most of last week, I knew I'd be going down to Levelland for the Region I-1A boys basketball tournaments, an assignment which at first glance doesn't appear to be glamorous. Maybe not, but it was a rare opportunity to cover small schools playing at a high level, and it was every bit as rewarding as covering the larger schools in the area.

With four Panhandle schools playing at the Texan Dome (an excellent traditional regional tournament venue by the way), I knew I'd be covering four games during Friday afternoon and evening, making for a long day. But in all the years I've been covering prep basketball, I'm hard-pressed to find a more rewarding day of watching high school hoops.

I've covered two boys state tournaments in Austin with various classifications, and Friday's games in particular felt like being at the state tournament, perhaps largely because of the scheduling (the two Division II games played back-to-back in the afternoon followed by a short break with two Division I games in the evening) and the amount of basketball packed into one day. There might not have been any big-time college prospects, but that didn't mean the level of play was uninspired in the least.

The two Panhandle survivors from Levelland, Gruver and Nazareth, are headed to Austin to see how they stack up against the rest of the state. And yes, that's as big as it gets for high school basketball in the state of Texas. But even in Levelland players _ and fans _ can get a taste of what it's like, without having to fight unmanagable crowds.

Now if only Levelland would get a Stubb's Barbecue...