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Show rirWasAGrear Tournament... But I By DAVE WIGHAM I Last weeks 4-A state basketball tournament was a great affair but... I HONESTLY felt the tournament was one of the j better ones in recent years. Mainly due to the fact j that all the games were close and interesting since j there was no real dominant team. I I HONESTLY felt the tournament was one of the I better ones in recent years, mainly due to the fact j that all the games were close and interesting since I there was no real dominant team. I I also feel that the top 1 6 teams in the state of Utah weren't in the tournament. The way it's set up the top four clubs from each of the four regions qualify automatically for state. The problem with this thinking think-ing is, what if one region is stronger than another. WHAT ABOUT the possibility of doing the selec-. selec-. tions like the NCAA. That would mean seeding the four region champions and giving them automatic berths. Even the second place squads should be automatically entered. But then the other eight should be by invitation with the clubs overall season record and type of schedule they play taken into consideration. ANOTHER possibility would be to have the fourth place teams from the leagues play off with the fifth placers from another region. I have a hard time believing be-lieving that Viewmont couldn't beat some of those fourth place teams that were sent in automatically. Then maybe they should set a rule that each of the clubs going to the state tournament be allowed to pick up one player whose team isn't going. The fourth place team would get first pick. Could you imagine Davis with 6'9" John White of Viewmont? Of course this suggestion is far fetched but it was just a thought. THEN AFTER sitting and listening to the coachs; for the week long tournament I have a strong sugfc tion about the officiating. , This isn't to say the officials did a badjob.oveft--I though it was one of the best officiated touman5 in a long time. But, it seems to me, that all coaches know these officials too well. They kr what they will and won't let them get away i Then too the officials have certain impressions l. certain coaches. . WHAT THEY ought to do is run their state tour' ,J ment the same time another neighboring state- Idaho and sent the best officials from Utah up-; to do their tourney, and then send their best -- here to officiate . When the W AC plays in the N tournament they don't get officials from this com-1 ence. , As it worked out, Region Four turned out tobef:; of the top leagues in basketball. Two of their c were in the semifinals, one for Region One an from Region Three, and one of them turned out'1-the out'1-the state champion. s" LOOKING AT each region individually- Four was 8-5 in tournament play; Bountiful Highland 3-1, Woods Cross 1-2 and DavlS y gion One was right there as well with a 8-6 w-r ment mark. Bonneville and Clearfield wefe w v followed by Roy at 2-2 and Layton at 0-2 , t0l These two regions met seven times head- .iiy with Region Four holding a slim 4-3 edge- REGION THREE held their own with atftjj, ment record while' Region Two turned out to y weak link with a 3-8 record for the week- - And in closing, do you realize that the ' .... Bountiful under Mike Hall, Mike Evans an y Bucannon, are now 7-1 in state play over the years. They lost their opener to Provo jast) .Jc,,, have since won sevenstraight games" '8- 4 |