By COLE REIF
Great Bend Post
The National Junior College Athletic Association’s Region VI basketball tournaments are slated to be hosted at Gross Memorial Coliseum in Hays beginning on March 14 for the semifinals. That’s plan A.
The Fort Hays State University women’s basketball team is 24-2 and has a chance to host the first three rounds of the NCAA Division II national tournament the same week. If Fort Hays is chosen as a top seed, plan B is to host the junior college Region tournament in Great Bend at Barton Community College.
Barton Athletic Director Trevor Rolfs said there is a chance administration will not know the host site until the Sunday before the tournaments.
"Fort Hays women picked up a huge win over Pittsburg State on Saturday," said Rolfs. "That kind of put the Tigers in the driver's seat from a Kansas school hosting, but there are two Minnesota schools vying to host as well. The next two weeks are going to be kind of crazy."
Last year the Division I community colleges in Kansas played the Region VI tournament in Hutchinson at the Sports Arena. With the Class 3A state high school basketball championships being held in Hutchinson the same week as the Region VI tournament this year, the Jayhawk Conference landed on the Fort Hays site, with Barton as the backup.
"No matter where it is, we're getting our ducks in a row," said Rolfs. "The logistics are crazy. Obviously, if it's at Barton, we're going to handle assigning all the table workers. Then trying to fill the gaps if it is in Hays...it's going to be interesting as the next couple of weeks play out."
The first round and quarterfinals of the Region VI tournament are hosted by schools with the higher seed. The semifinals and championship games, for both the women and men, will be played on the FHSU campus.